The Ginza, which pursues timeless and essential beauty, uses IoT-linked blockchain technology for brand marketing World's first luxury cosmetics

In recent years, many global brands have started O2O (Offline to Online) marketing by digitizing customer contact points, brand protection from counterfeit products in emerging markets, and logistics rationalization in SCM, which is becoming more sophisticated every day. We are forced to respond in various ways, both offensively and defensively. However, many brands are preoccupied with symptomatic and localized measures, and the current situation is that they have not come up with measures that penetrate the entire brand.

In the midst of this, "THE GINZA" operated by The Ginza Co., Ltd., a group company of major cosmetics manufacturer Shiseido Co., Ltd., uses Microsoft's cloud platform Microsoft Azure (hereafter, Azure ), introduced Tradelog’s IoT-linked blockchain tool “YUBIKIRI for Microsoft Azure”. By using RFID/QR and blockchain together, we have succeeded in streamlining logistics and O2O marketing, and by linking with Salesforce Commerce Cloud, we have successfully combined in-store measures and EC measures.

We interviewed the people in charge of the world's first full-scale introduction of blockchain technology that spans marketing and SCM for luxury cosmetics.

Aiming to respond to customers' commitment to ``authenticity''

As a member of the Shiseido Group, THE GINZA Co., Ltd. operates domestic airport-style duty-free stores and directly managed stores. Sales of Shiseido group cosmetics, development, marketing and sales of original cosmetics "THE GINZA".

THE GINZA, which debuted in 2002 as a prestige skin care brand that pursues timeless beauty, is a brand with a long history in Japan, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year. The brand continues to grow in popularity among beauty-conscious customers overseas. Based on the skin care philosophy of "the best haute couture that you can wear on your skin," we continue to pursue products that aim to be "tailor-made skin care" that suits each individual's skin, and on June 1, 2021, skin care Renewal of all 10 products, including 8 products. We have further enhanced our skincare line to achieve the ultimate in healthy skin.

And at the same time as the renewal, IoT linked blockchain will be implemented in order to realize cross-border O2O (Offline to Online) measures, support for counterfeit countermeasures, rationalization of logistics, and support for providing genuine brand experiences to users. Operation of the tool "YUBIKIRI for Microsoft Azure" and cross-border CRM started.

Shiseido Co., Ltd. The Ginza Global Brand Unit Global Brand Director Asuka Kuroda talks about the background to the introduction of blockchain. “In order to deliver the brand experience directly and seamlessly to customers, we need to be able to understand what kind of customer has purchased which product, and as a prestige skin care brand, we will use 'genuine products'. There are many customers who are highly conscious of certain things, so we aimed to make it easy to prove the authenticity, and to realize these two points in particular.”

"Blockchain for marketing" is the decisive factor

The Ginza utilizes IoT-linked blockchain tools to integrate offline and online purchase information and prevent counterfeit goods. realized.

By reading the QR/RFID tag attached to the product, purchase information is managed on a highly confidential blockchain, making it possible to unify offline and online purchase data.

“With this, we aim to provide more direct communication to customers and tailor-made services through O2O marketing measures,” says Mr. Kuroda.

In addition, by revamping "The Ginza Membership Club" and establishing four membership stages, we are now able to provide benefits according to the customer's stage. Points, which are the base of the stage, are given by reading the QR/RFID tag attached to the product.

In addition, since the authenticity certificate can be confirmed digitally, it is also possible for the purchaser to use the product with peace of mind.

Shiseido Co., Ltd. The Ginza Global Brand Unit Business Communication, who supervised system aspects as PM of this project, about the reason for adopting Tradelog's "YUBIKIRI for Microsoft Azure" as an IoT-linked blockchain tool Mr. Sho Suzuki of the development group said as follows.

"We decided to adopt Tradelog's solution from two major aspects. First, Quorum^※, which is used for marketing purposes, not in the financial field such as virtual currency. >, and had the advantage of being able to provide an API that makes it easier and cheaper to incorporate blockchain, which is originally expensive to implement.In this case, CRM using blockchain Another reason was that Mr. Masahiro Fujita, the representative director of Tradelog Inc., had a wealth of marketing knowledge, and that he was a co-founder. Mr. Masahiro Nakamura, the developer, has extensive experience not only in software development but also in IoT, which is why this system utilizes two cutting-edge technologies, such as blockchain and RFID, that straddle software and hardware. However, from Tradelog, we were able to receive consulting services for implementation in a way that covered everything.”

