Yamamoto Sangyo Co., Ltd. is a carpet manufacturing company based in Osaka. This year marks the 102nd year since the company was founded, and the company manufactures carpets for hotels and offices, as well as optional mats for automobiles. Until now, the company has only handled B2B business, but in 2021 it started a B2C e-commerce business with MUTE , a soundproofing specialist website. We spoke with Shuya Yamamoto, head of the Corporate Planning Department, about what prompted the company to start e-commerce and their work with us so far.
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What prompted me to start EC?
──First of all, please tell us what prompted you to start e-commerce.
Yamamoto-san: There were two reasons why we started EC. The first was that we wanted to produce products that only we could offer to the market. Until now, we had been manufacturing products as a manufacturer and providing them to B2B customers, but we were limited to releasing products that B2B customers wanted.
However, at a time when we were discussing within the company that we should produce products that are not what a large number of customers are looking for, but are highly designed or highly functional, and that are what some customers truly desire, we thought that we should produce such products. This is the background to the launch of MUTE, which is a little unique, but we wanted to enter a field where we can contribute to society.
The second reason is that when we thought about what kind of product we could use to contribute to society using our technology, one of the values that could maximize the value of flooring was "soundproofing," and since this was a major issue for general B2C users, we started our soundproof carpet business on EC, where it is easier to reach general users.
Carpet samples line the walls of the office.
──So your business started as B2C rather than e-commerce.
Yamamoto: Yes, we didn't originally want to start an e-commerce business. We simply thought that there were two major reasons for doing so: to create products that would please our customers, and to launch a new B2C business called MUTE in order to achieve that goal.
--So you've gone from mainly distributing products that can be sold through the existing supply chain, or so-called general-interest products, to specializing more in individual customers.
Yamamoto: Yes, that's the biggest part. However, even if we wanted to provide something that could contribute to our customers' lives, we were concerned that we wouldn't be able to provide the service sustainably unless it was viable as a business. When building a B2C business, there are three ways to do it: selling in a brick-and-mortar store, opening a store in a mall if it's EC, or building it in-house.
Since a store requires a significant investment to set up, it is risky not knowing whether the products will be accepted. Moreover, there are problems with soundproofing nationwide, and only a select few people can access a store, so we decided not to do it.
Next, they compared an e-commerce mall with their own company website, and concluded that a company-run e-commerce site, which can be freely built rather than a mall, would be able to fully express the brand's worldview and value and communicate it to customers in an easy-to-understand way. Ultimately, they decided to start their e-commerce business on Shopify.
We often talk about this within the company, but we think of mall-type EC as being like a supermarket, where customers make systematic purchases by referring to reviews in addition to side-by-side price comparisons. Of course, we make many such purchases in our daily lives, but we also think that people often buy expensive products or products they are fond of at brand-operated stores. This time, we needed to convey the worldview and functions in a story-like way, so we thought that our own in-house EC, which we could build and operate, would be a better fit.
──We often use the same analogy, but malls are often premised on price competition. In addition, a high level of service is also required, and SEO is given top priority for delivery speed such as same-day shipping, but your company's products are basically not required to arrive tomorrow, are they?
I think that's exactly right. There are some areas where competing on price is completely meaningless, and the same is true when considering profit margins. If people can buy it without putting it on the mall, I think it's better to offer it on our own EC site.
I understand that the high fees for mall-type services are marketing fees for attracting customers, and I think that's a good thing. On the other hand, in the case of in-house EC, you have to build your own touch points for users. Both are costly methods, but I think in-house EC often pays dividends for you. In malls, it's important to pay the fees each time and put your products forward well, but these tend to be short-term measures, and in the end you have to absorb or pass on the costs somewhere.
Although it is necessary to undertake various measures with our own EC, we can consider marketing from a medium- to long-term perspective, and we can expect to reduce costs by increasing our brand power in the medium to long term and optimizing our marketing mix. This includes not only SEO, which we often receive advice from your company, but also SNS (※Note Pinterest) and advertising management, which we have requested from you. Compared to a mall, we can overwhelmingly highlight our own strengths, so that is what I like about doing our own EC.
Background of the request to us
-- When you launched your e-commerce site, the setup was done by another vendor. What made you decide to contact us?
Yamamoto-san: First, I was looking for a company that met three requirements. Specifically, they needed to be able to handle EC advertising , be able to plan strategies (consulting) , and be flexible .
Among the various vendors out there, I think there are quite a lot of companies that say, "We can only do production" or "We can only do advertising," but it is difficult for a company of our level to distinguish between them, and when you have to try out various things and go through the PDCA cycle, it can be difficult to work with a vendor that only provides services within one framework. Even if each field is broken down into smaller parts, it is often not optimal for the whole, so it was very helpful that they could provide total support across multiple fields.
For example, with a typical advertising agency, they would likely talk about the points that users access, such as "Let's get more visitors to this page to increase CVR" or "Let's change the touch points for traffic." However, your company analyzes things such as user behavior on the site, and from there you can make hypotheses and make suggestions, which is really helpful.
