VALUE COMMERCE

Building Future Pillars Through Aggressive Business Innovation

Yoshimasa Kasuya
Director
In charge of Business Development
General Manager of Business Development Office

Giving Shape to Series of New Initiatives for Accelerating Existing Businesses

In 2024, our company established a business development office specializing in new-business development, and we have been moving forward with the cultivation of new businesses that will support the future of ValueCommerce based on a medium to long-term perspective. Centering on M&A, we have been identifying companies that possess solutions for supporting our company’s growth, and have been growing the seeds of new businesses of all sizes. Now, in 2025, these activities have been becoming even more lively.

For example, in our Marketing Solutions Business, we received business transfers from 018 Inc. of the trial-use promotional campaign & word-of-mouth generation service “monicam” and the influencer matching service “Castbook,” and in addition to this, in March 2025, we made BUZMA Inc., which operates the subscription-based influencer matching service “BUZMA,” into a subsidiary. Based on these initiatives, we aim for further growth in the social commerce market.

Furthermore, in our travel technology business, we have been supporting digital-transformation promotion and staff-shortage elimination for accommodation facilities centering on the accommodation reservation system “Direct In” and the property/ accommodation management system (PMS) “Dynalution” together with Dynatech Inc. In 2024, we made an investment in UPBOND Inc., which possesses unique solutions in the Web3/NFT domain, and have thus been focusing on developing new customer management mechanisms and business efficiency systems for accommodation facilities. As of now, we have completed the demonstration-test stage, and are finally about to proceed with full-fledged implementation. In April 2025, we engaged in an absorption-type merger with Dynatech Inc., and based on integrating this company into our travel technology business, we shall realize an even faster speed of development.

Focusing on Overseas Social Commerce Markets

In addition to expanding existing businesses, we have been working on cultivating fields that will serve as pillars for new businesses. One of our initiatives in this regard is the deployment of our social commerce business overseas.

Even though thus far the main battleground for our marketing solutions business has been Japan, the inevitable reality is that domestic demand will shrink due to the declining birthrate. When considering sustainable growth, expanding overseas is an unavoidable choice, and more than this, it seems to be a major opportunity for growth.

As part of the above strategy, in March 2025, in order to enter the influencer marketing market in Southeast Asia, our company decided to form a business and capital tie-up with StyleDoubler Ltd.

Since our company has led the domestic affiliate-marketing market over many years, it seems that our technological capabilities and know-how will give us a substantial competitive edge in the Southeast Asian market. Although there are differences between Japan and overseas in terms of operational regulations and so on, we shall move forward with a sense of confidence that Southeast Asia is a market where the strengths that we have accumulated in performance marketing can be amply put to use.

Paving Way for Future with Strong Entrepreneurship

In new-business cultivation, entrepreneurship is essential. Even though our company is a listed company, we have continuously taken on various challenges without fearing change. In regard to research & development, which serves as the foundation of new businesses, we have a history of increasing our level of speed. We have achieved this by collaborating with venture companies that possess knowledge and resources in related domains, and then at the same time, cooperating with personnel who have already been achieving innovations, rather than only trying to achieve innovations on our own. Thus, for us, the approach of breaking new ground in undeveloped fields is not something new.

In 2025, in our EC solutions business, there will be a change that greatly impacts our business, and this will involve the ending of our transaction contracts regarding the pay-per-click advertising service “StoreMatch” and the CRM tool “STORE’s R8.” Nevertheless, before this change takes place, a number of seeds for growth have been planted. Currently, some of the seeds have already started to sprout, and we shall continue to nurture the seeds so that we can achieve significant growth in the future. I recognize that there has been a further increase in the level of importance of the positioning of new-business development. As such, looking to the future, we shall strategically and boldly take on challenges at an unprecedented level.