A welding machine manufacturer aiming to expand its overseas sales channels envisions a new form of trade operations.Hakusan Co., Ltd.

Could you tell us what led you to introduce STANDAGE's automated trading service this time?

With the domestic market saturated and sales remaining stagnant, our special equipment business, which handles welding machines, has begun seriously considering overseas expansion in search of new growth opportunities. In fact, our products have been distributed to overseas markets through specialized trading companies for about 50 years, but overseas sales have been sluggish in recent years.

While we strongly felt the need to expand our sales channels, we were apprehensive about venturing overseas on our own due to challenges such as language and cultural differences, as well as logistics and regulations in various countries. Furthermore, we felt the limitations of our traditional reliance on trading companies, and determined that it was urgent to build new distribution channels that we could lead ourselves and to develop an efficient trade network.

The deciding factor in choosing STANDAGE's "Leave it to us trading" service from among many others was the comprehensive support it provides, from market research and sales channel development to trade operations. While many companies only offer partial support, a service that provides such comprehensive support is extremely rare, and it was very attractive, including in terms of cost.

What exactly did it entail?

What we value most at this point is the "end-to-end support system." From the market research stage to the selection of strategic sales channels, market development, and even trade operations, STANDAGE has supported us throughout the entire process. For a small to medium-sized manufacturer like ours, it is not easy to develop a strategy and lead overseas expansion on our own.

With STANDAGE's support, we have been able to select sales channels suitable for the local market and develop expansion strategies, which has been extremely helpful. We are confident that this support will allow us to enter overseas markets more smoothly.

What effects have you seen since implementing it?

Four to five months have passed since implementation, and we are currently in the process of moving from the strategy planning phase to the next stage. Therefore, it is difficult to talk about specific results at this point, but we are feeling a definite sense of accomplishment and our expectations are rising.

Our quantitative goal is to achieve annual overseas sales of approximately 300 million yen. However, even more important than the numbers is establishing stable overseas sales channels. In order to grow our business from a long-term perspective, we believe it is important not just to sell and be done with it, but also to cultivate local partners and users and build educational systems, and we would like to ask for your continued cooperation in these efforts.

What kind of support do you expect from Omakase Trading in the future?

We believe that overseas expansion should not be judged based on short-term results, but rather be a steady effort over several years. Our company has strengths in product development and manufacturing, and we have not been particularly involved in areas such as market research and sales channel development until now. That is precisely why the process of formulating strategies, formulating hypotheses, and repeatedly executing and verifying them with STANDAGE has been a great learning experience for us.

Going forward, even if one initiative doesn't meet expectations, I hope you will continue to be a partner with whom we can move forward together, considering the next step, and the one after that. If we achieve positive results, we will also consider extending the contract in the long term.

Comment from Mr. Miyazaki of Hakusan

To companies considering implementation, I would like to say that "if you are serious about expanding overseas, a partner like STANDAGE, which provides consistent support from strategy planning to execution, is an invaluable asset."

While concrete results are yet to be seen, we are steadily taking steps forward with STANDAGE. For companies struggling with overseas expansion and unsure of where to begin, we believe we can be a reliable resource to consult with. We believe that even small steps are worthwhile, and that leveraging external expertise to venture into new markets is highly valuable.