In the case of this renewal, the suggestion was, "If it's difficult to visualize the installation, customers will refrain from purchasing, so let's take lots of photos of the installation." It was important to be able to receive a wide range of suggestions from across the entire EC site. Moreover, it's great to be able to easily consult with us by chat or phone when we have some problems, and that's a point we focused on.
──Thank you very much. Our greatest strength is that we handle everything from upstream to downstream of e-commerce, so we are very happy that you consider this to be your biggest advantage.
You mentioned advertising, but since this is a business, it is not our business objective to achieve results through advertising. There is no point in focusing only on advertising figures, so in the end, we look at how much it compares to sales, how much sales were generated at what cost, and so on. What's more, we also place importance on how much profit we were able to generate.
Yamamoto: Yes. I always think about maximizing total profits and making continuous profits over the next three to five years, not just over a few months.
When you think about it like that, one way to do it is to advertise in a way that will create a buzz on social media for a short period of time. I think there are ways to do that, but our customers are not interested in that sort of thing. Our goal is to provide products that are truly trustworthy and can provide relief to customers who have been suffering up until now, so we are grateful that they understand the brand's worldview, tone, and other details and can provide true total support.
What are your thoughts on the service and what efforts have been made so far?
──This overlaps with what you've said so far, but having worked with us for about a year and a half, could you tell us your honest impressions of our service and what you are lacking in terms of what you find lacking?
Yamamoto-san: No, there's nothing that I'm not satisfied with (laughs). I think there are three main points that I appreciate: their reliability, their proactiveness, and their prompt and detailed response.
First of all, in terms of reliability, we also ask your company to manage our advertising. In advertising, the KPIs are surely ROAS and CPA improvements, but you respond carefully and in detail while verifying hypotheses about what will improve what numbers by doing. By entrusting it to your company, we have seen stable growth in sales and profits, so that is something we value highly.
Next, regarding proactiveness, many EC support companies and support companies that we had previously worked with would not give us advice unless we asked first. I think this is a pretty important point, because companies like ours that have never worked in EC often don't know anything and are unable to ask questions in the first place.
We receive detailed reports*¹ from your company every month, and we are very grateful that they proactively suggest smart, detailed things that ordinary advertising agencies cannot, such as "For your current sales and operating methods, Shopify's Premium Plan*² would be more beneficial," or "It would be convenient to use this delivery app." It's really helpful that they are proactive in their actions.
*¹ LookerStudio is the basis for monthly analysis reports.
*² Shopify plans. There are plans ranging from the Basic Plan at $25/month to Shopify Plus at $2000/month, and sales commissions vary depending on the plan. As your sales increase, you can reduce sales commissions by switching to a higher plan.
The third point, speed and attention to detail, is how they respond carefully to even the smallest of questions. For example, when I asked them about not receiving emails from customers, they would reply by saying, "Let's set up your domain like this*³." I honestly don't even know what to do even after looking into it! They also support me with the kind of things I don't really understand, like how to register products, and I really appreciate their quick and detailed responses to even basic questions about Shopify and EC in general.
*³ Domain authentication of the sender email address with Shopify. If you do not authenticate the domain of the sender email address, the sender (From) of the email that is received by the customer may be displayed as "via shopifyemail.com" or the email may be marked as "spam" when it is received by the customer.
That's right. When I was working at a business company running an e-commerce site, I used to ask for consulting services, and as you say, if you don't ask questions, you often won't get anything.
Yamamoto-san: That's right. I'm paying the fees, but there are quite a few times when there seems to be no progress for a month, and while I understand that it can't be helped because of that contract, it still makes me feel unsatisfied.
--That's something we're very conscious of. Even if it's just a little bit within a month, we try to raise the points for improvement, even if they are really small things, and we always look at things that we should do now and take some kind of action.
Yamamoto-san: I understand. I really feel that way when I work with your company.
-- Speaking of enjoying e-commerce to the fullest, what I personally look forward to is simply making a proposal, having it adopted, improving the numbers, and then being able to make further proposals.
Yamamoto: I think that these aspects make the two of us a perfect match.
Another thing I'm happy about from your company is the app. I've heard that you have a lot of experience with other companies, so the practical support you provide, such as "This app is good," "Here's how you can use it," and "You can set it up like this," based on the knowledge and experience you've gained there, is really helpful. Even if we searched for reviews ourselves, we wouldn't know at what level everyone was talking about, and each company has different business scales and the expertise of the people in charge, so I'm very grateful that you can make suggestions that are tailored to our company.
--It's true that app reviews vary greatly depending on the situation of the business. Apps reviewed by large businesses are not necessarily a good fit for businesses with small start-ups, and vice versa.
Background of the EC site renewal
-- I think it was about a year after I started supporting them that they started talking about a renewal. What was the main purpose of the renewal?
Yamamoto-san: Our goal was simply to expand the business. In the first year, we had many concerns, such as "Will it sell?" and "Can we operate it?", so we ran it on a trial basis. Thankfully, we didn't have any major problems or complaints, sales got on track, and we received a lot of positive feedback from customers. At that stage, we were looking for ways to expand the MUTE business even further, and we aimed to develop a wide range of products that could provide more value to our customers.
