Announcing Takashi Okutani’s appointment as advisor: Japan’s leading DX/omnichannel/D2C expert joins Lazuli - Manage your product master to increase sales on Lazuli PDP (Lazuli Product Data Platform).

Announcing Takashi Okutani’s appointment as advisor: Japan’s leading DX/omnichannel/D2C expert joins Lazuli

Press Release

Dec 2, 2020

Lazuli Inc., which provides cloud-based product master SaaS (Head office: Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Seigen Hagiwara; hereinafter “Lazuli”), hereby announces that Takashi Okutani (executive officer/COCO of Oisix ra daichi Inc., co-CEO/director of Customer Time Inc., hereinafter Takashi Okutani) has been appointed as an advisor to our company.

Takashi Okutani

About Takashi Okutani

At Lazuli, we are advancing the development and provision of SaaS that makes product information from around the world available to anyone involved in business. This time, we have appointed Takashi Okutani, an expert in DX, omnichannel, D2C, and marketing who has worked at the forefront of business, deeply engaging with products, customers, and data, as an advisor to Lazuli.

Mr. Okutani was involved in marketing at Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd., known for “MUJI,” and oversaw product planning and development/promotion/omnichannel. In 2015, he produced “MUJI passport” and pioneered and implemented omnichannel strategies and OMO ahead of their time. After that, at Oisix ra daichi Inc., he served as an executive officer/Chief Omni Channel Officer, overseeing overall marketing integrated from upstream to downstream, and at Customer Time Inc. he has been consulting for many major companies by leveraging his experience and skills.

At Lazuli, we believe that the maintenance of product masters is one of the major factors hindering DX in Japan. We will receive advice and counsel from Takashi Okutani, who has a deep understanding of products, data, and supply chains, based on the latest industry trends and his accumulated experience in R&D and business development. Together, we will accelerate the development of products as an information infrastructure for product information, which forms the foundation of DX, and strengthen our collaboration with companies.

■Comments from Takashi Okutani

One challenge I feel while supporting companies in promoting DX, planning D2C business strategies, and building and executing omnichannel experiences is the lack of well-organized product master data across various industries.

In industries ranging from B2C to B2B, it is common to see the same product assigned countless JAN-like codes and managed without a plan in response to the diversification of sales channels. Even as society becomes increasingly digital, information infrastructure for products and services remains underdeveloped.

A vast amount of product information is still flowing through the world without being organized.

This situation is the same as leaving a world in which the use of valuable transaction data does not move forward untouched.

In addressing such challenges, I had the opportunity to meet interesting people who are thinking about a product master system that captures the entire supply chain using AI and the internet.

The realization of an AI product database that collects, organizes, and expands product information from around the world with AI and provides it in a way that is easy for anyone to use will become essential for all companies going forward.

From here on, I would like to work with them to advance the development of information infrastructure required by many companies and industries.

If you are interested, please feel free to reach out.

■Comments from our CEO/CTO Hagiwara

Right now, while receiving various inquiries from clients across both BtoB and BtoC, and across each phase of the supply chain—manufacturing, distribution, wholesale, and sales—we as a company are always thinking about the theme of how we should move forward amid our desire to contribute to society and the industry and our limited resources. I feel that Mr. Okutani’s insights and instincts will greatly advance our product master business strategy and services.

Although his achievements and career make this obvious, through actually meeting and discussing with him repeatedly, I have been deeply impressed by his profound insight into the industry and his ability to identify leverage points for reform. For us, being able to run side by side with Mr. Okutani is something we are deeply grateful for.

Starting with AI product masters, we intend to devote our full efforts to driving and transforming DX in Japan together with Mr. Okutani.

■Career of Takashi Okutani

1997: Joined Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd. After working in store operations, being seconded to a trading company partner (assignment in Germany), World MUJI planning, and the planning and design office, he developed the “Right-Angle Socks” as the category manager for apparel and accessories in 2005 and turned them into a long-running bestseller. In 2010, he became head of the web business division and produced “MUJI passport.”

October 2015: Joined Oisix Inc. (currently Oisix ra daichi Inc.) and assumed his current position.

April 2017: Doctoral program, Graduate School of Commerce and Management, Hitotsubashi University (enrolled)

October 2017: Founded Engagement Commerce Lab.

September 2018: Appointed co-CEO/director of Customer Time Inc.

He is the coauthor of “The World’s Most Advanced Marketing: Channel Shift Strategies for Companies That Connect with Customers” (coauthored, Nikkei BP).

Director, Japan Marketing Association.