Featured in BizSapo Fukuoka

We were featured in BizSapo Fukuoka, which is published by the Fukuoka Small and Medium Enterprise Center on the 10th of every month.

It was used for a two-page interview about my work and also on the cover.

BizSupport Fukuoka: A management support magazine packed with the latest information useful for small and medium-sized business management

Interview transcription

Utilizing expert advice in store design and product development

Japlish is a company that plans, manufactures, and sells leather products that are made in Japan. Its workshop and store are located in Hakata Ward, Fukuoka City. The leather they use is domestically produced cowhide, with consistent quality. They use soft leather that is tanned by a processing company in Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture. While they accept custom orders, the store also stocks over 150 items, including bags, wallets, and stationery. Representative Nagashima Takateru says, "I've been passionate about leather craft since I was a student, and I wanted to become a leather craftsman in the future. He says that the advice he received from experts dispatched by the Fukuoka Prefecture Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion Center (a public interest incorporated foundation) was "very helpful in setting up the store, attracting customers, and expanding business."

Became independent as a leather craftsman

Representative Nagashima got a job after graduating from university. However, in pursuit of his dream, he changed jobs to leather bag manufacturer Hertz Co., Ltd. (Shibuya Ward, Tokyo), where he began to learn leather product making in earnest and hone his skills. In 2007, when the company opened a store in Fukuoka, he volunteered to work there. In 2009, at the age of 30, he decided to go independent. In 2010, he established an atelier and shop in Minato, Chuo Ward, Fukuoka City. He moved to his current store in May 2023. Taking advantage of the move, he requested the center to send in an expert. In order to take advantage of the store's convenient location on the first floor facing the road, he received guidance on themes such as exterior design, store design, and product display.

Advice from the customer's perspective directly leads to purchases

The dispatched expert was an experienced advisor who has worked on numerous store displays, and he visited the store once a month for five months to receive advice. For example, he advised creating a store layout that would be inviting to customers, adjusting the height of the shelves where products are displayed to be at a female eye level, displaying products in a way that makes them easy to pick up, using helpful Japanese for pop-up labels, giving each product a story, and unifying the interior with antique-style decorations. Representative Nagashima reflected, "I tend to focus more on production than sales, so the advice he received from the customer's perspective, which I don't even realize myself, helped increase the frequency of visits and improve purchase rates."

Attract more customers by utilizing data and the web

We were also advised to collect customer attraction data for customer analysis. This includes what prompted and why customers came to the store, their age group, gender, number of people, and what parts of the store they looked at. The most important thing is the length of stay. Customers who stay longer are more likely to make a purchase, so we place great importance on communication with customers. We are still sharing customer attraction data with experts, and receiving advice via email. We are also gradually receiving more orders from overseas who have seen our products on social networking sites. In the future, we plan to use the web to increase our brand awareness, with the aim of attracting more customers.

CEO's voice: Representative Nagashima

The company and brand name "Japlish" refers to the Japanese-made English used by Japanese travelers abroad. I personally enjoy traveling abroad, and my initial concept was to create leather bags that people would want to take with them on their travels. I also liked the humorous meaning behind the name.
Thanks to the display specialist, the store has become more attractive, so the next step is to increase awareness of the store and, with the aim of also increasing sales through online shopping, we have been hiring a web specialist since September.