*Quorum is one of the blockchain platforms, based on Ethereum, which is often used for developing tokens and games, and was developed for enterprises by J.P. Morgan in 2016. open source software. Features such as confidentiality of information and high throughput

Reliability cultivated through company-wide use of Azure

This is an epoch-making project that utilizes blockchain technology. Throwback to the summer of 2019. After that, various issues arose during the project, which lasted for about two and a half years. One of these is the legal issue. In order to conduct CRM marketing on both Japanese EC sites and Chinese EC sites, it is necessary to clear the legal aspects regarding the handling of personal information in China. it was to be requested.

Also, since this was Shiseido's first full-scale introduction of QR/RFID tags, it was difficult to coordinate with factories and distribution centers in terms of logistics.

“At the same time, since this was the first time we had introduced blockchain technology, we also focused on gaining an understanding of this technology, including its security aspects, from within the company, especially from the IT department. It was a big deal,” recalls Kaoru Mori, Shiseido Co., Ltd. The Ginza Global Brand Unit Business Communication Development Group.

Mr. Seiai Ahn of Shiseido Interactive Beauty IT Headquarters, who supported vendor coordination and blockchain introduction as a PM on the IT department side, mentions the reliability of the cloud platform as follows.

“Our company has already completed the migration of various tools, platforms, data infrastructure, etc. to Azure on a company-wide basis and is operating it on a daily basis, so we had a high level of trust in Azure as an infrastructure. Clearing the standard security requirements is not necessary because it is Azure, and we are able to operate more efficiently,” says An.

In addition, Mr. Masahiro Fujita, CEO of Tradelog Co., Ltd., commented on this introduction and Azure.

“Since Shiseido was already using Azure, we devised ways to introduce blockchain from scratch and make it easier than connecting to Azure. Since both the chain platform and the application are all-in-one, it tends to fall into vendor lock-in, but we are careful not to become vendor lock-in by making it possible to flexibly choose the optimal combination. Among the major cloud service providers, you have the most understanding of blockchain, and we had a strong impression that you were very supportive of user companies, which is another reason why we chose Azure.”

The company's co-founder, blockchain engineer Masahiro Nakamura, continues:

"A major feature of this solution is that we use QR/RFID tags in the logistics process to enable customers to grasp product information and shipping destination information without opening the package. Issuing a label would increase the unit price of the label, which would be a barrier to introduction, so we devised ways to reuse the same label," says Nakamura.

In addition, Mr. Suzuki said about the company, "Actually, Tradelog explained in detail even the difficult points where we didn't know what was going on in terms of cost, and they also contributed to keeping costs down." and evaluated.

Beauty x DX for a total customer experience

The use of IoT-linked blockchain for marketing has just started, but since the purchaser himself reads the QR code and registers, It is said that various groundbreaking aspects, such as direct connection to CRM without going through a store, have already received high praise from within the company.

In September of this year, we plan to introduce a blockchain system in mainland China, and it will be the first time in the cosmetics industry that the story of the brand experience will be connected whether you are in Japan or mainland China.

Shiseido Co., Ltd. Shiseido The Ginza Global Brand Unit Business Communication Development Group, who is mainly in charge of the Chinese branch, says, "Because we can develop CRM using the same system in Japan and China, it will be more cross-border. We expect that the brand will be able to connect with the customer through this.The main channel of our brand in China is airport duty-free shops, but they are not always staffed. , the use of QR/RFID tags is significant."

In addition, about the future, Mr. Ahn said, "When shopping offline, customers generally can only enjoy brand services at the store, but this time, no matter where they purchase, they will be able to receive a total product as one brand. This should bring value not only to The Ginza, but to Shiseido as a whole, and I feel that the use of IoT-linked blockchain technology may expand within the company in the future. I will," he said with anticipation.

Finally, Mr. Kuroda talked about future developments as follows. “In order to achieve the mission of The Ginza brand, which brings out the timeless beauty of our customers, we must continue to innovate in line with changes in our customers. We would like to deliver a new customer experience that can be achieved with “×DX” to our customers.”

[PR]Provided by Microsoft Japan