【Case Study】 SEIKO (Thailand) Co., Ltd. takes on the insatiable challenge of service improvement using Cybozu's kintone groupware

▲ Mr. Katsumi Kubota, Managing Director of SEIKO (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "MD Kubota") and Ms. Usana Chantavichaikij, Manager, Retailer Division (hereinafter “Ms. Usana)”

SEIKO (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Seiko Thailand"), which was founded in Thailand in 1989 with Seiko Watch Corporation as the parent company, celebrated its 30th anniversary three years ago (as of 2023).

In terms of SEIKO watch sales in Thailand, it started more than 50 years ago through a local distributor. Over its long history, it has established a firm position as a watch brand that is familiar to Thai people.

Currently, the company covers all of Thailand by selling wholesale to several hundred watch stores and business partners, and by setting up about 70 of its own sales counters. Each counter always displays 200 to 300 watches of various kinds, ranging in price from $100 to $6,000 class.

“One characteristic of SEIKO is that it sells products in a wide range of price categories under the same corporate brand. It is not just luxury watches, nor is it just casual lines. We are able to offer watches to a wide range of customers by providing them with a rich selection to find right value that is sought after" (MD Kubota).

Revisiting the basic.
The implementation of kintone led to improve in-store services

When considering the improvement of a service, the most important thing is "having the inventory of the products that customers are looking for on the shelves."

No matter how cool a store is built in a good location and excellent salespeople are assigned, it is meaningless without products.

“Serve our customers 365 days a year while maintaining the best in-store inventory at all times. That is the fundamental requirement for providing exceptional service. And kintone was the catalyst to dramatically enhancing our capability to manage our in-store inventory" (MD Kubota).

Before the implementation of kintone, inventory management in the company was a mind-boggling manual process. When an item was out of stock, first create a purchase order by hand and photograph it with a mobile phone. Send to the head office as attachment, then the printed-out copy was transcribed onto the order form, and the order was placed....

This was taking an enormous amount of time and effort, as well as causing mistakes due to the analog nature of the system. When we were looking for a way out, we heard about an inventory management using kintone, contacted the dealer right away, and decided on immediate implementation.

Sales reports by kintone that can be "analyzed" have improved both the quality of business reporting and sales!

The benefits of kintone implementation are too great. Not only is it now possible to maintain in-store inventory, but also to instantly collect, accumulate, list, and search sales data which are the bases for inventory optimization and business operations.

It is not just a reporting task, but gives a sense of sharing sales report of a highly accurate and speedy analysis with the head office at all times.

Furthermore, sales staff, who have significantly reduced their ordering work time through kintone, can focus on customer service, further increasing sales. The positive chain of kintone effect is endless.

"What was lacking was real-time information sharing, and kintone helps us make decisions quickly and accurately. Before, it took a lot of time to compile reports that arrived separately from each store. Now that we use kintone, we can constantly monitor sales at each store and make plans quickly." (Ms. Usana)

"We use kintone to report daily sales to the head office. It is easy to operate, just like a mobile phone apps that I normally use. When I want to know about a product, I don't have to look for documents or wait for the head office to contact me. I can search for information myself by typing in such as the product number, which makes my work faster and easier." (Ms. Kurissara, sales staff, Siam Paragon branch)

▲ Data can be accumulated and graphed, searched by narrowed criteria, and other data display methods can be arranged according to the purpose.

▲ In stores, staff can access kintone from tablets that they share. It can be operated in a short time between serving customers

With kintone in the next era

There is no limit to the possibilities for business improvement and service enhancement. In the future, we plan to utilize the functions of kintone to raise the level of product display skills. Attractive displays contribute to sales. "We are thinking about whether we can improve the issue of varying product displays quality depending on the store, by sharing images or videos of well-organized displays on kintone." (MD Kubota)

In addition, the new sales counter is considering implementing kintone for attendance management. When bringing in something new from the outside, one's back may feel a slight heaviness. However, MD Kubota tells us the following.

"The philosophy of the founder of SEIKO is to ‘always be one step ahead’. The implementation of kintone may have seemed going three steps ahead at first to staff. However, the results have been positive, so I think that's what it is all about. I believe that it is important to continue to approach the world and customers with a 'ONE STEP AHEAD' without hesitating." (MD Kubota) Standing up expands the view you can see. The same goes for both companies and individuals. It has been over 30 years since our founding. Looking ahead to the next 30 years, Seiko Thailand will move forward step by step from here.