The introduction of U-KOMI increased the number of visitors via Instagram. The number of customers and sales have also increased significantly.
Case Study Interview
Uzu JAPAN Co., Ltd. develops and sells comfortable apparel products using plant-based dyes. The company recognized a challenge in not being able to consolidate the information shared on Instagram into its online store, so it implemented U-KOMI. As a result, traffic from Instagram increased, leading to higher visitor numbers and sales. In this interview, we spoke with 青木様, who is in charge of U-KOMI operations at the company, about what prompted the implementation of U-KOMI and the results achieved.
A fashion brand using plant-based dyes from Mikawa
First, could you tell us about your business?
Our company primarily operates a fashion brand called “UZUiRO.” Our strength lies in products made with plant-based dyes, and we offer comfortable, relaxed-fit fashion designed for mature women. We position ourselves
as a fashion brand originating from Mikawa, Aichi Prefecture, and one of our key strengths is that we use locally sourced materials and collaborate closely with local producers to carefully craft each garment.
Recently, we’ve expanded our range of dye patterns and fabric textures, which has earned us significant support from our customers.
We felt challenges in integrating and managing our online shop and Instagram, so we implemented U-KOMI
What challenges did you face before implementing the review tool?
Our original plan was to strengthen our Instagram presence as a means of sharing information, but we faced challenges in effectively integrating and managing our online shop with our Instagram accounts. Specifically, since multiple staff members were managing Instagram accounts individually, users visiting the online shop couldn’t view all the information from our social media channels in one place.
Therefore, we wanted to consolidate the information posted across multiple Instagram accounts onto the online shop and were looking for a tool with that capability (a curation feature).
I’d also like to ask what prompted you to consider implementing a review tool.
This ties in with the challenges we faced with Instagram management. Initially, we wanted to aggregate the information we were posting ourselves while also sharing content from multiple perspectives. At the same time, we wanted to be able to aggregate customer-generated content (reviews) on the online store’s homepage.
Initially, we had concerns such as, “Will we really get reviews?” and “What if we receive low-rated reviews?” However, we decided that the best approach was to gather the information customers want to see and present it in a way that’s immediately accessible when they visit the site, so we decided to consider implementing a review tool.
Among the various review tools available, what was the deciding factor in choosing U-KOMI?
We compared and evaluated tools from other companies, but after considering factors such as pricing, the level of support, and the review aggregation features, we felt that U-KOMI was superior and decided to implement it. The biggest deciding factor was that we felt it was ideal for centrally managing the information posted by multiple staff members within our company.
Additionally, after receiving an explanation from U-KOMI regarding the importance of reviews and best practices for utilizing them, I felt it would be helpful in achieving our goals for collecting and utilizing reviews, which was another key factor in our decision.
Even after implementation, whenever we have questions, they respond immediately, and they continue to develop and add new features, so we can operate the system with peace of mind.
By implementing U-KOMI, we’ve achieved increased customer traffic and sales. We’re also able to identify product needs and areas for improvement through reviews.
What results have you seen since implementing U-KOMI?
Sales across our entire online store have increased since implementation. While I don’t have exact figures, it feels like we’ve grown by about 120% compared to last year.
I believe one factor driving this sales growth is that the integration with Instagram has improved significantly since implementing U-KOMI, leading to a substantial increase in traffic from Instagram. I think we’re seeing results from making it easier to jump from the Instagram homepage to product pages, as well as our increased focus on improving the quality and quantity of our posts. This has significantly boosted our customer traffic, which has had a positive impact on sales.
I also feel that even if customers leave after arriving from Instagram, more of them are returning via organic search later on. This may be related to improved SEO rankings driven by the increase in reviews and traffic from Instagram.
Consequently, I get the impression that the number of repeat customers is also growing. Moving forward, I’d like to implement strategies aimed at increasing traffic through product introductions on Instagram Live.
Furthermore, the content of the reviews has helped clarify product needs and areas for improvement, and we’ve started receiving many inquiries in response to content shared by our staff. For example, regarding
clothing sizes, we identified an issue where we weren’t offering enough products for shorter customers. By sharing styling tips featuring our shorter staff members, we’ve received inquiries from customers who had previously hesitated to buy, thinking, “I’m short, so it might not look good on me.” This has helped reduce the mismatch between the products we offer and our customers’ needs.
Finally, please let us know if you have any requests or expectations for U-KOMI.
Since customers who write reviews are highly engaged, we would like to respond to them with careful and attentive service in the future. However, as we operate with a small team, we currently lack the manpower to fully implement this.
Additionally, as our customer base grows, the workload for customer support (such as handling inquiries) increases, which also requires significant manpower. Therefore, we’re considering introducing AI into these customer support areas to reduce the workload and allocate more resources to replying to reviews.
Regarding our expectations for U-KOMI, we believe we could handle inquiries more efficiently if the platform included features such as a recommendation system for past response examples and a text-generation function using AI, enabling even less experienced staff to provide accurate answers. This would allow anyone to provide quick and accurate responses regardless of their experience level, so we would be very pleased to see such features implemented.
