Rod Yates with his hives                     checking for Queen bees           Aust wine & honey order (Japan)
                                                                                                                                          
One of the nicest honeys’ available is made by Rod Yates of Australian Honey. The deep caramel flavours have won awards at food shows in Europe and great on toast in the mornings, a natural sweetner in tea or as a dessert topping on icecream.

We have been making it available in Japan to our customers for the past 4 months and now the re-orders are coming in.

I caught up with Rod Yates in Sydney at Christmas and watched him place new Queen Bees in the hives before they go out on farm and orchards.

 
honey & wine boxed ready to go

The Honey is available for home delivery in Japan through The Flying Pig, Gallerie Mall, and an Italian Cooking School in Fukuoka also stocked in Nagasaki.
A QR code will also be on the new label with data certifing the country of origin and confirming the honey is not blended with other honeys' from China or South America.
check out our other QR Code & marketing bog www.gallerie.japan.blogspot.com
  http://www.galleriejapan.blogspot.com/

A few years ago many classes were organised by local groups to teach retired people to use a PC and the internet.

In Japan these PC classes are replaced with classes on using a mobile phone, text, browsing and using the mobile phone as an Osaifu Keitai or phone wallet

I travelled from Fukuoka to Tokyo last week with ANA, my boarding pass was a QR Code sent to my phone. I simply scanned my phone with the QR code on screen over the scanner when boarding the plane and my seat number was allocated to me.

Just when the Japanese thought Tim Tams could not get any better, the distributors in Japan run a competition to win discounts and DVD players

The sticker on the Tim Tam packet when peeled back reveals a Number and a QR Code.

Consumers are invited to scan the QR Code, go to the Tim Tam phone website, enter the numbers in the space and register your details, thus going into the draw for prizes.

The information required is gender, age location etc…. real consumer profiling data.

Tim Tams are popular in Australia with Japanese tourist and here in Japan, although a little expensive, 420yen or A$4.50 retail and similar prices online.

Dick Smith Foods have a similar product called ‘Temptins’ which may make an appearance in Japan very soon, the Japanese distributors are planning a product QR Code to run similar consumer interactivity, and as Temptins are a true Australian made biscuit there is an opportunity to link the biscuit with Australian tourism.

Every biscuit packet may also be a multi-media billboard for Australian tourism direct to a shopper’s mobile phone.

    

A free food advertising newspaper on a stand at our local supermarket is really using QR code well

The 16 page A3 format paper is loaded with glossy images of various dishes supported with dietary information and the preparation instructions.

There is a recipe for each day of the week over a month and is designed to show a well balanced diet using a variety of ingredients, Japanese & imported items  

What caught my eye was the QR Code for each dish, the contents of the QR code hyperlink show similar information as the print but with the options to save, send to a friend and navigate to other recipes and services to receive news updates and new recipes.

The phone website is easy to use with supporting images. 

The PC website is www.quicooking.com 

 

A mobile website mobile phone marketing campaign signed 3,500 members, who now receive 3 permission based messages a week for offers only open to members.

(reference Originator Todd Sappington) 

http://www.galleriejapan.blogspot.com/

 Seth Godin talking to Google staff about M-marketing

http://www.galleriejapan.blogspot.com/

http://www.galleriejapan.blogspot.com/

This is a new blog just for mobile phone websites in Japan & Korea

 For a birthparty lunch, the Kids had McDonalds

  

During the next few entries I will translate and explain about some of the information encrypted into the QR codes and how McDonalds use them.

It is very interesting and a good lesson for other food producers interested in Japan. If you would like more detailed information on the data, I can follow up with an e-mail report for you.

Send me an e-mail with McDonalds in the subject line
info@gallerie.net.au

Watch this 30 second animation http://knowmorenow.ca/
explaining how QR codes work

 


Here is a Coke marchine used in the anaimation, based at our local DVD rental outlet

    
Print catalogues are a major user of QR code in Japan, orders can be generated from the mobile phone, or the new season catalogue ordered. 

Once the site is saved to the phone, shoppers can access the site and navigate through the latest special offers or the standard seasonal product range. 
A QR Code user poll I read mentioned the highest use of QR Code use was when shopping from a catalogue.

On a previous post I listed the 3 top selling items sold on-line in Japan, it included a 5kg of baking soda. The baking soda still remains a top selling item on The Flying Pig, one of Japans most poplar e-commerce sites

I talked with the owner of the Flying Pig last week and mentioned this; I was so surprised to hear the reason, and it was nothing to do with cooking

Customers bath in to alleviate skin irritations.
 

Here's an opportunity..….either get into the baking soda business or offer something to help with skin irritations……and advertise with the Flying Pig

Travel Cafe Fukuoka
There is a theme of a theme, I was told about a series of cafes in Japan called The Travel Café which feature a country or a group of companies. Another one is a real-estate café, featuring properties for rent or sale.

  
Real-estate cafe

I went to visit the Travel Café in Tenjin, Fukuoka which is sponsored by Japan Airlines (JAL) and a Mediterranean Cruise company.

I am still to be convinced of its effectiveness as a marketing tool, I spent an hour there to observe; only one person browsed a travel magazine available.

 
Smoke free sign Tenjin

Most people were messaging on mobiles phones or a quick bite to eat and coffee or tea. The most popular area was the smoking area, much of the streets in the Tenjin CBD are smoke free, and so a cafe can be a good place to have a cigarette and check e-mail from on the phone

Here is another example of attention to detail and Japanese businesses doing the small things well

I received a gift from a friend; a small chocolate cake in a cardboard carrier, included was small wrapped ice cube. 

For foreign companies wishing to compete in the retail market in Japan need to factor in these types of small but significant extras  

The home delivery system in Japan is already well advanced but yesterday I noticed a new development in the form of a letterbox recently installed at a new house in our neighborhood.

The box is to secure deliveries and includes a time & signature receipt stamp for the driver

The driver inserts a card and the secure door opens so a delivery box can be placed inside. The box then issues a receipt stamp for the driver

I missed a delivery at home a few weeks ago. When I got home, waiting in the front door letterbox was a card with a QR Code. I scanned using my mobile phone; it displayed options such as a link directly to the driver’s phone, hotline to head-office or hyperlink to the delivery company website.   

좌로부터 PI팀 류승훈(39, 회사원), 김현성(30, 회사원), 남중수 KT사장, GEN팀 윤미진(24, 대학생), 고영일(22, 대학생)

Congratulations to Mijin winner of a competition sponsored by KT (Korea Telecom) which helps grass roots business idea's prosper.
KT will assist Mijin with the formation of a corporate business and help guide her.

Mijin is the younger sister of our Korean business partner Ji Young Yun,. Mijin lived in Sydney last year as part of a sabbatical from her university in Jeju Do (Island) 

I learnt an interesting protocol in the supermarket last week. Like so many others, I use my own carry bag when food shopping to avoid plastic bags.

Previously I have said “no bag please” at the check out…..but this is not done….and for some reason best known to the Japanese….you do not say anything

You use pink cards in a holder at the check-out….you simply put the card into your basket….. on top of your groceries. The check-out person knows you don’t require plastic bags and deducts 10yen from your total.

No one can give me an answer to why the card system is used and why shoppers do not just say ‘no bag please’, but recent panel discussion on TV bought up the subject, saying Japanese people should just say what they want or don’t want and avoid using these subtle cards and other protocols….

You dont need to be a train spotter to enjoy a 'shinkansen' passing........they are like a low flying jet







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