The persistently weak yen has led to an increase in the need for small and medium-sized enterprises to expand overseas. Strengths include both trading company-style offline development and diverse online development.

STANDAGE Co., Ltd. (Minato-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Akinori Adachi; hereinafter referred to as Standage), which develops and provides digital trade platforms, has exceeded 250 companies in total as of August 29, 2024, for its trade package service for small and medium-sized enterprises. In addition, in anticipation of further service expansion, the service name will be changed from "DigiTrad" to "Marunage Trade."

■ Demand increases amid weak yen: Trade-for-small- and medium-sized businesses reach 250 companies in two years
Standage is working on developing and operating trade DX products that will take trade infrastructure to the next stage, including a new trade settlement system that utilizes blockchain and stable coins. As part of its efforts to increase the number of domestic trade players and expand the market, Standage is working to support domestic companies with no experience in expanding overseas.

This service was launched as an effort to provide comprehensive support for small and medium-sized enterprises in establishing trade relationships, and was affected by the persistent depreciation of the yen since the end of 2010. The cumulative number of contracted companies exceeded 100 at the end of August 2011 and 150 in February 2012. As of August 29, 2012, about two years after the official launch of the service, the number of contracted companies exceeded 250.

Standage's strength is that it aims to build overseas sales from both the perspectives of "trading company-style offline sales channel development" and "diverse online sales channel development."

Since it takes several years to conclude large-scale, sustainable overseas transactions, it is possible to simultaneously conduct sales promotion aimed at general consumers using methods such as cross-border e-commerce, SNS, and live commerce, and build up small to medium-sized overseas sales while aiming to conclude full-scale trade transactions.

This is a strength unique to Standage, which has a wealth of former trading company personnel and an overseas marketing team with in-depth knowledge of the market, and it has gained strong support especially from small and medium-sized companies that find it difficult to make investment decisions based on uncertain profits several years down the line.

■ From "DigiTrad" to "Marunage Trading"
Taking advantage of its strengths specializing in small and medium-sized enterprises and the impact of the weak yen, this service has been adopted by over 250 companies.

We have now decided to change the name of the service to "Marunage Boeki" in order to once again appeal to the features of this service, make it easier for users to understand, and distinguish it from the various trade DX systems developed by Standage.

Standage will continue to contribute to the expansion of global and Japanese trade markets and regional revitalization by supporting the exports of domestic companies.