Business Model

Creating Japanese Brands that Wow the World

We handle all aspects of our in-house brand, from brand management, product planning, wholesale and retail strategies, marketing and advertising, and distribution, ensuring a wide range of products for our customers.

Consistent and Cohesive Brand Development: From Concept to Distribution

Our mission is to take on the entire process, from development to distribution, primarily focusing on consumer goods. Through our products, we aim to bring happiness to end users both domestically and internationally.
We constantly monitor daily market trends to rapidly produce products without compromising quality or price. Additionally, our strategic marketing approach encompasses anticipating future trends, implementing creative promotions, and innovative sales methods to enhance the value of our products. We aspire to become the world’s leading global company using our strengths.

Product Development

Market research, concept development, and collaborative OEM partnerships. We uncover our customers’ underlying needs and deliver new value to domestic and international markets.

Branding

We craft branding strategies that span from product launch to long-term development. By internalizing all creative aspects of our products, we elevate their value and add an extra touch of distinction.

Direct-to-consumer retail: e-commerce

We primarily operate e-commerce through our website and major domestic online marketplaces such as Rakuten and Amazon. We continuously strive to challenge ourselves in creating cutting-edge online stores.

Wholesale strategy

We also engage in discussions with corporate clients and retailers to introduce our products and make them available in drugstores and variety shops. These retailers then stock our products, making them accessible to end-users.

Digital marketing, PR

We conduct media outreach to TV, web, magazines, and other platforms and organize sampling events to increase customer awareness.

Customer Service

We respond to customer inquiries and strive to create better products by incorporating customer feedback into our product planning and development process.

“IPTOS” I-ne’s brand management system

IPTOS is a series of gates that control each step of product development, from brand planning to scaling. Each gate has its own KPI.
We record successes and failures at each gate and use this data to expedite a PDCA cycle. Through IPTOS, we’ve minimized risk and built knowledge about past successes and failures. This system allows us to generate hit products consistently with minimal risk.

Over 90% Accuracy Rate in Demand Forecasts for Haircare Products

Implementing IPTOS has significantly improved demand forecasting accuracy, particularly in predicting post-release Point of Sale (POS) data based on pre-launch surveys.
Based on the forecasts conducted in 2022, we achieved an impressive average forecast accuracy of 92.8% for brands BOTANIST, YOLU, and DROAS. Similarly, our success rate for new haircare brands launched in the past 3 years has exceeded 75%.

Branding

Maximizing Brand Experience Value through Original Concepts, Creative Design, and Strong Product Development

CONCEPT DESIGNCapturing Trends: Conceptual Design Half-a-Step Ahead

All employees actively keep updated with global trends, collecting approximately 10,000 concept ideas annually. Next, our specialized analysis team researches consumer demands, narrowing the ideas to a select few.

Finally, we assess the remaining ideas based on I-ne’s culture, considering whether they can address customer needs or societal issues and if they represent half a step ahead rather than a whole step.

High-Performance Product Development through Outsourced Manufacturing Strategy.

While I-ne does not have manufacturing facilities, we have tremendous confidence in our product development capabilities.
We utilize a nationwide network of over 200 OEM partners to carefully select the ideal supplier for each product. This approach ensures a fair, competitive environment that allows us to choose the optimal OEM based on cost and quality.
We’re market-oriented; rather than beginning with formulas and ingredients, we first identify the market and target the latent needs of consumers.

Creative Design Consistent with the Brand Concept.

Based on the brand story, the director directs the design of all creative elements, including the logo, container, packaging, promotional materials, and promotional campaigns, ensuring they all align cohesively.We transform our compelling brand narrative into captivating visuals for our users.
Our branding division has a video production team and social media team. These teams continuously explore creative expressions, blending artistic creativity with data-driven insights to elevate the brand’s value.

DESIGN
: Establishing brand identity and brand narrative

MOVIE
: Creating a compelling brand narrative that resonates with users

WEB
: Web design that optimizes user experience

SNS
: Direct communication with users to increase social media engagement.

AWARD

2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016

Japan Branding Award BOTANIST
2022.12.13
Good Design Award SALONIA
2022.10.7
Japanese Motion Graphic Creators’ Newcomer 100 award Corporate Division award
2022.4.30

