Mega Sports introduced Lazuli PDP, feeling the limitations of manual master management, and aims to double EC sales by reducing man-hours.

The systematization of product master management has also improved CVR

－－ Could you first tell us about the department that Mr. Kamijo oversees?

Kamijo: I currently hold the position of director of the Business Foundation Development Headquarters at Mega Sports. The Business Foundation Organization has departments for systems, logistics, a DX promotion office, and business improvement. If we only had the systems department, development would inevitably become one-sided, but by also having a DX promotion office and business improvement department, we are able to develop solutions that are close to the users.

－－ Can you tell us about the background of implementing Lazuli PDP at your company?

Kamijo: Our company primarily focuses on retail. If we can interact with customers, we can answer their questions on the spot, let them physically handle the products, and allow them to try them on. However, that is not the case with e-commerce. Changing the front-end design and improving UI/UX are crucial for preventing customers from abandoning their purchase journey before they reach the cart.

When we examined the product master to overcome these challenges, we found that we were lacking compared to our competitors, particularly in areas like size, material, and sales copy. Previously, we handled these issues manually with two full-time employees and several part-time employees, but with around 50,000 items annually, there were indeed limits, and we were searching for ways to handle this with a system. It was during this time that I learned about Lazuli PDP.

I had previously worked in shoe retail and had experience in e-commerce. In the case of shoes, we only need to manage longitudinal and lateral sizes, so we could somewhat manage data processing internally. However, with items like tents, we need data on "depth and height," and for bats, data on "material, length, and weight" are necessary, requiring different types of data for each category. I thought that doing all of this manually would be quite impossible.

－－ Now that you have actually implemented Lazuli PDP, what are your impressions?

Kamijo: Initially, I struggled to identify the key items necessary for crawling (such as whether to use JAN or item numbers) (laughs). However, that was only at the beginning; I realized that once our understanding progressed, accuracy improved. I also feel that the site has become easier to understand.

I cannot give specific numbers regarding CVR (conversion rate), but I can confirm that it has improved. Until now, we had few options other than lowering prices; after implementing Lazuli PDP, I consider the improvement in CVR to be one of our achievements.

－－ Are there any further improvements you hope to achieve by leveraging Lazuli PDP?

Kamijo: We currently handle product measurement information as a must, but I believe what comes next is important. I want to focus on "how to provide customers with a comfortable purchasing experience" and plan to improve the site and introduce tags. Additionally, I want to create more organized product information for our e-commerce site based on the master created using Lazuli PDP.

In any case, we cannot move forward without a product master, so it's undeniable that we've taken a significant step in that regard. In fact, since we started using Lazuli PDP, we've achieved a reduction in personnel workload, allowing us to allocate resources to other tasks.

In order to double e-commerce sales in 5 years, we are also progressing with the renewal points for the second phase

－－ I'm glad to hear that Lazuli PDP has contributed to the reduction of resources for the product master.

Kamijo: I believe that every company has many "masters" such as store masters and human resources masters. However, if we cannot properly maintain these masters, we cannot analyze, promote, or extract problems effectively. Moreover, adding to the master later is quite challenging.

I understood this point, but from the perspective of e-commerce, it is also a fact that there is a difference between the masters needed for stores and those needed by e-commerce customers. While an internal change in awareness was necessary, we have come to understand that it is essential for expanding e-commerce.

This is my third year at Mega Sports, and I joined at a time when the president changed. The current president has experience in e-commerce, and the shift in understanding regarding the importance of the product master has been favorable. We aim to promote the use of Lazuli PDP and double e-commerce sales in the next five years.

－－ Your company operates in both physical stores and e-commerce; wasn't it challenging to connect the two?

Kamijo: Recently, we completed the integration of our membership for stores and e-commerce, and now customers can shop and check points on the e-commerce site with a single membership ID. There was a problem with discrepancies between the store ID-POS information and the information on the e-commerce site, but this renewal has resolved that issue.

－－ I think there are many competitive e-commerce sites; are there any aspects you want to change on your own site?

Kamijo: For example, in terms of point rewards, there are things that competitors already have implemented that we haven't been able to do, and we successfully realized some of those in the August renewal. In addition, by improving the product master, we want to connect these synergies to enhance sales.

－－ What direction do you aim to pursue as Mega Sports in the future?

Kamijo: Our company advocates the philosophy of "Wellness, Happiness," and we aim to offer an e-commerce business focused on health, termed "wellness e-commerce," to our customers. In addition to traditional sports items, we hope to develop stores and e-commerce sites that can propose lifestyle options for our customers.

We already have an e-commerce site for Sports Authority, and last year we launched a new site called "KATION". KATION mainly targets women and features a variety of items focused on health and wellness.

The Sports Authority site is primarily an e-commerce site focused on selling goods, while KATION has characteristics that provide information from both the product and experience perspectives through video distribution and events.

－－ What are you looking to work on for strengthening your e-commerce site in the future?

Kamijo: Images, definitely. Currently, we only have still images, but for example, with tents, customers have needs such as wanting to see how it looks from inside and wanting to take a 360-degree look.

For example, real estate websites typically allow for a 360-degree look inside the room, which is standard, while ours has not yet reached that level. We plan to work on these aspects to meet customer needs in the future.

Additionally, I hope to improve the fitting experience as well. On eyeglass e-commerce sites, you can take a picture of your face and see how the glasses look on you. I want to make such functionalities possible. To boost sales in apparel items, we need to tackle this issue.

－－ Finally, could you provide a message to others in the same industry?

Kamijo: I believe everyone in each company struggles and spends time on maintaining the product master. It seems that this is a task that anyone can do; hence, it would be great if companies could collaborate with partners and manufacturers to build a common foundation for the product master within the industry.

※ The content on this page reflects information as of August 2023.

Photo: Mari Otsuka

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