Yoji Furukawa, CEO of COSMOS Co., Ltd.
Mr. Kentaro Shino, CEO of ai-li Co., Ltd.
COSMOS Inc. is a planning company that provides content, plans, and products related to artist goods and apparel brands to various companies and users.
The projects we are currently working on have three main areas of business: planning, producing, and selling merchandise related to artists, and forming alliances for PR and advertising projects related to artists.
Task
solution
effect
An increasing number of companies are using Online Payment Service provided by SB Payment Service Corp. (hereinafter referred to as SBPS). One such company is COSMOS Inc., which sells licensed goods of famous artists such as BTS. The company is attempting online sales with a shop built using aLe, an EC cart provided by aLe Inc. We spoke with Yoji Furukawa, CEO of COSMOS, Kentaro Otake, CEO of aLe, and Gen Nakamura and Satoru Shibano of SBPS about their "trinity" initiative that provides end-to-end support from website construction to payment.
Yoji Furukawa, CEO of COSMOS Inc. (hereinafter referred to as COSMOS Furukawa)
We are a planning company that plans, produces, and sells apparel and goods related to global artists. We currently operate "COSMOS STORE," an official licensed product store that handles goods for the popular Korean group BTS, in Shinjuku, Nagoya, and Fukuoka, and in response to customer requests, we opened an online store of the same name in March of this year. The store was built using "aLe," provided by ai-li, and has implemented SBPS's Online Payment Service.
COSMOS Furukawa
I have been working in the apparel industry for about 20 years, and during that time I have come into contact with many e-commerce carts.
Based on that experience, the two things we prioritize when selecting an EC cart are cost and ease of operation and customization. We decided to introduce "aLe" as we felt it had an excellent balance of these factors and was an EC cart that would enable us to achieve what we wanted to do, such as linking with inventory at in-store. In addition, as we are considering expanding overseas in the future, the fact that it supports cross-border EC was also a key point.
Mr. Kentaro Shino, CEO of ai-li Co., Ltd. (hereinafter, ai-li Shino)
"aLe" is a SaaS-based EC site construction platform specialized for apparel. It comes standard with the necessary functions for apparel EC, such as price setting by SKU (Stock keeping Unit), coupon distribution, and product sales schedule management, which are difficult to achieve with normal EC carts. We also handle EC site creation and management, as well as presentation (photography, measurements, manuscripts), and other services, so we can provide comprehensive support.
ai-li Shino
Our strength is that the staff who are involved in system construction and operation have experience in everything from production to sales in the apparel industry. They have a first-hand understanding of the business flow specific to the industry, so they can converse with customers in technical terms. Therefore, we believe that we have a great advantage in that we can be close to users (purchasers) while also having the perspective of an EC business operator.
COSMOS Furukawa
The deciding factor for us to adopt SoftBank was not only its compatibility with various payment methods, extensive implementation track record, and solid security and support system, but also the overwhelming sense of security that comes with being part of the SoftBank Group. Our number one priority is ensuring that our users (purchasers) can make payments with peace of mind, so this was an easy choice.
ai-li Shino
As mentioned earlier, COSMOS is considering expanding overseas. In that regard, SBPS offers a wide range of international payment options, which are essential for cross-border e-commerce, so we confidently recommended them when building the site.
Mr. Satoru Shibano, Section Manager, Sales Department 1, Sales Division 2, SB Payment Service (hereinafter referred to as "SBPS Shibano")
As a PSP agency, we provide over 40 payment methods from different brands that can be used by businesses in their online shops. Our strength is that we can provide a one-stop service that goes beyond PSP vetting and management, AI fraud detection to prevent fraudulent use of Credit Card Payment, and marketing support to attract customers and increase sales.
Gen Nakamura, General Manager of Sales Division 1, Second Sales Headquarters, SB Payment Service (hereinafter, SBPS Nakamura)
While typical fraud detection judges whether or not a transaction is fraudulent based on the information entered by the purchaser and screen transitions, we use the vast amount of payment data and payment-related knowledge we possess to detect fraud. Our AI learns past fraud patterns and calculates the risk of fraudulent use as a score in real time, making it possible to detect fraudulent transactions early. There are three types of plans, but business operators who have introduced our Online Payment Service can use our service from 0 yen.
ai-li Shino
Another benefit is that it uses payment information, so there is little burden on EC businesses when implementing it. It is possible to set up unique rules to prevent suspicious transactions, and it is also possible to add EMV 3-D Secure authentication only to certain transactions, so it seems like it can be very flexibly adapted to the situation of fraudulent use.
ai-li Shino
The impression I get from SBPS's Online Payment Service is that it is highly responsive to system processing loads. For example, when new popular BTS goods or apparel items are released, thousands of items can be sold in three minutes. This can lead to a concentration of transactions, which can cause congestion at the payment stage, but SBPS's service excels in distributing the system processing load and enabling stable payments. This also translates into a sense of security.
SBPS Nakamura
Thank you. We provide an advanced payment system that processes large-scale transactions exceeding 6 trillion yen per year (2022 actual results). We have strengthened our system server so that it can withstand ticket sales payments for global events, so we can process payments stably even if there is a sudden concentration of transactions. We also have an operation and management system that complies with international security standards, so you can use our service with peace of mind.
COSMOS Furukawa
We just launched our EC site in March this year, but we have already received positive feedback from customers, such as "it's easy to shop on" and "it's easy to use." In particular, the store inventory display function has been highly praised by many customers. We asked ai-li to build the site, and the quality of the UI/UX, including the wording and visual aspects, is high, so we can operate it with peace of mind.
ai-li Shino
One of the features of SBPS's service is that when a payment error occurs, such as exceeding the card limit or the browser session expiring midway through a payment, the cause can be checked immediately on the management screen. As someone in charge of running a shop, I can share the cause of the error with my client early on in response to inquiries from users and respond quickly, which has significantly reduced my stress.
COSMOS Furukawa
With the "COSMOS STORE" business at the core, we are considering acquiring a Korean IP address and would like to increase the amount of content we handle related to global artists other than BTS. We also want to work hard every day to make sure our customers can appreciate the value of our store management planning, which is our main business.
ai-li Shino
As an EC vendor, it goes without saying that we build websites that are easy for users to shop on, but we also want to do exciting and interesting work with businesses that have dreams like COSMOS. We want to proactively create an environment where everyone can be happy, including our employees, users, and businesses.
SBPS Shibano
We believe that our mission at SBPS is to work closely with business owners as a PSP agency and to help them solve problems related to payments. We will also work to strengthen collaboration within the SoftBank Group so that we can provide a wide range of support in areas other than payments.
SBPS Nakamura
In addition, even when enthusiastic fans who buy products from "COSMOS STORE" have inquiries about payments, we have been able to work with ai-li to quickly respond to those inquiries. This is a "trinity" initiative aimed at solving the issues of EC businesses, not just in terms of payments. We would like to spread this as a success story and, as Shibano mentioned, increase our value as a solutions vendor in the payment field.
We are very pleased that you have adopted our payment service, given the high evaluation you have given us of the stability and security of our payment services. We will continue to provide further support so that you can continue to operate your e-commerce business with peace of mind. We also share COSMOS's vision for global expansion, and will do our best to contribute to their further success in the future.
SB Payment Service Corp.
Second Sales Headquarters
Sales Department 1, Section 1 Manager
Satoru Shibano
Please contact us to download detailed information about our services and to discuss costs and implementation.