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> Field Innovation*

thorough analysis of what made the best sales results of the trial to the relevant sales floor Sales assistant tracking ( Urawa) assistants so successful using Fujitsu’s Field managers as feedback. Managers were im- Larger dots show initial Innovation (FI)* professional service. pressed: they thought that quantifying customer customer contact A full-scale trial was conducted over the interactions and making a theoretical analysis of Top sales assistants course of the first weekend of October 2012 for a these sales floor-related factors would be helpful section of the women’s fashion sales floor at the in making improvements, and that the objective Isetan Tachikawa store. Visual observations of data analysis made a convincing case. Sharing the sales floor were made every 30 seconds to the results of these analyses with sales assis- gather data on the number and length of tants is also beginning to generate increased customer interactions and to track staff move- sales. ments. This allowed the actions of each sales Mr. Fujii believes that using ICT to generate assistant to be objectively measured and record- these kinds of data is useful in clarifying factors ed in numerical form. where previously managers only had a subjec- Comparison of these data showed that the top tive sense of what might be happening. “These Isetan Holdings Ltd. sales assistants had more customer interactions data are more convincing, and so will help us and spent up to 1.5-2 times longer with custom- develop concrete measures,” he says. “However, ers, resulting in a corresponding difference in we are still only at the trial stage, and we are a Using Insight to Deliver Better Customer the sales generated. The data also revealed that long way from our ultimate goal. Using Fujitsu’s Wait in the top-right or the best sales assistants tended to wait for ICT and related technical expertise, we think we bottom-left of the sales Service customers in positions with a good view of the can take greater steps in increasing productivity. floor, where total area can be viewed, thus catching entire sales floor. Those who waited at the entry This opens the door for department stores and more customers points to the sales floor tended to traverse entire other retailers to whole new avenues of business Average sales assistants space, which wastes movement and actually opportunities.” “Using ICT, we were able to see information with limited success. “We tried to observe how time to interact with customers. The data Human Centric clearly that were obscure to us before. The long the top sellers spent on the sales floor or showed that differences in positioning and Innovation technology has also brought entirely new with customers, and we conducted surveys,” says behavior were largely responsible for differences possibilities into view.” Mr. Katsunori Takizawa, Senior Manager in in the number of customer interactions and time Genichi Fujii, Senior Manager, Corporate Plan- Business Planning & Operations, “but we were spent with customers. ning Division, Strategic Planning Headquarters unable to establish a practical, systematic “From our Point of Sale (PoS) data, we can approach because gathering and analyzing all only know what customers actually buy; we do Clear insights into the success Turning competence in sales into the data required needed so much work.” not know how many sales opportunities we are of top sales assistants can a competitive strength help other personnel improve losing. The findings gave us real, actionable service quality In August 2011, Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Analysis of successful selling behavior insight into how to improve” said Mr. Takizawa. (IMHDS) embarked on a project to improve In the words of Mr. Fujii, “We wondered if we group-wide productivity. As Mr. Fujii explains: could gain an objective view of these tradition- Using ICT to create objective data on “These days, department stores cannot survive ally subjective skills using Fujitsu’s knowledge customer interactions just on what they sell. We must build a more and technology.” IMHDS decided to undertake a The trial at the Isetan Tachikawa store demon- Typically traverse entire reliable earnings structure for the future, and strated the potential of capturing objective data space, which wastes Customer service of sales this means cultivating a corporate culture that on customer interactions. IMHDS decided to movement and actually assistants quantified using encourages all employees to have aspirations partner with Fujitsu to analyze the sales floors at time to interact with data on customer interactions customers and sales and take pride in their work. We also need to other stores using ICT. In 2013, trials using strengthen our ability to sell to customers and various technology and systems were initiated turn this into a source of competitiveness.” at the Isetan Urawa and flagship The best sales assistants generate sales stores. The trial at the Shinjuku flagship store several times bigger than the company average. took place over the first weekend of December However, since the high performance comes 2013 using Fujitsu-supplied smartphones to ICT-based framework for from the individual competence and skills, it is observe and identify successful sales behavior. Customer Profile automatic data collection on extremely difficult to identify specific factors that Like the first trial at the Isetan Tachikawa store, sales assistant activities Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. account for the success of these sales assistants. it was a success in terms of generating objective Address: , IMHDS had made numerous attempts to system- data on the behavior of sales assistants. IM- Founded: 2008 URL: http://www.imhds.co.jp/english/ atize the skills of the top sales assistants, but HDS’s Corporate Planning Division gave the

*Field Innovation (FI): Fujitsu’s initiative for business on how to solve issues and implement related measures, based on visualizing what is actually happening in the field through research