Year-end or December in Japan is when we often
give / send / exchange gifts called Oseibo (お歳暮 in Japanese) to express gratitude, similarly to Ochugen (お中元 in Japanese) in summer of July – August. We often send foods and beverages i.e. things
that need to be handled with care in a certain temperature as well as household
goods such as soap and towels.
This works thanks to transportation
companies including Yamato Transport
Co., ltd. the Japan leading company in the realm that developed and created
Delivery Service (Takkyu-bin or 宅急便in Japanese) business
which became quite popular in Japan.
Their takkyuubin services, outlined in this article below, are so to
speak the condensation of hospitality or omotenashi spirits explained in the previous
articles provided by Japanese companies to winning customer satisfaction of demanding
Japanese consumers.
According to a TV programme that went on
air a few months ago, the company started their business in Malaysia and their services
are extremely well accepted in the country, transforming the transportation and
business environment to improve lives of the people.
1. Can
ask to be delivered again at the date and time requested by the recipient
One thing about receiving things from
transportation companies they want to deliver to the recipient is that the
recipient may well be absent then they came with the delivery and cannot be
100% certain to receive the delivery.
What happens is that in such a case the delivery
person will fill in a Form (不在票 in Japanese) stating
his name, when he came, tracking number of the delivery, what type of delivery
it is (e.g. “Cool Delivery” or クール便 in Japanese mentioned
in #2 below) and from whom, then puts the form in the post of the
recipient.
The recipient would then either contact by
phone or by the Internet to say when s/he wants it to be delivered again within
a week as instructed in the form (e.g. date and time such as morning,
12:00-14:00 / 14:00-16:00 / 16:00-18:00 / 18:00-20:00 / 20:00-21:00). The recipient can also pick up at the
specified office of the transportation company with the form and seal.
This service is so popular now in Japan
that we all take it for granted; however, in a Japanese TV programme they said
this is something specific to Japan.
This service is very convenient when many of us are working or busy and
thus not necessarily at home or in the office all day, and this is why the
company is extremely successful when started their business in Malaysia.
This service is actually good also for the
company although it is not easy to provide this kind of service because the delivery
p erson has better probability of successful delivery and not re-visiting the
recipient without vain.
2. Can
send temperature-sensitive products including perishables in cool temperature
with “Cool Delivery”
Often, Oseibo gifts are perishables such as
ham, fish, crabs and the like.
Delivering such products at room temperature would not be good,
degrading the gift quality during the delivery.
To meet this needs, the company developed “Cool
Delivery” services that enable perishables to be delivered in low temperature. The goods are put in a foam cooler (in the
case of fish ice and the like are put in it together), and delivered by a truck
whose temperature is of refrigerator. Of
course the goods are stored in the similar temperature environment in the
warehouse.
It is with this that we can enjoy goods
including perishables delivered from far away.
And it is with this that drastically changed transportation and
distribution channel of Malaysia especially in food industry. Retailers and consumers are now able to
obtain foods including perishables from cities in other parts of the country.
3. Can
pay or receive cash upon delivery, a handy service for e-commerce and mail
order business
Some delivery of goods requires cash
payment of products delivered, such as the delivery of e-commerce and mail
order businesses. The buyer/customer could
either make payment by bank transfer or by online payment (e.g. PayPal, credit
card) then after the supplier confirms the payment send the products.
However, this is not necessarily
convenience; it takes additional procedures meaning more time, and customers
may well not like paying before the delivery.
They may want to pay upon delivery similarly to how they buy at shops.
Yamato Transport has developed Payment on
Delivery service. The delivery person
will receive the cash upon delivery, and the cash will be transferred to the
sender (e.g. e-commerce and mail order company). With this service, the company has become one
of the popular transportation company designated by the e-commerce and online
shopping companies of the country.
4. Key
to business success is talent and their training
The above services (maybe Payment on
Delivery in particular) are realized through thorough training to delivery
staff members. Series of training is
provided to upgrade not only their hard skills but also soft skills including
hospitality manners (e.g. greeting, smile, bow), morale and philosophy of “customer-first”.
Together with meeting needs of local
employees such as creating a system/environment to allow them to pray for their
Islamic culture as well as paying higher salary than many other competitors,
the company has been successful in attracting and engaging high talents, the
requirement for successful business exporting Japanese service to abroad.
