Anchor Japan efforts to respond to great EC changes

Anchor Japan Co., Ltd. Director COO Saruwatari

In the EC market, which is said to change quickly, 2020 may be a particularly dedic year.In the market as a whole, the use rate of EC is increasing, while many businesses are struggling to respond to changes in the environment.Meanwhile, the Anker Group has been using EC, especially Amazon from the beginning, and has grown rapidly.We asked Mr. COO Saruwatari Saruwatari, Director of Anchor Japan Co., Ltd., a Japanese corporation, about how to respond to the changes that are currently happening and the movement of the expected EC market in the future.

Sudden growth from a startup that makes use of EC

Anker Japan Corporation (Anchor Japan Co., Ltd.), an Anker Group's Japanese subsidiary, which boasts a track record in digital -related products, mainly in the United States, Japan, and Europe, was established in January 2013.I think it is unusual for hardware startups.Hardware has an inventory, so it has the difficulty of operating and costly.However, by using EC as the main, we were able to reduce the load on teams and operations construction.One of the reasons for Amazon in EC was that there was a FBA mechanism.If you have a product page, and if you have stock in the FBA warehouse, you can arrange from shipping to deposit on Amazon.Such an efficient place was very attractive as a startup.In addition, even if the business is expanded globally in each country, the system on the back side is the same, so you can level up the operation to some extent.Furthermore, if it is usually a retail store, the payment site tends to be longer if the transaction history is shallow, but Amazon can cash in in 1-2 weeks.If you can collect the cache quickly, you can turn it into the next development.This was very attractive for a startup company.

Division of our own EC and Amazon

Platforms such as Amazon are charged, so the profit margin is lower than in the company EC.However, there is a great advantage to attracting customers.It costs money to attract people to our EC.Then I think that attracting customers is out of source and how to win there is what should be done.In fact, when you search for mobile batteries on Amazon, many people buy our products because they are ranked first and have a high reputation.This is my idea, but where to buy it is not a manufacturer, but by the customer.Of course, if you can buy it at your own EC, it is good, but your own EC will have to register as a member and enter card information.Many Japanese accounts such as Amazon and other EC malls are one, and the purchase is completed by 1-2 clicks.So I hope you can buy it on a site that is easy to buy.If you can take a little time, our company EC has a member benefits such as points, but if you want to buy it quickly, we want to provide a place where you can buy it quickly.The most wasteful thing is to leave because it's troublesome to come to the site.Rather than that, I think it is more important to buy it even if the profit margin is slightly lower.

Uniqueness and growth of anchor Japan

Anchor Japan had less than 1 billion yen in the first year and over 10 billion yen in the sixth term.In the past, there were more than 90 % of ECs and most of them were Amazon, but the current EC sales are more than 70 %.Although the EC is not growing, offline growth, such as new transactions with mass retailers and OEMs, is growing.Although it is a foreign -affiliated company, all marketing and sales in Japan have discretion and localized.There is also a product exclusively for Japan, and if you know that it has a PR or sales effect, it is unique that you can manufacture hardware.In some cases, it is made from the Japanese side and is actually manufactured.In fact, a base that has full teams such as marketing, sales, products, and branding like a Japanese subsidiary is special among the Anker groups.This means that it is better to have a firm base in accordance with the Japanese market, the second largest market in the Anker Group.The ANKER Group's development base is located in Shenzhen, China, so it has the advantage that it is physically close and easy to send things.

Efforts behind rapid growth

There is a marketing 4P to extend the business, but in our case, PLACE has been working on PRICT and PROMOTION, as PLACE can be controlled by ourselves, mainly in Amazon.If there is not enough Promotion, you can strengthen it, and if Product is losing, disassemble, analyze the losing elements, and respond with the development department of the headquarters.I was not a person in this industry, I worked as an investment fund and before that.So look at the data, make a hypothesis, and if it doesn't work, it will improve.There was no Ultra C, and the business has been expanded by repeated.Among them, it was strong that Amazon was made into core.The Amazon itself has grown with great momentum, so if I could maintain my share, I was able to grow together.At the same time, the increase in the number of products and types of products has become an important growth driver.There is a lot of cables, lightning, speakers, earphones, robot vacuum cleaners, and projectors, from the only battery and charger.By taking share in each of these categories, you can grow significantly.The fact that KDDI's official battery was manufactured in our OEM in 2015 was also a major event.I think this has expanded the awareness of the brand's brand.Gaining recognition can lead to creditworthiness, so it's the heart of a startup.

