My Work Portfolio -Yukihide Kanda

My
Work
Portfolio
Yukihide Kanda

2
1. Profile
- Basic information
- Career (job experience)
- Skills (self-analysis)
2. About the Project
- Name of the service
- Service overview
- Service component 1 (Curation)
- Service component 2 (Instant uploads)
- Service component 3 (Gamification)
- Other outcomes (Concept book)
- Other outcomes (Promotional video)
3. Concept of my project
- Concept creation
4. Background
- Underlying reasons
① Increasing EC sales momentum
② Stagnation in mall advertisements
③ Obsolescence of our existing product
5. Research
- Target of the research
- Inspection tour in the U.S.
6. Ground Realities
- Lack of financial resources
- Lack of human resources
- Difficulty in acquisition of end users
7. Result
- Demonstration test of service
- Sales
- Financials
8. Realization
- Definition of the innovation
- Comparison of current and new services
- Conclusion
Index

1. Profile - Basic information
Yukihide Kanda
4
Born: January 10, 1983; Age: 33 years
Nationality: Japan
Ex-semi professional
American Football player

1. Profile - Career (Job Experience)
■Job #3: ipoca, Inc.
Primary business:
Mobile marketing service for retailers
Working period:
2012/9〜2014/8
Role:
Chief Operating Officer
5
■Job #1: IBM Japan, Ltd.
Primary business:
IT-related services
Working period:
2006/4〜2011/9
Role:
Account manager of a mega insurance
company
■Job #2: GILT GROUPE, K.K.
Primary business:
E-commerce of luxury goods and services
Working period:
2011/10〜2012/8
Role:
Curator of luxury service (buyer + web
director)
■Job Experience-4 IBM Japan, Ltd
Primary business:
IT-related services
Working period:
2014/9〜Present
Role :
Account manager of a mega insurance company

1. Profile – Skills (self-analysis)
■ Points
• Veteran account manager with immense experience in account
management and negotiation skills
• Experience of dealing with multiple stakeholders (clients, team members,
and others) and budget management have endowed me with excellent
project handling abilities
• Extensive knowledge of financing, especially venture financing
• Currently studying systems engineering
AccountManagement
Financing
Webdirection
JavaScript
HTML/CSS
Beginner
Rookie
Intermediate
Advanced
Expert
ProjectManagement
Negotiation
6

Throughout my career, I have been a part of various projects
in various enterprises, and this was the most impressive one
where we tried to innovate and learned and experienced a lot,
including what is a critical failure.
8

2. About the Project – Project overview
Content: Development of a mobile app for shopping malls.
Duration: April 2013 – May 2014 (when I was working for ipoca, Inc.)
Service was launched in January 2014
My Role: ・Sales & Marketing and Financing as main roles, and also product
development (our company comprised only 5 people then)
・Direction of concept book and promotional video creation.
( cooperated with )
9

Icon of our mobile application “Nearly”
2. About the Project – Name of the service
■ Name of the service
- Name and reason for the same
Our service was named “Nearly”, and stands for two
ideas: near and ni-ya-ri (grinning).
- “Near”
Users can obtain latest shopping information for
merchandise at malls/retailers in physical proximity,
based on their hobbies, tastes, and/or likes.
- “Grinning”
“Nearly” sounds similar to “ni-ya-ri”, which represents
grinning in Japanese. The idea was that users would
be pleased with and grinning at the available
information.
- Reason for red color
Red is deemed to stimulate people’s desire, and the
aim of our service was to increase users’ purchase
intention.
10

In storeUsers
In Store Game
Component 1
(Curation)
Component 2
(Instant uploading)
Component 3
(Gamification)
Nearly
■Overview of Nearly
11
Our service “Nearly” comprised 3 components and was designed to increase people’s
purchase intention, by collecting and analyzing information on past views or likes.
2. About the Project – Service overview

