Co-Creation Ecosystem [ Business ]Co-Creative Investment

A-SIG R O W T H

DES U P P O R T

Growth support investment is conducted in venture companies that share MARUI GROUP’s philoso-Investment

Tenant store opening

Employee secondment

Store locations: Shinjuku Marui Main Building

phy and vision and with which collaboration can be pursued. Investees are provided access toMARUI GROUP’s resources, including its Marui and Modi stores, which are visited by 200 million
customers a year; its more than 7 million EPOS cardholders; and its seasoned retail staff. Arming
investees with these resources, we collaborate to drive their growth and heighten our returns.
Targets of these investments include e-commerce business operations, D2C brands, and financial
inclusion companies.

Japan Debut of Silicon Valley-Originating b8ta
Experience-Oriented Store
Established in San Francisco in 2015, b8ta (read “beta”) is an experienceoriented store that defines its mission as “retail designed for discovery.”To expand upon its store network, which previously comprised 23
stores in the United States and one in the United Arab Emirates, b8ta
opened two stores in Japan in August 2020, one in the Yurakucho Denki
Building and one in Shinjuku Marui Main Building. These stores employ
retail as a service business model with the aim of making retail moreeasily accessible to everyone. Partnering with b8ta, we hope to build theInvestment

b8ta Tokyo-Shinjuku Marui(located on first floor of Shinjuku Marui Main Building)At b8ta Tokyo-Shinjuku Marui, staff members receive direct training on all exhibited
products from the exhibitor prior to the start of sales to enable them to communicate
with customers based on a deeper understanding of these products. The store is staffedby eight individuals, six of whom are MARUI GROUP employees.

type of value that can only be provided by physical stores by injecting
MARUI GROUP’s resources.

Resources

VentureCompanies

Investment Returns

MAJOR INVESTEESTOPICS

Customer Behavioral Analyses Provided to Exhibitors

Exhibition Spaces Offered on a Subscription Basis

Numerous cameras and sensors have been installed at b8ta TokyoShinjuku Marui to analyze customer behavior. We are thereby able toprovide product exhibitors with information on the number of customersthat stop in front of certain products and the questions posed to staff
members for use in marketing and other strategies.

At b8ta Tokyo-Shinjuku Marui, 40cm × 60cm exhibition spaces are provided
on a subscription basis with contracts as short as six months. Thesespaces are used to display gadgets, cosmetics, and other products from avariety of companies. Customers can even take these items in hand.

Establishment of D2C & Co. Inc.
MARUI GROUP established D2C & Co. Inc. inMESSAGE FROM AN EMPLOYEE January 2020 to carry out co-creative investments.
This company will invest in and finance start-up

I have long had an interest in D2C brands and start-ups. I was therefore excited to volunteer to be among the initialcompanies developing D2C brands while capital-staff members at b8ta Tokyo-Shinjuku Marui, the first store of its kind in Asia. The view of stores as sales floors

izing on MARUI GROUP’s resources to support thenecessarily leads one to focus on sales. In this store, however, we take the role of “b8ta testers,” and it is our job togrowth of these companies through means suchinternalize the passion exhibitors have poured into their products and communicate this to customers so that they can

as customer referral. D2C & Co. will also advance amake new discoveries and have new experiences. Customers’ responses to the products on display are varied, so I

variety of initiatives across D2C-related fields
spanning from physical store opening to operation.
MARUI GROUP hopes to develop a D2C ecosystem

work to collect data that cannot be extracted from the behavioral analyses performed by our cameras. The b8ta store
Press conference held on February 12, 2020

through these efforts.

provides an atmosphere that helps us remember the fundamental reason we enjoy shopping in a manner that is not
emotionally stressful as we spend time with our loved ones amid the COVID-19 pandemic. I think that experienceoriented, digital native stores like this show us the appeal that brick-and-mortar stores can have in the future.

Kumiko Tanabe
b8ta Tokyo-Shinjuku MaruiMARUI CO., LTD.

Please refer to D2C & Co.’s website for inquiries regarding investment
or store openings (Japanese only).
www.d2c.company/3637

Co-Creation Ecosystem [ Business ]Investment

Tenant store opening

Employee secondment

Investment

Store locations: Yurakucho Marui

Tenant store opening

Employee secondment

Store locations: Shinjuku Marui Main Building, Shibuya Modi,
Yurakucho Marui, Ikebukuro Marui, and Kobe Marui

Japan’s First Personalized Shampoo Brand
The D2C brand MEDULLA is the first brand in Japan to provide shampoo

Approximately 30,000 Combinations for Personalized Proposals

that can be personalized to address the concerns of individual cus­

By answering just nine questions on MEDULLA’s website, customers
can receive personalized proposals that select the products best forthem from among approximately 30,000 combinations. Formulations
are blended based on the individual customer’s needs and shipped tothem once every two months. This ease and the effectiveness of theseproducts have led subscription numbers to climb past 200,000 (as ofSeptember 2020).

tomers, meaning that it can be customized to respond to the various
hair-related issues that can arise based on weather, lifestyle, or age.
A flagship store for this brand was opened in Yurakucho Marui inDecember 2019, and we are examining the possibility of engaging
in EPOS card collaboration with this brand.

