Recognizing the importance of word-of-mouth in EC, U-KOMI introduced U-KOMI and received many positive reviews!

Nakatani Honpo Co., Ltd. manufactures and sells Nara Prefecture’s specialty “Kakinoha-zushi” and other products, operating both brick-and-mortar and online stores. As the company shifted its focus to its e-commerce business in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors, it implemented U-KOMI and subsequently achieved a significant increase in reviews and sales. In this interview, we spoke with 中谷様, who is in charge of U-KOMI operations at the company, about the key factors behind the decision to adopt U-KOMI, the results achieved, and future prospects.

Selling Nara Prefecture’s specialty “Kaki no Ha Sushi” and other items. There is also high demand for these as gifts.

First, could you tell us about your business?

We are a company that manufactures and sells Nara Prefecture specialties such as “Kakinoha-zushi” (persimmon leaf sushi). We were founded in 1921 as a rice shop in Kamikitayama Village, Nara, and at that time, we served as a general store, functioning much like a village department store. Amidst this, we decided to create a local specialty and began making “Izasa-zushi,” which is wrapped in bamboo leaves. This was the catalyst for us to start manufacturing and selling sushi.

Later, we began selling "Kakinoha-zushi," a local specialty of the Nara and Yoshino regions. Today, we operate eight stores in Nara Prefecture and one each in Tokyo and Saitama. Our products are also sold as ekiben (station boxed lunches) at major stations along the Tokaido Shinkansen line and are carried by major retailers.

Could you tell us about the characteristics of Kakinoha-zushi?

Wrapping the sushi in persimmon leaves helps prevent the rice from drying out. Since the Yoshino region is deep in the mountains, seafood was a rare commodity back then. Mackerel was commonly caught off the coast of the Kii Peninsula, and peddlers would salt it and travel all the way to the Yoshino region to sell it.

It is said that the people of the Yoshino region would wrap this mackerel in persimmon leaves and eat it as a preserved food. Wrapping it in persimmon leaves made it easy to carry, and recent research has shown that persimmon leaves also help enhance preservation, making it a food well-suited for both transport and storage.

Today, rather than simply being a preserved food, it is regarded as a dish rooted in the history and culture of Nara, and there is significant demand for it as a New Year’s celebration food and as a gift.

Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, we focused on our e-commerce business. Realizing the importance of reviews from the consumer’s perspective, we introduced U-KOMI.

When did you start your e-commerce business?

We actually started our e-commerce business over 10 years ago. However, we had been running it as a side project for a long time. We began preparing for a relaunch even before the pandemic and launched the new e-commerce site in February 2020.

You mentioned that you recently revamped your e-commerce site. What challenges did you face before implementing the review tool?

Fortunately, we had many repeat customers, but we were barely acquiring any new ones. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic began right after I took over e-commerce operations and relaunched the site, I came to realize anew that growing our e-commerce business was crucial moving forward.

Regarding the review tool, although our shopping cart system had a review feature, we were concerned about the possibility of receiving negative reviews, so we decided not to include it during the relaunch.

Since you didn’t originally have a review feature, what prompted you to consider implementing a review tool?

From the consumer’s perspective, if customer feedback isn’t displayed, it’s hard to tell if a store or site is trustworthy. We realized that collecting reviews is important for encouraging new customers to make purchases. We also heard that reviews are important from an SEO perspective.

Based on these factors, we began considering the implementation of a review tool.

What was the deciding factor in choosing U-KOMI?

I first learned about U-KOMI at a seminar, and during the selection process, we also spoke with another company. After comparing the two, I found U-KOMI’s feature allowing users to post reviews without logging in to be particularly appealing.

Another major benefit was the all-in-one integration with Instagram. Since we are a food manufacturer, many customers take and upload beautiful photos of our products. We wanted to leverage that content on Instagram to drive purchases, and U-KOMI’s ability to handle all of that in one place was very appealing.

Another benefit is that photos submitted with reviews can be managed in an album, making it easy to utilize and view the content.

Furthermore, depending on the pricing plan, there is no limit on the number of sites that can be used, which was a deciding factor for us since we wanted to implement it across multiple sites. We are currently using it on both our official website and our e-commerce site.

We’ve received more positive reviews than expected and have seen a tangible impact on sales

What kind of results have you seen since implementing U-KOMI?

Overall, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and to be honest, I didn’t expect to gather this many reviews. We’re truly grateful to receive so many reviews without offering incentives like coupons. Since many of our products are intended as gifts—meaning the recipients don’t necessarily eat them themselves—I was worried about whether we’d get any reviews at all. However, we often receive comments like, “The recipient went out of their way to contact me and say, ‘It was delicious,’ which made me happy too.”

Also, while there are rare cases where deliveries don’t arrive on time due to shipping conditions or weather, by having our staff sincerely explain the situation over the phone, we’ve even received positive reviews in the end.

In terms of numbers, while increased advertising spending may have played a role, there hasn’t been a single month since we implemented U-KOMI where sales fell below the previous year’s level. Our current review acquisition rate is approximately 8%, and about 60% of our customers check reviews before making a purchase.

Finally, could you share your future outlook and any requests or suggestions?

We’ve implemented U-KOMI on our online store as well, but we’re also working on a way for customers visiting our physical store to post reviews. Ideally, we’d like to create a system where customers can post a review simply by scanning a QR code—this would make it very user-friendly for offline interactions.