2. About the Project – Service component 1 (Curation)
■ Shopping Memo
The app also had a
shopping memo function,
which could be used to note
down likes and preferences,
as the app display was
updated hourly.
■ Top Page
(personalized)
The top page was designed
to be similar to E-commerce
sites with information
differing with location, as
tracked using GPS.
To ensure “serendipity in
products”, the user’s likes
and tastes dictated the
arrangement of shopping
information.
■ Articles
Articles were designed to be
intuitive, with the aid of
pictures and videos. The
popularity/rating of the
displayed products was
shown using user
views/likes.
12

2. About the Project – Service component 2 (Instant uploading)
HP/Blog/SNS
Smartphone/Tablet/PC
Output (Articles)Input Device
HP
BLOG
13
Automatic
transfer
■ Upload system for
mall and shop staffs
Since frequent uploading and fresh
information were the key factors to
the success of our service, we
developed an application that
enabled mall and shop staffs to
easily upload Articles from their
smartphones/tablets.
■ Automatic extraction
and transfer of media
information to Nearly
For constant information update,
our system automatically extracts
and transfers the information of
owned media such as Home page
and SNS to Nearly.

14
2. About the Project – Service component 3 (Gamification)
Super
sound
area
Device
To promote continuous use of the application,
Gamification was incorporated in our service. As many
people would not install the app without any incentives,
a point-collection game was incorporated. Points were
earned upon entering a mall and upon goods
purchases. The collected points could be redeemed for
coupons/tickets at mall/retail/entertainment outlets.
The super sound device was selected for check-in certification,
because almost all smartphones could receive super sound with
URL. NFC was initially considered, but given that super sound is
more widespread, the latter was chosen.
■ Gamification ■ Super sound devices
■ Mall entrance (Check-in)
■ Post-purchase

15
2. About the Project – Other outcomes (Concept book)

16
2. About the Project – Other outcomes (Promotional video)
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIKY7rix7W0

3. Concept of my project – Concept creation
The project started with a simple concept “Making available
the latest information to users relating to
merchandise/services available at the nearest malls/shops.”
18

For shopping malls…
They can publish information relating to their latest merchandise/services
easily and immediately, thus having a cost-effective means of
marketing/advertising.
19

For end users…
They can obtain information about the latest merchandise/services that they
like/prefer and how they like/prefer.
20

22
In today’s world, where E-commerce reigns supreme, we wish
to lend support to physical retailers by enabling users to re-
discover the joys of actual shopping.

① Increasing EC sales momentum
③ Obsolescence of our existing product
② Stagnation in mall advertisements
4. Background – Reasons to Act
23
Main reasons to act were as follows which were not only external factors (①,②) but also
an internal factor (③).

4. Background – ① Increasing EC sales momentum
5
10
134
E-commerce
Sales
Retail Sales
( Trillion ¥ )
2011 2020
[graph]
Relation Between EC sales and real retail sales in Japan from 2011 to 2021, as surveyed by the Japanese
government.
Expected
Amount of
E-commerce
=
Decrease in
Retail Sales
24
It is expected that e-commerce sales will continue to increase at the expense of retail
sales.
( Year )

25
Business model of shopping
malls
Shopping mall
Shop A Shop B Shop C
Customer
Sales
Sales-based
rent fee
Sales
promotion
Decrease in retail sales
means…
A matter of survival for shopping malls.
Revenue for shopping malls is strongly related to the sales of housed shops because of
sales-based rent fees. A decrease in retail sales is a critical problem for shopping malls.
4. Background – ① Increasing EC sales momentum

26
4. Background – ② Stagnation in mall advertisements
75%
15%
5% 1% 4%
Advertising cost for shopping malls
Flyer ad
Home page
SNS
Mobile application
Other
Planning
Photo shooting
Editing
Printing
Publishing
2 weeks
1 week
2 week
1 week
Shopping malls have overly relied on flyer advertisements though these can cost upwards
of 10 million yen each time and are time-intensive. Further, there is no provision to
measure the effects of such advertisement.
Average timeline for preparation
of flyer advertisements
Shopping malls publish 4--6 flyers annually, which
together can cost up to 25 million yen.

