Monthly CX [24]Goods Luck, where you can customize and purchase items based on your personal "likes!", was born this way.
How can Dentsu Inc.'s creative expertise contribute to the ever-evolving field of CX (Customer Experience)? "Monthly CX" is a series where members of Dentsu Inc.'s CX specialist division, the "CXCC" (Customer Experience Creative Center), share insights ( Learn more about Monthly CX here ).
Recently, "supporting your favorite"—activities to cheer on beloved idols or characters—has become commonplace. Amidst this trend, the e-commerce site "Goods Luck," where users can customize and purchase one-of-a-kind merchandise, launched on May 21, 2023.
This time, we spoke with Tomoyuki Fukui, who was involved in the site's launch, about the background and features of the service.
Dentsu Inc.
Customer Experience Creative Center
Art Director / CX Planner
Affiliated with the Content Ecosystem Research Institute. Responsible for communication planning encompassing the entire customer experience, extending beyond advertising expression. Also handles original manga and anime development within the content domain. Recipient of the Yomiuri Shimbun Advertising Award, Good Design Award, AD STARS, and others.
"Goods Luck" – Create your own customized goods
Monthly CX: Please tell us about the overview of "Goods Luck".
Fukui: Goods Luck is a service that allows users to customize and create goods featuring their favorite characters, with the cooperation (licensing) of the licensors. It's a collaborative project with KONNEKT INTERNATIONAL (hereafter KONNEKT), which provides an e-commerce platform enabling on-demand product ordering and manufacturing. Dentsu Inc. is responsible for the site's concept design, site design, negotiations with IP rights holders, product development, and advertising/PR.
Recently, more people are enjoying supporting their favorite idols or characters through merchandise, known as "supporting activities." However, such merchandise is primarily released for popular characters. It's not uncommon for lesser-known characters to lack merchandise. Therefore, aiming to give shape to many people's "likes," we launched Goods Luck, where users can freely choose artwork and designs to customize products.
Monthly CX: What kinds of goods can people purchase specifically?
Fukui: Currently, you can buy goods for "ULTRAMAN," which aired on Netflix, and the popular series "Inazuma Eleven," which celebrated its 15th anniversary in August 2023. We also use the Goods Luck system to offer goods for events like "Sayonara Nakano Sunplaza Music Festival" and "Tokyo Revengers: New Experience Exhibition with Original Illustrations."
Monthly CX: So it's being used for various content. Could you also tell us how the collaboration with KONNEKT came about?
Fukui: Dentsu Inc. Content Business Design Center (CBDC), which provides solutions starting from content like anime and movies, handles anime licenses as a licensor. While exploring B2C merchandise manufacturing and sales internally, we approached KONNEKT, which offers solutions enabling on-demand production without inventory, to explore collaboration. To build a new service that goes beyond just on-demand goods and truly meets anime fans' desires, CXCC—which possesses extensive expertise in consumer communication—took charge of creating the experience. Within that, I volunteered to lead the project due to my deep anime knowledge.
CBDC has established trust with numerous companies in the anime and film industries and possesses strong negotiation capabilities. We're combining that with CXCC's creative planning expertise. Furthermore, KONNEKT's rapid response in productization enables us to operate with speed from planning through to sales implementation.
Monthly CX: So the service's defining feature is leveraging the strengths of all three parties.
Fukui: Beyond leveraging strengths, another key feature is providing an environmentally conscious system.
Merchandise sales typically carry inventory risks due to mass production. However, Goods Luck operates on an on-demand sales model, meaning we hold no inventory to begin with, eliminating the need for disposal. This realizes a sustainable business model that contributes to ethical consumption.
We also offer works featuring artwork for all characters. Selection is motivated by delighting fans.
Monthly CX: Could you also explain the process leading up to purchasing goods?
Fukui: For example, when buying an "ULTRAMAN" T-shirt on Goods Luck, customers choose their preferred T-shirt color, the frame for the printed design, and then select their favorite image pattern from over 200 available options. After selecting the design and completing payment, the merchandise is produced and shipped.
The design frames and image patterns are in-house creations by Dentsu Inc. for each IP. We strive to keep the designs as simple as possible to accommodate any material while still reflecting the worldview of the work.
Monthly CX: Preparing over 200 image patterns must be an enormous undertaking just to imagine.
Fukui: I'm in charge of selecting the image pattern materials. It's true that selecting memorable scenes from the vast number of scenes in the series is a huge task, but I pushed through it with the sole desire to make the fans happy.
Incidentally, I also handled the material selection for the goods at the "Tokyo Revengers: New Experience Exhibition." We gathered over 1,200 character expressions from all 31 volumes of the original manga that fans would find truly compelling.
Monthly CX: Over 1,200 pieces! That's incredible. Could you share any tips or techniques you used when selecting the materials?
Fukui: The key point was whether it would fit within the frame. Even if there was a cool pose, a horizontally long image wouldn't fit in a vertical frame, and vice versa. Selecting images to fit the frames was quite challenging. Also, the resolution differs between the image and the printed version. Therefore, we carefully conducted printing tests to ensure the image wouldn't break up when enlarged.
Monthly CX: Speaking of printing, I noticed the goods produced by Goods Luck have excellent color reproduction.
Fukui: Thank you. Vibrant color reproduction is one of Goods Luck's selling points. Unlike standard inkjet printing, we print directly onto film. This not only ensures vivid colors but also provides excellent durability.
The printed products are also checked by the IP holder's supervisor, and they've been very pleased with the print quality. This was made possible because KONNEKT actively incorporates new technologies and systems.
Monthly CX: I see. Regarding customization, were there any particular points you focused on?
