"Commerce Marketing Conference―Customer Experience (CX) Transforms Brand Value" Held. Vol.3

From left: Mr. Yasufumi Fujii of Beebit and Mr. Katsumasa Yagi of Dentsu Digital Inc.

In Part 3, Mr. Yasufumi Fujii, Head of East Asia Sales at Beebit and author of "After Digital: Surviving in an Era Without Offline," took the stage. He engaged in a discussion with Mr. Katsumasa Yagi, Executive Officer and Head of the Digital Transformation Division at Dentsu Digital Inc.

Mr. Fujii first introduced Ping An Insurance Group as a recent case study from China. According to Mr. Fujii, Ping An Insurance Group is a prime example of a company that has successfully achieved digital transformation. Despite typically being an insurance company with few customer touchpoints, it has succeeded in acquiring customer data by developing digital lifestyle services.

Among the group's initiatives, the "Ping An Good Doctor" app has been particularly successful. It currently has approximately 200 million users. The app provides access to Ping An Insurance's network of doctors, enabling users to receive free consultations via chat. If further diagnosis is needed, users can book appointments with physicians.

Furthermore, the app incorporates a feature that converts daily steps into points. Accumulated points can be exchanged for health-related products. Since users must register their daily step count once a day, opening the app daily becomes a habit.

"Ping An Insurance salespeople actively recommend this app to users," explains Mr. Fujii. "By getting users to register, they can collect user data. Based on the analysis of this data, they can then conduct sales tailored to the individual's situation. This eliminates the need for pushy sales tactics." Mr. Fujii further points out that what is termed "New Retail" in China refers to a world where online and offline channels are increasingly integrated. Citing Alibaba's Jack Ma's statement that "e-commerce will eventually disappear," he elaborates: "This means the 'E' in e-commerce will vanish. In China, where New Retail is taking hold, customers are already becoming unaware of whether they are currently online or offline."

Building on Fujii's overview of the Chinese situation, Yagi offered his perspective: "Attempting something similar in Japan would require integrating customer IDs across all services, presenting a high barrier. I don't think the same conditions as China will materialize." That said, he argued Japanese companies should adopt certain trends emerging from China's changes. As one example, Fujii introduced the case of the taxi-hailing app DiDi.

"When interviewing drivers rated as 'best drivers' on DiDi, I heard them say, 'Since starting with DiDi, I've become a better person.' While user ratings certainly influence this, the collection of driving data likely encourages safer and more comfortable driving. Crucially, the system rewards drivers with higher pay for providing excellent, customer-satisfying service. There's much to learn from this mechanism where driver incentives directly translate into positive user experiences," he explained.

Summarizing the panel discussion, Mr. Yagi stated, "We've entered an era where even manufacturers can connect employees and customers directly. This means every business is becoming a service provider. Crucially, becoming a service provider requires creating systems like DiDi's, where customers and employees can interact enjoyably and operate autonomously."

He further noted, "When a service provider opens up this mechanism to other companies, it becomes a platform provider." He advocated for the necessity of considering manufacturers' commerce marketing within this worldview where all businesses become service providers.

Starting next time, we will cover Parts 4 and 5, which introduced 'Solutions from Dentsu Group Companies,' in two installments.