27
4. Background – ③ Obsolescence of our existing product
Because of the emergence of smartphones and the widespread use of mobile apps, mail
marketing have become obsolete. Our service which was based on mail marketing system
therefore need to reform and have to find new sources of revenue.
People, especially younger generations, prefer to obtain information in intuitive media
such as picture and video rather than text or e-mail.

29
To obtain the insights of new product and gain prominence
among competitors in terms of product innovativeness, we
conducted some research and decided to go to inspection tour
in the U.S.

30
5. Research – Target Research
■ Target Research
- Objective
The purpose of the research was to obtain
insights on how people searched information
before they purchases goods. We presumed the
target users of our service to be women,
especially those aged between 18 and 40, thus
including students, working women,
and house wives.
- Research
Interviewed 2 groups of women: 4 housewives
around 30 to 40 years old and 3 women aged
around 20 to 25. Interviews were conducted in
Q&A format.
※ The photo is an image ( I don’t have actual pictures)

31
5. Research – Target Research
- Conclusion
We concluded that value-oriented special deals need to
be a part of the information the app would provide.
Further, the interface should be heavy on visual media,
much like E-commerce sites.
- Result
Housewives:
This group was mainly looking for information through
shopping mall/shop/store flyers to purchase goods at
the cheapest rates. They relied on the word of mouth of
their close connections and shared information with
each other. However, it emerged that these women
wanted to purchase goods that were different from what
their close connections had.
Young Women:
This group primarily relied on the internet for
information, were heavy users of their smartphones,
and even browsed during their spare/commute time.
They preferred intuitive information such as pictures or
videos, and often browsed E-commerce sites as a
source for collecting information.
※ The photo is an image ( I don’t have actual pictures)

5. Research – Inspection tour in the U.S.
■ Inspection tour in the U.S.
・Objective
Ideating for our new product and investigating new
technologies in mobile app services.
・Measure
We went to some shopping malls and retail shops to use
apps and also observed how people use mobile apps.
Place
- Stanford Shopping Center
- Westfield
- Walmart
- Target
- Best Buy
- Home Depot
Application
- Shop Kick (shopping information and award)
- Westfield Mobile App (mall guidance)
- Walmart App (self-checkout service)
- Home Depot App (product search assistance)
32

5. Research – Inspection tour in the U.S.
33
- Result
We were able to develop some ideas using
applications, especially, Shop Kick, which can also
serve as a benchmark service as it too promotes
people’s buying activity using shopping information and
rewards. However, few were downloading this app and
even fewer were using it.
- Conclusion
The applications developed in the U.S. were impressive
in terms of their functioning and user interface, but we
found that they were at odds with people’s shopping
behaviors. We wished to rectify this.

6. Ground Realities – Lack of Financial Resources
Our estimated costs for developing the new service was more than 0.5 million Yen, which
was beyond our company; hence, we sought investment from venture capitalists.
■ Investment from venture capitals
・Objective
Raising funds for the development of our new service and for its
marketing.
・Result
Obtained 1.5 million Yen in investments from 4 out of the 6
venture capitalists approached.
35
※ Profile of Venture Capitals
- Nippon Venture Capital Co., Ltd. (Lead investor)
Venture capital firm, with one board director being the CEO of First Retailing (parent company of UNIQULO)
- SMBC Venture Capital Co., Ltd.
Venture capital firm affiliated with the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking corporation, the third-largest Japanese bank in terms of assets.
- Mizuho Venture Capital Co., Ltd.
Venture capital firm affiliated with the Mizuho Bank, the second-largest Japanese bank in terms of assets.
- KSP Co., Ltd.
Venture capital firm with public ownership, through the Kanagawa prefectural government, Kawasaki city government,
and the Development Bank of Japan, Inc.