However, our previous EC site was set up to highlight one product (Soundproofing Specialists), making it difficult to develop pages with multiple products. Therefore, we thought it would be possible to ask your company to handle everything from design to completion so that the features and value of each product could be properly conveyed to customers.
--I think that at the regular meeting, we were asked if there were any companies that could build the site. We said, "No, we'll definitely do it." And we moved forward. (laughs)
Yamamoto-san: Yes, that's right. The timing of the reopening was delayed, but it was supposed to be around autumn last year (2022).
We are also grateful for your response when the timing of our reopening was delayed. This was a difficult time for manufacturing. Although the coronavirus had subsided to some extent, logistics (including overseas) were in chaos due to the impact of the situation overseas, and there was a great fluctuation in production capacity, so the manufacturing industry in Japan was in a state of chaos to some extent. The development of new products was also delayed as a result, and as a result, the photo shoot schedule was also delayed, but your company was happy to accommodate us.
What I thought was really impressive was that they proceeded with the site design without any product photos, and then agreed to replace the photos later on. I'm really grateful for that.
──That's right. To be honest, at first we talked about how it would be difficult to proceed without photos. However, Yamamoto-san basically told us that the MUTE brand image would remain unchanged, so we were able to finish it with the image of existing products.
Yamamoto-san: In fact, when we finished, the photos fit perfectly, and the quality of the site we created was overwhelmingly better than before. Your designers were really amazing. Thank you so much for that.
Top page before and after renewal
Changes after renovation, impressions, etc.
--It's only been about three weeks since the renewal, but how is it going? Please include any feedback from within your company or from customers, if any.
*⁴ Reopening on June 1, 2023
Yamamoto-san: We're getting more inquiries and people saying, "This is exactly what I wanted!", so I'm really glad we decided to renew the product. We just launched, so it will take some time for sales of the new products to follow, but we already have customers who are happy with the product, so it feels really good, and I think it will continue to grow.
Another positive aspect is that the renewal has further solidified the overall image of the brand. When developing new products, it has become easier to explain to our suppliers who we are selling to. Also, it has become easier for us to simply unify our company on what kind of design we should use and what functions we should add, which is a huge factor.
──In that case, your company's customers are originally a target demographic with a fairly narrow set of attributes, aren't they? If you release a new product this time and the response increases again, would that be a success?
Yamamoto-san: Yes, if we continue to expand our business along those lines, I have a feeling that we will definitely be able to get more people to buy our products. Especially since it's an e-commerce site, it's easy to understand the user attributes, and we can get a sense of customer reactions in numerical terms.
──In terms of numbers, it hasn't been long since the renewal so there isn't much data available, but by consolidating product information*5, the average engagement time has increased significantly since the renewal.
Product page after renewal
*⁵ Product information consolidation. Previously, there were separate product pages for colors, sets, and individual sales, and product features were all consolidated onto one page.
Yamamoto-san: (Looking at the data) Amazing. One of the aims of this renewal was to have people take a closer look at the product information, so this change is good. There are several values we want to provide, but when renewing the site, we were very conscious of conveying everything about the product on one page.
──On the other hand, engagement time on the homepage is shorter.
Yamamoto-san: That's great. That was one of our aims. Being able to quickly find the product was also a key point. When we were renewing the site, we were very conscious of conveying everything about the product on one page.
We had many meetings while looking at reference sites, and I was very happy with the final product. It's easier to read, and I think the information is included in an appropriate format, so I think it's really easy for customers to understand.
What you can expect from us in the future
──Finally, I would like to ask you if there are any expectations you have for our company in the future.
Yamamoto-san: This is about our company's situation, but until now I have basically been running the business on my own. I was not that knowledgeable about EC, so I think your company made proposals that were tailored to that.
We have been able to expand our business so far with your cooperation, so we would like to expand the number of EC members with specialized knowledge. So, although it will not be a team-to-team relationship, we would like you to cooperate in more in-depth areas and expand our business.
Web marketing is a broad term, but there is a lot that goes into it, and I believe there is still much that can be incorporated into even the creation of a single page.
As one example, one of your previous suggestions to make the sample ordering banner always visible*⁶ has been extremely effective. Until now, customers only noticed that there were free samples available after opening the product page, but now customers who just want to try one out can access them immediately, so I hope we can continue to work together on similar initiatives.
*⁶ Sample order banner: When displayed on a smartphone, a link to a free sample is placed at the bottom of the screen. This allows customers to pick up a free sample before purchasing, increasing the number of customers who check the quality of the product before purchasing.
──Thank you. It's true that you are in charge of everything by yourself, from marketing to budget planning and of course merchandising, so your job is to promote the business, and you're not a person solely in charge of EC.
Yamamoto: That's right. It's physically quite difficult.
--If we can move in the direction of providing support as a team, I believe we will be able to increase the speed of the PDCA cycle and achieve even greater growth than before.
Yamamoto: Yes. I would definitely like to move forward with the hiring process so that this can become a reality.
--We are looking forward to the day when we can work together as a team. Thank you for today.
Click here for examples of MUTE Soundproofing Specialty's work