Impact of COVID-19

Looking back on the first half of 2020, the inventory is out of stock.We manufacture most products near Shenzhen, the development base, and there were times when employees could not go to work and the factory could not be operated.In addition, due to the issuance of an emergency declaration in Japan, mass retailers have reduced business hours, and directly managed stores have been closed for more than a month, and the number of opportunities for going out has decreased, reducing demand for mobile batteries and has dropped significantly.I did it.On the other hand, the increase in the number of people who use EC has positively for us with high EC share.Despite the strengths of product mixes, the sales of batteries have fallen, but the number of home time and online meetings increased the sales of speakers and projectors.In the future, even if the situation is completely calm, I think that the use of EC will not fall so much.Because, there are many people who have had a feeling of resistance to EC, but it was surprisingly good to use it, and once there is no psychological barrier, do the next shopping.Sometimes you should think that you should buy it at EC.Even those who are reluctant to purchase expensive products at EC will increase the possibility of purchasing the next EC if there is no problem by buying a product in the price range at the EC once.That way, the behavior of consumers to purchase has changed.

What to do in parallel with the enhancement of EC

In the future, EC is an important strategy to continue to share as a stall bone.The measurement ranking of the EC changes every day, so if you take care of it, it will fall in an instant.In addition, as the number of people who do nominations is increasing, I would like to strengthen communication with such people in -house EC.The platform is a place to sell things, but the company EC is divided as a brand expression and a place for communication.However, we do not think it is the best of the best, as the channel that should be emphasized by the same D2C depends on the product and phase.Regarding retail, it seems that you are going back to the times, but there is a desire to expand directly managed stores for a long time, and the policy itself has not changed.A directly managed store, like OOH, has the idea of being aware.Also, in retail stores other than directly managed stores, the product distribution of new categories has not yet been overlooked, so I want to expand it more.Although the number of things that can be purchased as it is by looking at the EC is increasing, some people want to see the real thing as the number of expensive products is increasing.In that sense, I want to increase the number of touch points.Regarding the product category, I will continue to consider product mix.I think that if you sell only the battery, you will not be able to continue your business, so expanding products and sales channels, based on the creation of what you need, will only increase sales.It was confirmed that it could be a risk hedge.I think it is necessary to develop a business strategy including that.

To reflect the voice of the customer

"Empowering Smarter Lives" is a mission of the Anker group.That's what we are aiming for, making your life smart through hardware.The more you charge, the more you can do it for that time, and the robot vacuum cleaner is the same.So, now, the market share of the mobile battery is large, but I'm not sticking there.For example, if the smartphone battery is now 10 times, a mobile battery should not be necessary.Now, in an era where manufacturers and consumers are directly connected, the changes in consumers are changing faster.We have been working to improve the customers' voices and have been working to improve them into better ones, so we would like to continue to focus on them.In fact, all our customer support is a full -time employee, not only receiving inquiries, but also analyzing data, communicating with the development department and quality control department of the headquarters, and making use of it in improvement.For example, one of our products is a multi -port charger, but once a problem occurred in one port, it was a specification that blocked all ports.However, it was inconvenient for customers, so I had to remove the cable from all the ports once and replace it, and if there was no problem, I changed it to a recovery mechanism.When selling via the conventional retail store, customer support tended to be a cost center, but we look at sales data in customer support and value the establishment of a brand through customer experiences.I think that the next hint of ready -made products is a customer support that connects customers.Branding also has a separate full -time team, but branding there is a company.On the other hand, if your purchase experience is a good impression, I think that the vector will be shaken.That's very important, and I think the accumulation is the liver of branding.In addition, we send Amazon's customer review data once a week to the quality control department at Shenzhen's development base.In particular, throwing the content of the data below 3 stars, which is called negative review, and what kind of voice is statistically loud, analyzing any problems with the product if there is an abnormality, or product trouble.When it happens, we are responding early, such as elucidating the cause.

I want to educate the benefits of EC

The most important thing about D2C is that it can be reduced in intermediate margins, but to be able to directly communicate the brand.If you are an EC, you can communicate continuously by obtaining an email address.Also, as in the background of our start of EC, it is a major place to have no physical restrictions such as operations and human resources.I want to enlighten the benefits of EC more.I often speak for seminars, but in fact few people have EC know -how.In particular, there are few people who can teach the use of platforms such as Amazon.However, if the number of manufacturers working on D2C increases, I think that there is also a aspect that the Japanese economy can be expanded.If there are people who are good to sell, but it is difficult to sell, I hope we can cooperate.There are many causes that do not go well because I do not know how to do it, and if I have some basics, it will gradually grow.