CSSDesignAwards SALONIA: Earned SPECIAL KUDOS award for website commemorating the brand gaining a top market share
2021.4.11
CSS WINNER SALONIA: Earned STAR award for website commemorating the brand gaining a top market share
2021.4.12
Awwwards. SALONIA: Earned award for website commemorating the brand gaining a top market share
2021.4.21
CSS WINNER SALONIA: Earned award for website promoting Square Ion Brush and Speedy Ion Dryer (Summer Promotion)
2021.5.22
CSSDesignAwards SALONIA: Earned SPECIAL KUDOS award for website promoting Square Ion Brush and Speedy Ion Dryer (Summer Promotion)
2021.5.26
Awwwards. SALONIA: Earned award for website promoting Square Ion Brush and Speedy Ion Dryer (Summer Promotion)
2021.5.31
CSSDesignAwards SALONIA: Earned SPECIAL KUDOS award for website promoting Treatment Mist Dryer
2021.6.30
CSS WINNER BOTANIST: Earned STAR award for BOTANIST Refresh Series (Summer Limited)
2021.6.29
CSSDesignAwards BOTANIST: Earned SPECIAL KUDOS award for BOTANIST Refresh Series (Summer Limited )
2021.6.29
CSS WINNER SALONIA: Earned STAR award for website promoting Ion Facial Brush
2021.7.13
CSSDesignAwards SALONIA: Earned SPECIAL KUDOS award for website promoting Ion Facial Brush
2021.7.13
CSS WINNER SALONIA: Earned STAR award for website promoting AW-Limited product
2021.10.18
CSSDesignAwards SALONIA: Earned SPECIAL KUDOS award for website promoting AW-Limited product
2021.10.19
Good Design Award SALONIA
2021.10.20
Good Design Award BOTANIST
2021.10.20

CSS WINNER BOTANIST: Earned STAR award
2020.3.20
Topawards Asia DROAS
2020.4.13
CSS WINNER BOTANIST: Earned STAR award
2020.4.17
CSS WINNER SALONIA: Earned STAR award
2020.5.23
CSS Design Awards SALONIA: Earned SPECIAL KUDOS award
2020.5.25
Japan Package Design Awards 2021 DROAS
2020.6.30
JPM Pop Creative Awards florance
2020.6.30
Design Award Asia BOTANIST
2020
Design Award Asia DROAS
2020
Design Award Asia CAROME.
2020
Good Design Award SALONIA
2020.10.1

CSS WINNER SALONIA: Earned Site of the Day award
2019.4.26
CSS WINNER BOTANIST: Earned STAR award
2019.7.26
Awwwards. BOTANIST: Nominated
2019.7.30
Design Award Asia BOTANIST
2019
Design Award Asia SALONIA
2019
Design Award Asia CAROME
2019
JPM Pop Creative Awards BOTANIST: Earned Gold award
2019

CSS WINNER Corporate: Earned STAR award
2018.1.22
ASIA DESIGN AWARD SALONIA
2018.7.12
CSS WINNER SALONIA: Earned STAR award
2018.7.12
Japan Package Design Awards BOTANIST
2018
Japan Package Design Awards diem
2018
Topawards Asia LOVE YOUR SKIN.
2018
Topawards Asia diem
2018

Awwwards. BOTANIST: Nominated
2017.10.5
CSS WINNER BOTANIST: Earned Site of the Day award
2017.10.6
CSS Design Awards BOTANIST: Earned SPECIAL KUDOS award
2017.10.15
JPM SOLUTION AWARD LOVE YOUR SKIN.: Earned Gold award
2017
THE BEAUTY SHORTLIST AWARDS 2017 RUJE
2017

Topawards Asia BOTANIST: Earned Package Design award
2016

OMO: Online Merged with Offline

Distinctive Brand Reach by Nurturing Trends Online and Expanding through Offline Distribution

The secret to our brand reach: excellence in digital marketing and offline distribution

We initially reach out to beauty pioneers and adopters through digital marketing, nurturing trends. Next, we extend our reach to the beauty majority through offline distribution channels like drugstores. We aim to reach a wide range of consumers, including the general beauty market, to deliver our products.

In-house digital marketing excellence

While many companies rely on advertising agencies, I-ne has an in-house ad team dedicated to each brand. The team implements various advertising strategies, including in-house ad operations, utilizing DSP (Demand-Side Platform), and other promotional activities tailored to each brand.
Furthermore, our direct reach has surpassed 34 million* accounts, including our online store user base and social media followers, which we have accumulated since our establishment.
* As of the end of December 2022, the data includes the total number of friends on each brand’s LINE account, the number of followers on social media platforms Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook (with users counted multiple times when an individual follow multiple brands) and the total whose names and phone numbers match those　registered on our e-commerce sales management system during the period from October 8, 2015, to December 31, 2022.

The products have been distributed to 65,000 offline stores.

I-ne has a distribution record of 65,000 stores* across domestic and international markets, including drugstores, hypermarkets, and electronics stores.
We can deliver our brand to a wide range of customers through the power of not only online but through our excellence in offline distribution.

* As of December 31, 2022. The total number of stores where our products are distributed includes drugstores, hypermarkets, supermarkets, home centers (DIY stores), convenience stores, and electric stores.
Sources: Compiled by our company based on data from the METI, Current Survey of Commerce; JACDS; and respective company websites.