Made-to-Order Suits That Fit Your Life
Based on the concept of “Fit Your Life,” FABRIC TOKYO provides madeto-order suits that match customers not only in terms of size but also interms of their lifestyles and values. This company handles all aspects ofthis process spanning from taking customer measurements to production
at affiliated factories and sales. Apparel products have long been associated with the issue of mass waste. However, this issue can be addressed
through made-to-order options in which items are only made after anorder has been received. This sustainable approach resonates with

Personalized Coordination Support
Customers can visit FABRIC TOKYO stores at Shinjuku Marui Main Building and otherlocations to have their measurements taken by specialized coordinators with consideration paid to the characteristics of their body. These coordinators will also sit down withcustomers to discuss their concerns and the image they want to portray in order to offer
personalized coordination support matched to their lifestyles.

MARUI GROUP. Customer measurements are taken at FABRIC TOKYO’s
physical stores, and this size data can be used to order suits that perfectly fit each individual customer online.

Impeccable Quality at
Affordable PricesOnline, FABRIC TOKYO customers
are able to manage their favoritestyles and size data while also ordering clothing that perfectly fits theirbodies. In addition, FABRIC TOKYO
uses a factory-to-customer scheme
to directly link purchasers and­producers so that it can deliver­products with impeccable quality
at affordable prices.

Hair and Scalp Data from More Than 100,000 Customers

Content Experiences Unique to Physical Stores

MEDULLA’s ever-expanding lineup encompasses shampoo as well as awide range of other haircare products. This brand also offers custom hairoil that is prepared based on hair diagnoses calling upon a database ofhair and scalp data collected from more than 100,000 customers.

Seeking to respond to customer demand to preview products and fragrances at stores,
MEDULLA opened an experience-oriented store in Yurakucho Marui. This store allows
customers to enjoy content experiences, such as scalp diagnosis and gift wrapping, thatcan only be offered at physical stores.

MESSAGE FROM A BUSINESS PARTNER 

Physical stores make it possible to solicit direct customer input that cannot be gained from the numerical data collected
via e-commerce venues. They also provide a valuable opportunity for customers that would have not encountered theMEDULLA brand online to learn of us. I therefore see great potential for physical store openings. We see visits fromnumerous customers who want to undergo scalp diagnoses, preview the fragrance of our products, or experience ourbrand in some other way that is only possible offline. MARUI GROUP’s staff is incredibly understanding of D2C brands,broadcasts from our store. In the future, I hope to expand our collaborative relationship beyond stores to include
personnel exchanges and joint business development in order to co-create the ideal form for D2C brands and ulti-MESSAGE FROM AN EMPLOYEE FABRIC TOKYO is a D2C brand that was born on the internet. However, theIn the past, I had the opportunity to observe physical D2C brand storesproducts we deal in require professional skills to measure customer bodies

in the United States through MARUI GROUP’s overseas dispatch pro-and adjust to make an appealing silhouette. We therefore have to develop

gram, giving me a sense of the potential for stores that do not sell.

stores with facilities for this purpose. Our first forays into physical stores

I later volunteered to be seconded to FABRIC TOKYO based on thetook the form of the limited-time opening of a location in Yurakucho Marui.

belief that MARUI GROUP needed to change how it operated its stores.

This store proved ideal given that its location and customer base matchedFABRIC TOKYO has a corporate culture that aims to prevent situations in

our target demographic. We thus chose to expand our presence in Marui

which specific jobs can only be performed by certain people, translating

stores starting with Shinjuku Marui Main Building. We also felt that a 10%

often unspoken customer service techniques into words that anyone

discount for EPOS cardholders would be an appealing way to gain new

can understand. This has resulted in a high level of customer service

customers without discounting our brand. Sure enough, these discounts

proficiency among its staff. In the future, I hope to utilize my second-

have been making large contributions to the growth of our business.

ment experience to create physical stores that offer a sense of excite-

Furthermore, MARUI GROUP employees have been dispatched to work

ment without being bound by preconceptions.

deepen our understanding of each other’s business.

Yosuke Miyama
Representative Director
Sparty, Inc.

mately for digital native stores in Japan.

Junichi Mukai
Store Development Specialist
FABRIC TOKYO Inc.

38

FABRIC TOKYO cuts out intermediary distributors to form direct relationships withall of its affiliated producers with respect for openness and transparent traceability.
These relationships allow it to make information on production sites and distribution
openly available.

together on our projects, and this has proven to be a good opportunity toand they have supported us in a variety of ways. This is why we chose to set up shop in one of MARUI GROUP’s stores.
Their service is fast and courteous, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and they even helped us set up live

MESSAGE FROM A BUSINESS PARTNER Commitment to Quality Transmitted to the Future

Yusuke Iwamoto
Seconded to FABRIC TOKYO Inc.
MARUI CO., LTD.
(As of August 2020)39