Client

Cheap and fast international delivery service expands distribution

——Please tell us about your company profile.

Moto: As a business company of Raccoon Holdings Co., Ltd., we have inherited the e-commerce business from the former Raccoon Group, and are engaged in business activities that mainly include the business-to-business (B2B) site "Super Delivery," which was launched in 2002, the cloud ordering system "COREC," which allows for centralized management of orders and receipts, and the export sales service "SD export."

With SD Export, we handle the hurdles to cross-border e-commerce such as contracts, customs clearance, invoices, payments, and language, so Japanese manufacturers can start selling their products overseas right away.

-What kind of products do you sell and on what platform?

Hamamoto: Basically, we sell a lot of apparel and miscellaneous goods. We also sell a variety of other items, such as daily necessities, books, and food. Daily necessities are currently very popular overseas. For example, ceramic tableware is very popular.

Moto-sama: Hasami ware in particular is very popular, and I think a huge amount is exported.

Hamamoto: Currently, there are 2,800 Japanese companies, and we handle 1.3 million different product types. Since this is the number of types, it includes colors and sizes, so the actual number of products is several times larger.

--Please tell us how long you have been using the logistics services you are currently using, the scale of your services, and your main destinations.

Hamamoto: We use two services: international courier and inventory management. We introduced ECMS Japan (hereinafter referred to as ECMS) in April 2017, and since then we have been able to increase our distribution amount dramatically.

At the time, the only options were EMS, an international mail service, and major couriers. In order to set ourselves apart from our competitors, we were searching for a way to offer high-quality, reasonably priced shipping. That's when we started using ECMS, and we feel it's a great fit.

The main destinations are Hong Kong and Taiwan, with an increasing number of shipments to North America's America and Canada. There are currently no specific EU countries, but France and Germany are growing. Asian countries other than Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as Australia, are also popular. Of the areas where ECMS cooperates, Hong Kong and Taiwan are quite large.

——What logistical challenges did you face before using ECMS?

Hamamoto-san: I was using EMS and a major courier, but the shipping costs were high and my purchases weren't going as smoothly as I'd hoped. I tried using the cheapest international shipping service at the time, sea mail, and it was definitely about 30% cheaper than EMS.

However, with surface mail, it takes time for the package to arrive, and there is also the problem that it cannot be tracked after it leaves port. When it comes to customer satisfaction, we want to deliver products quickly by air, so shipping costs were an issue.

ECMS is cheaper and faster than sending by international sea mail. It's even cheaper than sea mail, which is supposed to be cheap, and because it's sent by plane, it arrives faster. This is a big factor, and it's likely to lead to customer purchases.

At first, we only used ECMS's services in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but then we added other Asian countries such as Thailand and Singapore, bringing the total to six countries, and before we knew it, our distribution network expanded. The number of shipping labels we produced in the first month of the contract has now increased by several dozen times.

Building a trusting relationship with delivery companies is the most important thing

——What are the benefits of using ECMS and what effects has it had?

Moto-sama: If we hadn't used ECMS, our distribution volume wouldn't have expanded to this extent. Also, because we have a wide range of products and many of them have low order numbers, ECMS excels in the low weight range, which I think is also a great advantage.

Hamamoto: The positive pricing and cooperative attitude are key. At first, we had to check with ECMS about small details like, "Can this product be sent to this country?" It was difficult to get an answer from other companies, but their quick response was very helpful. After that, they showed us their warehouses many times and made various suggestions, which helped us build a strong relationship.

Moto: Hamamoto has been involved with ECMS since the service was first introduced, and I think that the relationship with ECMS was extremely important. Even when negotiating with delivery companies, things often don't go well. If the desire to make a profit takes precedence and the communication becomes completely one-way without a strong relationship in place, we wouldn't want retailers to use our service.

Hamamoto: We all want to grow the business as one team, and we're all really friends.

——What are your expectations for ECMS in the future?

Hamamoto: First of all, I would like the two services we currently use, international courier delivery and inventory management, to continue at the current quality. Because we do things that are unusual, we sometimes make unusual requests, but I would like the status quo to be maintained in a win-win relationship so that we can do business together.

We also want you to be proactive in looking ahead to the future and figuring out how to deliver products more quickly.

Looking at the keywords bringing in traffic from Taiwan, "ECMS" is included. It seems that its name recognition in Taiwan is rising quite a bit. I'm really looking forward to seeing ECMS grow even more in the future.

Moto: I'm eager to see service expanded to the US and Australia. Also, I think we're living in an age where the world is closer than ever, so I'd like to see a service where packages loaded onto ECMS' own flights are delivered within 1-2 days.

--Please tell us about your company's future prospects.

Moto: Our company is currently able to provide services in 134 countries. This is because each country has completely different languages, consumption trends, customs, and best-selling items, so we need a method that is specialized for each country.

We would like to strengthen localization to increase distribution volume in each country and create an even larger market.

Hamamoto: Our live commerce broadcasts have been extremely well-received, so we'd like to continue putting more effort into them. We want to build relationships of trust by communicating in real time, so we do a variety of things, not just explain products and introduce manufacturers, but also order popular Japanese food and broadcast ourselves eating it. It's really hard work, but it's also fun.

Our company is a B2B service, so people overseas purchase Japanese products and sell them in stores or online, reaching consumers. We even send them to countries that people have never heard of. From the consumer's perspective, these are products they may never have come across in their lifetime. When I think about the fact that we are the ones connecting these two, I feel that it is a very interesting job.