Hello! My name is Kigawa, and I work for Bi Natural and Milobina.

Today, I'd like to talk about how a company called Bi-Natural launched a brand called Milobina, and from here on out I'll be talking about something I've never done before. I'm a little worried about what people will think, but let's be honest!

Click here for previous stories.

The beginning is aromatic life magic soap
Until it becomes beautiful and natural

The last time was on August 8, 2011, as a result of changing the Rakuten Market store from Aromatic Life Magic Soap to a new name, Bi Natural.

The customers who used to come in large numbers every day stopped coming to the store...(To be honest, I still don't know why they stopped coming so much...)

Renovation can be really scary if you don't do it carefully! (crying)

Originally, our customer repeat rate was so high that it was said to be in the top three on Rakuten Market.

As those people stopped coming, our sales were literally cut in half in no time! And there's no sign of it rising...

I'm anxious. I'm so anxious!

Until then, it had been called a popular store, but while other stores around it were getting bigger and bigger, the renovated Bi-Natural store was left behind and was no longer recognized as a popular store.

What was decisive was that Rakuten Market holds a big event called the Rakuten Conference every winter, where many stores come together to study, listen to various Rakuten presentations, and meet with friends.

While participating in this event, you have to wear a large name tag around your neck (if you don't, you'll be called out and escorted out), but the name tag is actually a system that lets you know the hierarchy of the store.

Stores with monthly sales of 100 million yen or more are peach-colored.
If monthly sales are 30 million or more, lemon color
If the monthly sales is 10 million or more, it is orange.

It's color-coded like that!

In other words, people who have colored name tags hanging around their stores feel like they are a popular or successful store and many people are approaching them.

picture? Which stores haven't reached that point yet? Yes, it's simply white.

That's why everyone wants to become an orange store, so they work hard at the end of the year.

Bi Natural was also an orange store for a long time, but when I went to a conference one year, the receptionist handed me a white name tag!

Wow, it's finally here...!

I also attended a conference in January of this year, and the student staff I took there for later study asked me a tough question: ``What are the different colors?''

"Umm,

Stores with monthly sales of 100 million yen or more are peach-colored.
If monthly sales are 30 million or more, lemon color
If the monthly sales is 10 million or more, it is orange.

what is it. ”

"Are you serious!? Huh? I don't have any color! Wow, is this Rakuten's ploy to motivate me?"

"When I look at it, I see people of color being talked to, but I don't get talked to at all."

And that's an even tougher word... It's the epitome of an online shop (lol)

Well, this is a bit off topic, but

Sales have started to plummet, and every day I've been thinking about how to get things back up, searching aimlessly for the cause, and trying all kinds of things, but I can't really figure out what to do.

My shoulders are already stiff and my eyes are exhausted. I’m really anxious and anxious and can’t sleep at all! At that time, I was using sleeping pills to sleep...

Now that I think about it, I think it was a combination of reasons.

Up until then, store management involved constantly thinking of great tips for customers that would make them happy, preparing furiously, and writing and sending out e-mail newsletters every day.

I was doing everything by myself, so I had to work hard every day. Naturally, there was almost no time to improve the store or develop new products.

However, the staff in charge of taking orders often suffer from tendonitis due to overuse of their hands. One was my sister and the other was my best friend, so they worked hard together without complaining.

Due to the hectic nature of our management, pages are littered with confusing, incorrect notation, and broken link banners.

We were running a store that irritated customers, such as event dates and days being wrong, typos in the daily e-mail newsletter, and sale dates and days being off.

Maybe that's why...we didn't have many new customers...

At the time, the overall reviews were very good, so I didn't really notice it, but when I look back at the reviews from that time with few stars, there are so many harsh criticisms that it makes me want to cry.

Most of them are

“A terrible store that lures you into buying with sales and discounts!”

“If you can sell it that cheap, you should just lower the list price!”

Something like that.

I like Bi-Natural's products, but the way the store sells and treats customers is bad! We received a lot of honest opinions...

However, at that time, I could not obediently follow that voice because I knew that was the only way to make sales.

There are lots of sales with complicated rules, it looks stupid to buy at the regular price, the store is poorly constructed... I would like to tell people who are familiar with the online shops that I was close with about the beauty and natural beauty of those days.

I was told that I was "sick".

Eh, sick...? !

Essentially, a healthy shop is one where people visit the store every day to find the products they want, and they buy them at a stable price even at regular prices. From time to time, we have sales and limited edition items, allowing you to enjoy shopping at the right time.

However, even though the product was so good and effective, I was running the store as an inexperienced person with no confidence or experience, thinking that it wouldn't sell unless I put it on sale.

I gradually realized that the way I operated my store was the source of my illness.

As I wrote last time, my father was in charge of management, accounting, and human resources matters, and I was only concentrating on sales. There was an overwhelming lack of study and knowledge about what to do.

Another decisive factor was that there was no one else who could create a page other than me. Even though I wanted to improve it, I didn't have enough hands.

Some of my colleagues from those days have gone on to become some of Japan's leading stores, but the crucial difference between them and me is that I spent my days chasing only what was right in front of me. The difference is that they did not neglect their studies for the future.

However, if I don't continue holding events, sales won't increase and I'm afraid that I might have to close my shop someday...

It's just a vicious cycle...!

Now I have to wield a big machete! The current vice president decided to challenge the chairman and me, who had become addicted to sales.

Well, you have courage...

Continue reading in the next post!