-Ho Brewing's new EC strategy: A new challenge in craft beer "subscription sales"

[ashammi228]

Yo-Ho Brewing Co. is a craft beer manufacturer known for its many successful initiatives that create passionate fans, such as active communication through its owned media and social media, and hosting the "Yona Yona Ale Super Banquet" event that brings together beer fans.

The company is currently focusing on increasing the number of chinese overseas british database new members for its craft beer "subscription-type" service, and is also working to make the most of the voices of its "fans" in its own e-commerce business.

This time, we spoke with Takuro Mochizuki, who oversees Yo-Ho Brewing's entire consumer business, and Takuya Katsuma, who is in charge of the official online shopping site, Yona Yona no Sato Main Store, about the company's current e-commerce strategy.

TOPICS
Retail, in-house e-commerce, e-commerce malls: what are the roles of each?
Introduces "Casual Course" for three-month contracts to company's EC site, focusing on increasing new membership numbers
We place importance on customer feedback to generate high interest in EC
Retail, in-house e-commerce, e-commerce malls: what are the roles of each?
- Today, please tell us about Yo-Ho Brewing's e-commerce business. First of all, could you tell us how the official online shopping site "Yona Yona no Sato Main Store" was launched?

Mochizuki: Actually, originally, EC was something we started out of necessity.

Yo-Ho Brewing is a company founded in Karuizawa in 1997. When we started selling "Yona Yona Ale," Japan was experiencing an unprecedented boom in craft beer, and our products were making considerable sales through real-world outlets in the Karuizawa market, which attracts around 8 million customers from the Tokyo metropolitan area annually.

Takuro Mochizuki
Takuro Mochizuki, Business Manager, Consumer Business Division, Yo-Ho Brewing Co., Ltd.
But then, in 1999, the "craft beer boom" came to an end. It was exactly the time to start targeting the whole country. Once the boom was over, no matter how hard we tried to sell to wholesalers, they would tell us, "We don't have shelves for craft beer," and we found ourselves in a situation where we wanted to sell but couldn't. With no sales channels, we turned to e-commerce with our backs against the wall . After that, with success on Rakuten Ichiba, where we focused, word of mouth spread, and we gradually gained recognition and have grown to where we are today. We opened our own e-commerce site, "Yona Yona no Sato Main Store," in 2013.

Due to their relationships with their business partners, it is difficult for major beer manufacturers to directly enter the e-commerce market themselves, but our company has grown by selling directly to individual customers through e-commerce since its inception , and we now have a large user base.

Official online shopping site "Yonayona no Sato Main Store"
The official online shopping site, "Yona Yona no Sato Main Store," offers not only an EC store, but also a wealth of content, including "reading materials" for enjoying craft beer.
- Your products are now being stocked in major convenience stores and supermarkets, but how do you currently position your own e-commerce business?

Mochizuki: Our distribution scale has grown, and the majority of people who first become aware of our products are at retail stores such as convenience stores and supermarkets. This is because the majority of our company's overall sales come through distribution.

That route is by far the most common way to raise awareness, but there are only two or three items at most that are available in retail stores. Only a limited number of items are available at retail stores. About one in ten people who drink "Yona Yona Ale" like the product, but those who want to try more varieties have no choice but to buy it through EC .

Keima: Our mission is "Taste in beer! Happiness in life!" Most beers sold in Japan are of the same type (beer style) as "pilsner" and have a similar taste. However, we at Yo-Ho Brewing make many different kinds of craft beer with different tastes, aromas, and colors. We want to create a new culture in the Japanese beer market, which has only had uniform tastes, and bring a little happiness to beer fans. That's what we're doing, so if we just have people buy our beer at a convenience store once and think, "That was delicious," and that's it, we won't reach our goal.

I think that the existence of EC is important at times like that. In fact, many of the customers who come to our EC site are highly loyal, having learned about our products at convenience stores and become fans of them . The volume of traffic from