In this interview series, we invited people to reflect on their life while looking back on their shopping history with Rakuten. This time, we interviewed Kotaro Tanaka, representative director of Tamachan Shop, Kyunan, Ltd. The store started from a shiitake mushroom farm in Kyushu’s Miyazaki Prefecture and has now won the Rakuten Shop of the Year award for seven consecutive years; the reward of much trial and error and the work of truly passionate staff.
The Tamachan Shop,
started out as the "Shiitake Mushroom Tamachan Shop.”
Rakuten: First of all, let’s go back 25 years ago to when Rakuten first came online. What were you doing then?
Kotaro Tanaka: I was in a band at high school, and dreamed of a job in the music industry. I didn't even know about online shopping at the time and I never thought I would be involved in this business.
Rakuten: Online shopping certainly wasn’t mainstream at that time. When was your first experience with online shopping?
Kotaro Tanaka: Actually, it was after we listed our store on Rakuten. I bought some luxury shampoo.
Rakuten: So it sounds like that shampoo might be a product with some special memories for you.
Kotaro Tanaka: I actually took this opportunity to go back and look at my Rakuten purchase history. I realized I was making a habit of buying crab and meat during the sales periods.
Rakuten: Thank you for all your purchases…(LOL)! We’d also like to hear what you sold online. You started out as a shiitake mushroom farmer so what prompted you to consider selling products online?
Kotaro Tanaka: In around 2004, 10 years after we started out, cheap products from overseas began to flood the market, really bringing down the value we could offer locally. Witnessing this gradual slowdown of the agriculture business, I felt a strong desire to work out how we could ensure the survival of our shiitake mushroom farm. What could I do about it? I came up with the idea of selling beyond our local region to the whole of Japan. I heard about a local store that already had an online store on Rakuten, so I decided to start my own.
Rakuten: So, your first product on Rakuten were shiitake mushrooms?
Kotaro Tanaka: That's right. At first, our main product was shiitake and the name of the store was "Shiitake Mushroom Tamachan Shop." Our products are not grown indoors but are cultivated using natural farming methods that take time and effort. The vegetables are grown in a natural cycle which is good for the environment. It is probably one of the "original SDGs foods". Even now, we continue to make improvements through trial and error, including organic farming methods.
Rakuten: You have a very extensive lineup of shiitake products. What was your impression of the customer response to your first online sales?
Kotaro Tanaka: Actually, there was no response at all...that’s what I remember the most (laughs). At the time, the internet was still in the process of becoming mainstream. I was hoping that if I opened an online store, immediate customer access would follow, but to my surprise, there was no response.
Rakuten: No response at all...what measures did you take?
Kotaro Tanaka: I took Rakuten's advice and sent out one email newsletter. I had only learned to use a computer after setting up my online store, so it was really difficult. Naturally, I didn't know how to create an email newsletter. It took me two months to create it using HTML while referring to various books. After a lot of trial and error figuring out how to promote our product, I received more than 10 orders for the first time ever, which was a big moment for me.
Rakuten: That must have been a lot of work for 10 orders. Tell us about how things have progressed since then?
Kotaro Tanaka: The first turning point was in 2005 when our food products happened to be featured on national television. Where we had been receiving several orders a day, suddenly we were receiving 1000. However, our excitement was short-lived. We found out that the program used an inappropriate cooking method, and the next day there was a big rush to cancel. It was a hectic time but we were pleased with the way we handled the situation and in the end we received regular orders, which made us realize the benefits of being exposed to so many people.
Rakuten: As you turned those issues into a loyal customer base, what was the next turning point?
Kotaro Tanaka: The Miyazaki boom that followed the 2007 inauguration of (popular celebrity) Hideo Higashikokubaru as governor of the prefecture was a major turning point. Various media outlets began to feature local foods, and I think we were able to gradually raise awareness of our products.
The theme is "Delicious and Healthy":
Products that help you enjoy food, health, and beauty.
Rakuten: You currently offer many other products in addition to shiitake mushrooms. What is the concept behind the development of your products?
Kotaro Tanaka: Our concept is "To be Japan’s beloved mum". Parents choose safe and nourishing foodstuffs for their children. We put the same thought into our products. We want our products to be something that everyone can be sure is safe to eat. The theme is "Delicious and Healthy" while using quality ingredients grown locally in Miyazaki prefecture and the Kyushu area as much as possible. No matter how healthy something is, you won’t continue to eat it if it isn’t tasty. We therefore think about how we can make the best use of our ingredients to develop products that are enjoyable to eat and great for your health and beauty.
