Customer engagement increased through courteous replies. Acquisitions through the company's own e-commerce site have nearly doubled!
Case Study Interview
Okinawa Tokusan Hanbai Co., Ltd. sells shikuwasa juice—grown and processed in-house—primarily through its e-commerce platform. The company faced challenges in acquiring new customers online due to a lack of product reviews on the web. After implementing U-KOMI, they received approximately 200 reviews following the trial period. Since the full-scale implementation, metrics such as email newsletter open rates, conversion rates, and sales have improved significantly.
We spoke with下地様
, who is in charge of U-KOMI operations at the company, to learn about the reasons behind the implementation and the results achieved.
Selling shikuwasa juice grown and processed in-house, primarily through e-commerce
First, could you tell us about your business?
We primarily sell shikuwasa juice through e-commerce and supermarkets in Okinawa Prefecture. We operate under a business model known as “sixth-sector industry,” where we handle everything from cultivation at our own farm to processing and sales. Recently, we’ve also started cultivating and shipping pineapples.
E-commerce accounts for the majority of our sales.
We felt there was an issue with the lack of online reviews and decided to implement U-KOMI
What challenges did you face before implementing the review tool?
Originally, TV commercials and newspaper ads were our main channels for acquiring new customers, but due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, we decided to focus on acquiring customers online. However, at that time, there was absolutely no feedback or reviews about our products online, which we saw as a challenge.
Could you also tell us about the background behind your decision to implement a review tool?
Initially, we implemented “influencer marketing” using Instagram as a means to gather online reviews. However, we began to notice a growing number of staged reviews—such as unnaturally high ratings, comments that read like boilerplate descriptions, and a flood of similar photos—which raised concerns that this might not have a positive impact on potential buyers.
Additionally, since the customer base tended to differ from that of our existing e-commerce and supermarket channels, it was difficult to measure the effectiveness of our efforts. This is why we felt the need for a review tool to verify the actual evaluations and demand from people who were making purchases.
Among the many review tools available, what prompted you to choose U-KOMI, and what was the deciding factor?
There were two stages: the decision to proceed with a trial and the decision to fully implement the system.
First, during the trial phase, we had several other candidates, but we chose U-KOMI based on price and the availability of API integration. Specifically regarding the API, while other services made it difficult to integrate with our cart system, U-KOMI’s ability to automatically sync with the cart was one of the deciding factors.
Subsequently, the deciding factor for the full implementation was that we collected approximately 200 reviews during the one-month trial period. Since many of our customers are in their late 60s or older, we had concerns about whether they would actually post reviews online; however, seeing the results from the trial period alleviated those concerns, which was a major deciding factor.Additionally, regarding the API integration—a feature we found particularly appealing during the trial—U-KOMI imported our order data from the past year and used it to send review request emails, which helped us acquire a large number of reviews. We felt this was a significant advantage. It was surprising that we were able to collect so many reviews without offering any incentives or rewards.
CVR improved within one year of implementation. Sales on our own e-commerce site doubled!
What results did you see after implementing U-KOMI?
The first noticeable effect was a 110–120% increase in conversion rate (CVR) within the first year of implementation.
Additionally, starting around February of this year (2025), we began using our own customized AI to reply to every review. Three months later, we saw an increase in email open rates, followed by a rise in order rates. As a result, our in-house e-commerce site recorded sales that were approximately double* those of the same month the previous year (*Figures for our own operations, excluding affiliate sales or sales handled by agencies).
Furthermore, email open rates increased by 5–7% compared to pre-implementation levels, and the review acquisition rate rose by approximately 2%. This suggests that replying to reviews has boosted trust and increased customer engagement.
Concurrently, by including content in our replies—such as recipe collections using our products, information on product ingredients, detailed pages addressing customer questions, and guidance on combined shipping—we saw improvements in customer engagement rates and, as a result, an increase in customers signing up for subscription options.
Finally, please let us know if you have any requests or expectations for U-KOMI.
Since we plan to launch new products in the future, we hope to offer them for pre-sale to our most loyal customers so that we can roll them out with reviews already written.
U-KOMIコメント
As a feature related to this, we have implemented a function that allows staff to review new products in advance.
Additionally, while interaction currently consists of one-off exchanges where staff reply to customer reviews, we aim to create an environment where customers and staff can engage continuously, building a more sustained relationship. We want to deepen our connection with each individual customer through ongoing communication, rather than a relationship based on a single review.
