How Japox open up the future of used car export sales by using latest technology

Industry

Technology

Introduction

The site created through the partnership with NashTech has received feedback from customers that the UI and UX are easy to understand and easy to use. Through this partnership, Mr. Hirayama’s “love for cars” that he spoke at the end seems to be conveyed to all customers

How Japox will open up the future of used car export sales by using latest technology through partnership

“Using new technology, I would like to increase the share of used car export sales within five years. I will keep running to convey the goodness of Japan to people abroad.”
Mr. Hirayama – Co-founder, Japox

In May 2019, Japox Co., Ltd. (Japox for short) started the used car export business with the new era of Reiwa as a startup company.

Mr. Hirayama took over the business based on his father’s desire to “export products that could not be covered by major trading companies”, and is now exporting used cars through an eCommerce site. Japox provides to its customers, used car dealers, “extremely simple market development.”

What Japox can do to solve the problems of the distribution business in Japan.

“I feel there is a big problem in the distribution business in Japan. That is the contraction of sales channels due to the declining population. I have been thinking about what I can do to solve this issue.” says Mr. Hirayama.

By providing a platform to used car dealers and having them use it, they can create sales channels overseas. For that purpose, they needed an eCommerce site that utilises new technologies. More specifically, they needed the site that allows dealers who want to sell used cars to register as members, register products, and easily manage inventory not only on PCs but also on smartphones. Then, registered used car dealers can easily expand their overseas sales channels through Japox’s own e-commerce site.

However, in order to achieve these goals, system development professionals were essential, and they lacked them.

Partnership with NashTech to meet customers' needs

“We are not engineers. Therefore, we can only communicate what we want to achieve in an abstract way. However, the NashTech team took that abstract story down to the implementation level and proceeded in an easy-to-understand manner. It was impressive.”
Mr. Hirayama – Co-founder, Japox

What made him choose NashTech?

Since they have customers overseas, they were looking for a company that could become a partner, not limited to Japanese companies, but from among companies that are expanding globally and communicating in English. NashTech was selected from dozens of candidates.

Our “concreteness” and “high quality” caught Mr. Hirayama’s attention.

“Under the limited situations of having to strictly adhere to both the budget and schedule, their explanations of the framework were detailed, and the Agile development method was overwhelmingly clear. I was able to understand everything easily such as what can be done in the end, what we need to do by when, and what to prepare.” says Mr. Hirayama.

“The role of each sprint, the audit function to ensure that role, the detailed work schedule, and the milestones down to the work level. These were convincing contents.“ Mr. Hirayama added, who focused on quality, budget, and due date.

Stay close to customers and never give up

Mr. Hirayama says “Under the circumstances where amateurs (Japox) and professionals (NashTech) of technologies were mixed, they tried to keep understanding our needs and never gave up on achieving our goals, even though the situation changed. Thanks to that, I felt that we were able to match each other’s recognition and be on the same page.”

This project presents a demo screen for each sprint, and presents the design immediately after the start of development so that the image can be clarified. “It was a method that suited a startup like ours,” praises Hirayama.

“I am very grateful to NashTech’s team for their attitude of staying close to their customers and never giving up.”
Mr. Hirayama – Co-founder, Japox

Utilisation of the latest technology: The strength of NashTech

“Maybe because NashTech is an English-speaking company, I felt that we were able to pick up on technology trends very quickly compared to other Japanese companies. Even in Japan, there are only a limited number of engineers who can handle this with confidence, but NashTech said, ‘Leave it to me’ so I believed it.” says Mr. Hirayama.

“Since the project started, I have also studied and learned about development languages and frameworks. The choice of NashTech was the right after all. Not only does it tell me what is best for me. I feel that being constantly studying and following the latest technology trends is a great strength of NashTech. At the same time, I learned a lot.”
Mr. Hirayama – Co-founder, Japox

The future of the used car sales export market envisioned by Japox

Currently, the used car sales and export market scale is about 1.2 million units per year. The three big three companies account for 33%. The remainder is being exported by small and medium-sized enterprises.

Mr.Hirayama told us about the future of the used car sales export market and vision of Japox.

“We would like to take over the rest of what SMEs are doing. We also want to increase the share of the current 1.2 million units to 1.5 million units. We will keep running with the goal of expanding our market share.”

“We are targeting Africa especially. With the advent of electric vehicles, the market for fossil fuel vehicles is shrinking in Japan. However, I think that the dismantling and recycling work that occurs when replacing a car has the potential to lead to environmental destruction overall. Therefore, from the perspective of the SDGs, I think that the current situation is not very good.

On the other hand, in Africa, we can still expect expansion of sales channels for fossil fuel vehicles. There are people who are deceived and buy cars because of incorrect information. .By delivering high-quality cars that have completed their mission in Japan but can still be used, we can convey the goodness of Japanese cars and at the same time draw a line that leads to the SDGs.”

Finally, Mr. Hirayama continued.

“Cars are unusually attached with ownership (rights) like a registry office, and they are special retail products that are different from daily necessities. Car dealers, we, and people who used cars, all LOVE cars. I think it is also a part of the person’s life. We all remember and think like ‘I used to drive that car back then.’ Have you done it before? Your car will be loved by another person in another country. Don’t you think this is a happy thing? We buy and sell the things that make up our lives. And memories live vividly in our lives as records. So, we would love to help you with that kind of work.”