Ayumi, a Japanese shoe brand for elderly females, provides colourful designs and allows customers to customise their left and right shoe size when ordering. Meanwhile, Denka no Yamaguchi, an electric appliances retailer, offers special services to loyal customers such as feeding pet dogs or watering plants if a customer has to leave town. Ishizaka, a recycling factory, provides its environmentally friendly facilities to customers in order to connect with the community. These successful Japanese brands have a philosophy of offering special services that go beyond the product itself by not focusing only on sales.
Kritinee Pongtanalert, associate director of the Master of Business Administration at the Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy, Chulalongkorn University. Photo: Kritinee Pongtanalert
These three cases are part of the column Makoto Marketing in the online magazine The Cloud by Kritinee Pongtanalert, associate director of the Master of Business Administration at the Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy, Chulalongkorn University. Kritinee studied in Japan for her undergraduate degree in economics as well as her graduate and postgraduate degrees in marketing, so she is an expert in Japanese marketing. The word makoto literally means sincerity in Japanese, so the title of the column refers to sincere Japanese marketing strategy. After writing the column for three years, Kritinee recently released a book with the same title with 20 case studies. As a lecturer of a marketing course at Chula, Kritinee added an exercise in each chapter as well.
"Each chapter begins with the introduction of an entrepreneur who consulted with me about his/her problem. Then, I link their case with that of a Japanese company. At the end of each chapter, there is an exercise so readers can get involved and not just read. They can review and analyse the case. Answers are also provided. It is similar to a marketing textbook," said Kritinee.
Life spoke with Kritinee about Japanese companies and their philosophy of including sincerity and kindness in their marketing strategy.
Can you tell us how Japan's Beloved Companies by Koji Sakamoto changed your perception of business?
I was a graduate student at that time. I was curious to learn about companies that valued customer happiness. I remembered my eyes filled with tears while reading the book because I felt touched by the kindness of people in the company to others. For example, a company hired an intellectually disabled person to work with them even though they did not have to do that. There was also a taxi company with drivers who took care of lonely elders. The book provided a glimpse of business that I had never seen before. Businesses are always about profit and how to grow but this book collected cases that did not relate to money.
Makoto Marketing by Kritinee Pongtanalert. Photo: Suwitcha Chaiyong
How did you select companies to write about in the Makoto Marketing column?
First, the company should be trying to help someone who is in their circle of customers or society in general. It can be a recycling factory that tries to build friendships with the community or a chocolate company that intends to create excellent products so customers fall in love with their chocolates. Next, these companies must not do anything superficial and be attentive to details. Lastly, I must be moved by the actions the company took to help others.
Can you explain more about rinen, or the Japanese philosophy of business?
Rinen is about the mission, vision and value that a company tries to preserve and maintain. It is the core that helps a company decide what it should or should not do. For example, Ippodo, a matcha tea company, has a philosophy of passing the charms of Japanese tea to the next generation, so they do not focus on foreign tea or coffee. They always focus on matcha tea. If they did not have this philosophy, they might have marketed bubble tea like other companies. However, with their philosophy, they created a matcha latte and then opened a café that demonstrates how to make tea, and tea lovers responded to this positively.
Rinen attracts similar people by creating harmony among employees. A company will choose new graduates with attitudes that suit them. For example, Muji attracts new graduates who are kind and prefer simple lives, while Uniqlo draws young people who are energetic and have international exposure. When employees work among people who have similar attitudes, they have less conflict and can work together longer.
How can Japan have many 100-year-old companies?
They value that they work on. A 500-year-old red bean jelly shop used to believe that they wanted to serve dessert only to royal people and palace employees. If they were not there, those people would not have excellent dessert. After the ruling system changed, the company's goal changed to make a great dessert for Japanese customers. They realised their value and knew why they made red bean jelly. They saw people wait for their dessert and it made them proud. The red jelly bean has sentimental value and when a father is dedicated to customers, their children will want to carry on the business because they realise customers love their products.
Another reason is Japanese people try to pass on their last names to the next generation. In some businesses, as a business owner, the son-in-law will change to use his wife's last name. When someone outside works on the business, he brings new ideas or strategies. For example, Hikawa used to sell mosquito nets. After the son-in-law of the company ran the business, he launched a new successful product -- a futon mixed between cotton and fabric.
How are Japanese staff trained to provide great customer service?
Omotenashi is a type of hospitality service. Staff will not expect anything from customers and even praise their actions. At a hotel, when customers leave their rooms for dinner, the staff prepare futons for them. The staff will never wait for a tip because it is not expected and they just want customers to sleep well after dinner. In general, expectations like a high sales target stresses the staff. Japanese service staff want customers to be happy with their service and do not require money as extra compensation. Long-standing companies that provide great service around the world are those that treat their customers well. They believe that if employees are not happy, employees cannot pass on their happiness to customers.
How can the Japanese adapt their attentive strategy to online marketing?
Japanese companies pay attention to users' online experiences. Their websites are user-friendly. A Thai Japanese recipe website, Cookpad, provides more than just a recipe such as tom yum goong or kaphrao. Cookpad considers realistic elements such as checking to see what ingredients are in the refrigerator and what can be cooked from those ingredients. Users can search for a recipe by typing in keywords such as egg and pork to see what can be made from items they have. The company is attentive to detail and reality even though it is an online service.
What is your most memorable feedback from readers?
A high school student wrote to me that he used to only think about a business that makes a profit. However, the Makoto Marketing column made him realise what attentive businesses are like and he wanted to run this kind of business. I was overwhelmed that my column could change a reader's perspective, especially,someone from the new generation.
What is your expectation from launching the book?
I hope that people do not see marketing strategy as only sales or sales promotion. Marketing can make other people happy. Many people question if it is possible for marketing to make people kinder and allow them to do good deeds. My answer is it can make people better and bring happiness.
Makoto Marketing is a regular column on readthecloud.co. Photo: https://readthecloud.co