Fukui: We're careful about adjusting the level of customization freedom. That's because if we make it too flexible, purchase numbers tend to drop.
For example, allowing users to freely resize images or adjust their placement makes the creation process cumbersome. Furthermore, even if they complete the design, it becomes difficult to judge whether the final result looks good or bad, ultimately making it less likely to lead to a purchase.
It seems that a level of customization where the design frame is predetermined and users simply choose materials to fit within it is just right for fans to enjoy.
Modern fan culture trends revealed through customization patterns!?
Monthly CX: How are actual sales performing?
Fukui: For "Inazuma Eleven," purchases are primarily from women in their late 20s to 30s who were likely fans as children. We also saw parents and children buying together. As merchandise, we started with apparel like T-shirts, followed by the second wave: 125 character acrylic stands. When we announced the 125 stands, fans posted many surprised reactions about the sheer number and exclamations like, "They have acrylic stands for that character too!?"
I think the reaction stems partly from the fact that merchandise wasn't as abundant during the anime's original broadcast, and also because the series celebrated its 15th anniversary last year.
Monthly CX: Could you share the reactions of those who purchased the goods?
Fukui: Many reactions make us happy, like people posting product photos on X or saying things like, "This character has merchandise? Seriously awesome!"
There seems to be a greater demand than we anticipated for "filling their surroundings with their favorite characters." Some people even bought three or four of the same design, showing how everyone enjoys it in their own way. Incidentally, the purchasing demographic varies depending on the IP.
Monthly CX: Analyzing purchase data must reveal new insights.
Fukui: That's right. By utilizing the data, we can uncover unexpected insights—like surprisingly high sales for characters that didn't rank well in official popularity polls. This could help not only us but also IP holders better understand "fan culture."
Also, one more related point about data utilization. With on-demand sales, many users customize items but then leave the site before purchasing. At Goods Luck, we often see users customizing items on the first day of release but postponing purchase. After that, traffic tends to settle down, and purchases surge right before the deadline. We want to improve the service by analyzing where users drop off and sending timely purchase reminders at the right moments.
Monthly CX: I see. Beyond that, have you noticed any other areas for improvement in operations?
Fukui: It's not exactly an improvement point, but we want to approach promotions more strategically going forward. For example, when Goods Luck aired a commercial for "Inazuma Eleven," the response was significant—some people even filmed the TV screen and shared it.
However, we currently can't precisely schedule commercials to air during times when fans are most likely to shop on the e-commerce site. Going forward, we need to estimate promotion costs more precisely against sales targets and plan more holistically, incorporating social media outreach.
Handling everything from planning to sales requires support from the CX Creative team
Monthly CX: How were your strengths utilized in this project, Mr. Fukui?
Fukui: My strength lies in my affinity for fan culture and my ability to empathize with fans. I genuinely enjoy thinking about what kinds of merchandise would delight them. Additionally, as an art director with experience handling both physical print materials and digital content, I believe I was well-suited to handle cases like this one, where we created something online and turned it into a physical product.
Monthly CX: What does CX Creative mean to you?
Fukui: CX Creative means being involved consistently from start to finish—from planning through manufacturing and sales. While I have my own strengths and weaknesses, I feel it's crucial to collaborate with various stakeholders and see things through together from beginning to end.
CXCC has a culture of knowledge sharing and is an organization where it's easy to seek others' help. So, if I encounter a problem, I don't keep it to myself; I involve someone. Without that ability, CX creative work would be difficult, wouldn't it?
Monthly CX: What would you like to try in the future?
Fukui: With an eye toward overseas expansion, I want to grow Goods Luck. While pirated goods are rampant in some international markets, it's said that making official merchandise available drastically reduces piracy. There are many fans overseas who support Japanese content, and I want to provide offerings for them.
Additionally, I want to explore initiatives that go beyond just purchasing—like having fans buy merchandise before an event so they can wear it on the day—to create experiences that extend beyond the purchase itself.
(Editor's Note)
Customization is surprisingly fun once you try it! You easily lose track of time, wanting to experiment with all sorts of options. In today's world of diverse tastes, this service allowing people to create their own customized original goods seems ripe for expansion across various IPs.
This interview was conducted in collaboration with 'CX Creative Studio note' ( learn more about CX Creative Studio note here ). We're also working with Dentsu Digital Inc.'s CX Creative Team, not just the Dentsu CXCC team, to gather and share a broader range of case studies. If you're interested, please check that out as well.
If you have requests for future topics or case studies, please send a message to the Monthly CX Editorial Department via the contact page below. Thank you for your continued readership.
Dentsu Inc. CXCC: Koike, Oda, Otani, Kibata, Takakusagi, Kanasaka, Okumura
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Tomoyuki Fukui
Dentsu Inc.
Member of the Content Ecosystem Research Institute. Responsible for communication planning encompassing the entire customer experience, extending beyond advertising expression. Also handles original manga and anime development within the content domain. Recipient of the Yomiuri Shimbun Advertising Award, Good Design Award, AD STARS, and others.
Monthly CX Editorial Department
Dentsu Inc.
The editorial team for "Monthly CX," a series where members of Dentsu Inc.'s CX-specialized division "CXCC" share insights on CX and creativity. By covering outstanding CX creative success stories within the agency or company, we unravel the essence and potential of CX creativity. Core members are Yoko Kibata, Hiroshi Koike, Nao Otani, Hirono Okumura, Yutaro Kosugi, Espin, Keisuke Saito, Kenji Oda, Hirozumi Takakusagi, and Motofumi Kanasaka, all belonging to CXCC.
