Shopping Streets You Can Walk Through on Your Phone? Rakuten Ouchi de Shōtengai's New Shopping Experience That Defies E-Commerce Norms

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. (For more on Monthly CX, here ).

This time, we introduce "Ouchi de Shotengai Powered by Rakuten" (hereinafter "Ouchi de Shotengai"), a digital shopping district jointly developed by Rakuten Group (hereinafter "Rakuten") and Dentsu Inc. (hereinafter "Dentsu Inc."), launched on October 7, 2024.

This initiative offers an immersive experience, allowing users to enjoy the feeling of walking through a real shopping district from the comfort of their own home. What sparked this project, and what kind of experience design was incorporated? We spoke with Kenji Oda, the originator of the idea and responsible for overall creative direction including CX, and Taro Sugawara, who led the UI/UX design and implementation.

Creating "Fun Shopping Experiences" in Online Shopping Districts

Monthly CX: First, could you explain in detail what the "Shopping Street at Home" initiative entails?

Oda: "Shopping Street at Home" is a project that began with our own proposal: "Let's create a completely new shopping experience, as if you were walking through a shopping street," with the goal of revitalizing the local economy.

As you scroll through Rakuten's original shopping street on your smartphone screen, you can view comments from each store manager and information about recommended products. Of course, if you find something you like, you can navigate to the product page and purchase it right then and there. Thirty stores from "Rakuten Ichiba" are participating experimentally. This initiative allows shoppers to enjoy a more familiar shopping experience while viewing the storefronts and the expressions of the staff.

Sugawara: The shopping street visuals were designed by referencing shopping streets nationwide, with each section featuring a distinct design. We wanted people to enjoy the unique charm of shopping streets, ranging from old and tasteful to festive and lively.

Another key point is the playful elements incorporated as you scroll deeper—like bicycles, rickshaws, and people doing the Awa Odori dance crossing the street. We drew inspiration from social games, focusing on conveying the casual excitement of walking through a shopping district.

Monthly CX: What sparked this project in the first place?

Oda: Experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant influence. Back then, I think many people, myself included, were staying home and feeling restless. Amidst that, when I went out to buy everyday items, the shopping district was the most casual, refreshing change of pace that made me feel excited.

Shopping districts aren't just about buying goods; they're places where chance encounters happen—chatting with shopkeepers who recommend something, stumbling upon an event while walking. You can even enjoy them without buying anything.

Japan has over 12,000 shopping districts, and each one is uniquely charming. I've always had a strong affinity for them, even traveling to explore districts across the country.

Given that background, when I saw shopping districts struggling and weakened during the pandemic, I came up with this project. I thought that if we could create a shopping district online, we could convey its value and significance to more people. Furthermore, I believed that through "Shopping District at Home," we could enhance the value of real shopping districts.

Monthly CX: So that's why you partnered with Rakuten.

Oda: Yes. After the pandemic eased, I was showing the online shopping district proposal to various people within the company. A marketer handling Rakuten approached me saying, "I want to propose this idea to Rakuten." I immediately set up a meeting and pitched it independently. They were very enthusiastic, and the project started the following week.

Sugawara: Rakuten Ichiba was born from the desire to "enable local stores to compete globally using e-commerce systems." It seems this initiative was a perfect fit for that vision.

Monthly CX: So partnering with Rakuten was essential to making this project happen.

Sugawara: Exactly. Rakuten Ichiba features uniquely designed store pages. Each shop owner puts their own creative spin on it, resulting in visuals that truly reflect the store's personality. Those pages themselves express the store's character and the owner's personality, leading to a "fun shopping experience." Through this project, I believe we were able to express Rakuten's strengths in a different way.

Also, selecting stores to participate in "Shopping Street at Home" really highlighted Rakuten's deep connections with shops nationwide. I thought negotiations might be challenging, but everything proceeded very smoothly.

It also contributed to acquiring new customers, which can be challenging in regular e-commerce!

Monthly CX: How was the response to "Shopping Street at Home"?

Oda: It was a huge success, beyond our expectations. We distributed coupons usable for purchases on "Shopping Street at Home," and within just two days of launch, all 10,000 coupons sold out. We also quickly achieved the sales targets we had set beforehand. Our clients were delighted, and we were extremely pleased too.

