INTERVIEW 04
The challenge of digitization for
survival.
Supported by Digital
Marketing
Director, Marketing
Division
Shunsuke Kikuchi
Digital growth is aeon growth. That's why we proactively take on challenges.
Aeon is one of Japan's largest group companies with sales of 8.6 trillion yen. While the field is a scale that would not be reached even if the sales of major e - commerce sites were added together, the breakdown is mainly offline, including actual stores. Our goal at Aeon Smart Technology (AST)is to strengthen the Aeon Group's IT infrastructure and expand digital sales. With a declining population and deflation continuing, Aeon's growth cannot be expected if we continue to focus heavily on offline operations. We believe that digital growth is the growth of Aeon, and we are taking proactive steps to achieve this. Conversely, as companies that have developed online have less room to grow, I believe that an unknown future lies ahead for Aeon, which is becoming increasingly borderless in OMO (Online, Margins, Offline *1).
To this end, AST is integrating dozens of apps from group companies through iAEON, the total AEON app, and integrating IDs to create a foundation for AEON. Using that foundation, the interaction with customers is digitally accelerated, and the application becomes connected to AEON from "waking up in the morning to sleeping at night" without being constrained by store business hours. Furthermore, it is our mission to provide services that customers "want to connect to".
- Integration of online and offline. In China, it is advocated that online and offline marketing measures should not be separated but are linked.
Develop a holistic application "iAEON" and launch a data - based strategy.
The mission of the Marketing Department, of which I am director, is broadly divided into three parts.
First, the growth of iAEON, AEON's total application released in 2021. We need to improve quantity (number of users) and quality (UI/UX and customer experience). We will focus on nurturing it to become the digital core of AEON.
The second point is the promotion of data utilization: behind the 8 trillion yen in sales is a vast amount of data, but the method of utilization is still in the trial - and - error stage. The Aeon DMC (Digital Management Center) in China is ahead of us in this area, so we need to use the expertise of people like us with digital experience to develop a data strategy.
The third is to provide solutions that delight customers and external companies using digital infrastructure. Our goal is to develop AEON from a company that used to "sell products" into a company that "sells things. For example, Aeon's strength as a company that has a "place" where it can utilize its infrastructure and devices will be demonstrated in the development of advertising using tools such as digital signage and beacons.
In order to promote these initiatives, we have assembled a diverse group of people with diverse careers and skill sets, and we are committed to creating an environment in which each member can demonstrate 100% and 120% of his or her capabilities.
Be humble, be professional, and be an organization that is not afraid of failure and challenge.
In order for AEON, one of Japan's largest retailers, to continue to evolve and provide services and products that have never been offered before in a speedy manner, measures must be thought through and implemented. In general, the effort required to advance things to 90% completion is only 30% of the effort required to achieve 10% completion; instead of using effort to achieve 10% completion, we try out various measures in an agile manner, releasing at the 90% stage. That is the digital culture.
However, it is not just a matter of adding more services. By communicating with the Aeon people (store clerks) who stand in the stores, we should be able to create services that are truly needed by the field and customers from the customer's perspective. All Aeon employees, led by President Hanbu, are humble. Although we are a digital organization with a relatively young age group and mainly mid - career employees, but I believe it is important to fuse Aeon's culture with the speed of digitalization.
The Marketing Division has just been established. Because we are an organization that brings together a variety of digital talents, we want to be a team that has a "common DNA" and understands each other's differences. In our team, failure is never blamed. Our strength will come from an environment in which we can demonstrate a spirit of challenge, saying, "Don't be afraid of failure or challenge. We are waiting for those who want to work in a big field where "consumers buy things the most in Japan.”
