Buyers will pick up orders at the most convenient of Nisseki's 13,000 gas stations across Japan. The partners plan to integrate the online and offline offers so that, for example, consumers who purchase tires online can arrange to have them installed by mechanics at Nisseki gas stations. The new venture is slated to start operations in May of this year, beginning with 200 gas stations primarily in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The devices will enable those with postal savings accounts to purchase gifts, travel tickets, and other merchandise. The MPT operates 24,600 post offices throughout Japan, and says it will develop a small version of the terminal so that it can be used at even the tiniest location.
Experiments continue, but a compelling model has yet to emerge.
But that strategy fell out the window with the bursting of the bubble economy, and his group is now struggling to develop an effective way of integrating the Internet with the company's tremendous physical assets and POC infrastructure. All the actual results aren't yet in, but here's a sampling of December 1999 online sales forecasts from a collection of Japanese online merchants. It's great to be backin Wagakuni on a full-time basis. The ability to readily navigate Japanese language operating systems is a requirement.