Visitors to the "Shopping Street at Home" site gave us numerous compliments, saying things like, "It had a fun element you don't usually feel with regular online shopping," and "I actually want to visit the stores in person." That was exactly the reaction we were hoping for.

Monthly CX: Did you hear any feedback from the vendors participating in "Shopping Street at Home"?

Sugawara: They were especially pleased with the significant response from new customers.

While Rakuten Ichiba typically sees many customers buying based on rankings or reviews, or repeat customers, this initiative achieved an exceptionally high first-time purchase rate of over 50%. Acquiring new customers is often considered more difficult than retaining repeat customers in the e-commerce industry, making this figure unusual. We're glad we could create this connection between the participating stores and new customers.

The themes were "rich experiences per unit of time" and "human involvement."

Monthly CX: For this "Shopping Street at Home" initiative, what CX aspects did you focus on to provide a better shopping experience?

Oda: This time, our main themes were not maximizing sales, but rather creating "rich experiences per unit of time" and "human interaction" through shopping.

For example, in today's e-commerce, rational purchasing—seamless one-click buying—is standard. However, this approach feels like it strips away the sense of excitement and heightened feeling toward shopping per minute spent.

On the other hand, when I think back to walking through shopping streets or memorable shopping experiences, I recall that there was always an element of "human connection." Therefore, for this initiative, we focused on visuals and conversational comments that convey the shop owners' personalities.

Sugawara: For instance, the words shop owners say to customers are edited comments gathered directly from them. We adjusted the overall text to avoid large differences in comment length and fine-tuned fonts to match each shop owner's personality.

We were able to leverage insights cultivated through our past work, and I feel this truly demonstrated the value of Dentsu Inc.'s involvement. We take pride in having created not just excitement, but a substantive shopping experience aligned with the Rakuten brand.

Monthly CX: How about the site design?

Sugawara: "Ouchi de Shōtengai" is designed to feel like walking through a shopping district, where you scroll forward and sometimes back. We conducted extensive testing to determine the optimal scrolling speed.

Auto and Manual Image Videos

Regarding scrolling, we offered two options this time: "Manual," where customers control the movement themselves, and "Auto," which advances automatically. We thought offering both the enjoyment of moving forward independently and the pleasure of watching the automatic progression would be more considerate for customers.

We believe these elements also contribute to enhancing immersion. We carefully balanced the spacing between stores and the intervals at which comments appear, aiming for a comfortable experience for visitors.

Rethinking the ordinary to create memorable CX

Monthly CX: Based on this project, what are your future prospects?
Oda: After launch, we received requests from shops that weren't participating this time saying, "We want to open a shop in 'Shopping Street at Home'." We want to respond to those voices.

Monthly CX: Finally, what challenges do you both want to take on in the CX field going forward?

Oda: I want to challenge myself to create CX that creates a global buzz. For example, the participatory and physical nature of two-way interactions can strengthen the bond with customers even further.

Experiences we personally receive are deeply etched into our memories and have a significant impact. By leveraging my strength in non-verbal creative expression to convey such CX to as many people on Earth as possible, we should be able to create even more enjoyable global initiatives.

Sugawara: I want to create new experiences by shifting perspectives on existing things. For this initiative, we deliberately incorporated irrational elements into an e-commerce environment where efficiency and the shortest path to purchase are the norm. This created a new shopping experience, extended dwell time, allowed enjoyment even without a purchase intent, and led to new discoveries.

We want to challenge the current "norms," create new experiences, and build something that stays in people's memories.

(Editor's Note)

This time, we spoke about "Ouchi de Shōtengai" (Shopping Street at Home), a digital shopping street jointly developed by Rakuten and Dentsu Inc., launched on October 7, 2024.

This initiative, which reexamines the value of real shopping districts, implements it online, and then empowers the real world again, was also filled with the creators' dedication and love for shopping districts. It was also impressive how it fully leveraged the characteristics of Rakuten as the client.

If you have requests for future topics or case studies like this, please send a message to the Monthly CX Editorial Department via the contact page below. Thank you for your continued readership.

Monthly CX Editorial Department
Dentsu Inc. CXCC: Kibata, Koike, Ohtani, Okumura, Kosugi, Yi, Saito, Oda, Takakusaki, Kanasaka