Rakuten: In addition to food ingredients, you also offer beauty products including skin care. How did you start developing these products?
Kotaro Tanaka: We place importance on the "power of food". Our cosmetics are also based on food ingredients and our goal is to make people feel beautiful both inside and outside through the power of what they eat. Currently, we have three pillars for our sales: "daily meals," "snacks," and "health foods (i.e., nutritional supplements)". We live in an age of diversity which is why we offer nutritional products in a way that is tailored to each individual.
Rakuten: What products are popular right now?
Kotaro Tanaka: One is "Protein Otome," a protein product for beauty, which we developed with Rakuten four years ago, when there were almost no protein products targeting women. In recent years, it has gradually gained recognition and popularity, and I am proud to say that we were the first to create this kind of product. Another long-selling product is multigrain rice. It was the first original brand for our store. Under the supervision of a multigrain advisor, we use 30 kinds of grains from different grain farmers and combine them together, taking into consideration the overall texture and balance of nutrients. This product really ticks all the boxes in terms of price, quality, and taste.
Creating a "a small place of peace" through food.
Rakuten: Having worked with Rakuten for 18 years, you must have many memories. What product stands out?
Kotaro Tanaka: Our original health food "Mirai no koso" launched in 2011 was a major one for me personally. Until then, enzyme products were mostly available in drink form, but this product is freeze-dried and made into a powder. It was the realization of something I had envisioned for a long time and through Rakuten, our small store was able to deliver it to customers all over Japan. It is a product that still keeps me going to this day.
Rakuten: Did you ever receive any advice from Rakuten that left a particularly strong impression on you?
Kotaro Tanaka: It was very helpful to have an EC consultant assigned to our store. They looked at our challenges objectively and gave us a lot of advice on how to grow the business, including financial advice. We thought "Rakuten Shop of the Year" was too difficult a goal, but the EC encouraged us to aim for it and helped to spur us on. I really feel that we have worked together hand-in-hand.
Rakuten: And as a result, you have won the Rakuten Shop of the Year award seven times.
Kotaro Tanaka: I still remember the moment when we won the first award. Our customers proved the worth of what we had believed in as a business. The reward isn’t something that we alone could achieve - we were able to win it because of the support of our customers, who have been on this journey together with us.
Rakuten: Is there anything you are looking forward to working on with Rakuten in the future?
Kotaro Tanaka: Rakuten has great potential for retail. They value the individuality of the stores and give us a lot of freedom to express ourselves on the site. Especially for a local company like ours, we really value this world view. Also, the ability for stores to collaborate with each other is unique to Rakuten. It takes a lot of time and money for a single company to start something new, but collaboration opens up a world of exciting and ever-expanding possibilities. Rakuten helps us to experience the fun side of work.
Rakuten: Are there any challenges you would like to tackle in the future?
Kotaro Tanaka: Until recently, I have always thought about food in context of the domestic market, but now that I know how deep Japanese food culture is, I would like to try and share it with the rest of the world. This means working on "connecting countries through products" - products that transcend national borders. Currently, we cannot easily go abroad because of COVID-19. I think that by bringing together our respective strengths, such as by having famous cafes in Asia give advice on our product development, we can create new products that might not have worked in the Japan market. This would be our way of contributing to "a small place of peace". For that reason, I would like to continue with our mission of spreading the concept and vision of our store from Japan.
Kotaro Tanaka / Manager of Tamachan Shop
Since starting out as a small-scale shiitake mushroom farmer, Mr Tanaka’s shop now handles a variety of food-related products such as multi grains, nuts, superfoods, tea, original health foods and cosmetics. What Tamachan Shop offers is "happy food", which allows you to be healthy and beautiful while enjoying safe, delicious, and nutritious food. The company carefully selects high-quality food ingredients not only from the local Kyushu area, but also from all over Japan and develops products that bring happiness to all customers.
When opening the Tamachan shop, Kotaro purchased this item for the first time on Rakuten Ichiba to experience online shopping himself. He has been using Rakuten Ichiba for both his personal and company purchases since then.
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