6. Ground Realities – Lack of Human Resources
Lack of human resources was a major issue as the company had only 5 personnel at that
time; in particular, the absence of an engineer was a major problem.
Choice between “outsourcing and launching a service as soon as
possible (time)” or “hiring an engineer and using the money with
care (cost)”
36

6. Ground Realities – Lack of Human Resources
Hiring engineers
pros cons
Outsourcing development
pros cons
• Accumulates
know how of
service
• Low cost for
development and
maintenance in
the long run.
• Quick action
• Easy to
communicate
• Takes long time
to hire skilled
engineers
• Takes long time
to raise
engineers
• Easy to find
skilled persons
• Accumulated
know how of
development
• No need for
raising people
• High outsourcing
cost
• Slow action
• Difficulty in
communication
37
Comparing the pros and cons of “Hiring engineers” and “Outsource the development” while
placing emphasis on “launching the service ASAP,” the latter emerged as the better choice,
and we decided to outsource the majority of our development to a renowned application
development company.

6. Ground Realities – Difficulty in Acquisition of End Users
38
Acquisition of end users is the vital aspect for mobile application services, and also the most
difficult. Shopping malls were the best channel for pushing our application because they
fulfill an important criterion of the acquisition process: gathering people
Gathering people
Attention
Interest
Search
Download the application
Shopping malls were the best channel for pushing our application because they fulfill
an important criterion of the acquisition process: gathering people
Process of downloading a
mobile application

39
6. Ground Realities – Difficulty in acquisition of end users
To ensure end user acquisition, using the expertise and knowhow of specialist sales
promotion companies seemed to be the best solution, and accordingly, our company formed
an alliance with a sales promotion company with expertise in customer-facing promotional
activities at shopping malls.
Gathering people
Attention
Interest
Search
Download the application
Increasing the rate of conversion from “Attention” to “search” is a key factor in end
user acquisition.

41
■ Basic information of the demonstration test
Duration : December 26, 2013～January 9, 2014 (25 days)
Place : A shopping mall where the promotional activity was carried by the allied sales promotion
company.
Objective : Verifying the benefit of the service
The demonstration test of our service was conducted only once before launch and we could
not achieve the targets.
7.Result – Demonstration test of service
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Number of downloads
Android iOS
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Number of check-ins
Actual/Target: 538/1000
Hit ratio: 53.8%
Actual/Target: 282/360
Hit ratio: 72.8%
■ Results of the demonstration test

42
7.Result – Demonstration test of service (Feedback)
Negative
Common service
Complicated
Had trouble with some defects related
Malfunctions ( Drains battery, abend often)
Positive
Impressive user interface
Valuable if I could collect the points
Although not receiving many feedbacks from end users, we could have meaningful feedback
which represented the service. We found that the service was more common and
complicated as we had imagined from feedbacks and also observation at the demonstration
place.

43
7.Result – Sales
At that time, there were almost 3,500 shopping malls in Japan we had decided to target 700
of these. However, we could just get one contract from the client. The reason for the low
interest was the immaturity of our user base of the service.
3,500
shopping malls in
Japan
700
target clients
150
appointments
1
contract
■ Sales result for the period from January to May 2014

44
7.Result – Financials
As sales did not increase and expenditure accumulated, our cash reserve dwindled before
any improvements could be made. The company had to be restructured and I had to leave
the company.
0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
140,000
160,000
Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May
2013 2014
sales
Cash
cash out
Cash
(thousand ¥)
Launched new service

46
Feasible Controversial
8.Realization – Definition of the Innovation
Something New
At that time, our service seemed to be innovative. However, when thinking back to the
project and verifying with the definition of the innovation, it did not fulfill the elements of
“something new” and “controversial”
■Elements of the innovation ※Idea based on a Japanese design consultant)

47
8.Realization – Comparison of current and new the services
Picture
Text mail
Super sound point
Information Device
Comparing the current and new service, both services seemed similar and new service may
have been just a version up of current one. New service should have been considered in a
radical manner.
Felica
(Similar system to NFC)
reward
coupon
Service elements
New
Service
Current
Service
only a version up?

48
Although we had good expectations, the service could not
deliver. Since we could not run the project well, especially with
regard to money management, I had to leave the company.
However, this experience has only stimulated my interest in
successful product development, project management, and
innovation.
8.Realization – Conclusion

My Work Portfolio -Yukihide Kanda

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