Newsfrom Japan
Tokyo, Aug. 25 (Jiji Press)–As the novel coronavirus epidemic forces Japanese companies to curtail their sales activities, many small firms are increasingly introducing online sales systems as they adapt to the “new normal” of living with the epidemic.
With the help of financial institutions that have a large amount of information on businesses, many companies are finding new clients without ever meeting them face-to-face.
“We expanded our sales routes for disinfectant wipes to a wholesaler in Tokyo,” a sales representative from Hakuzo Medical Corp., a medical goods sales company in the western Japan city of Osaka, said. She showed excitement over having been able to find a client other than firms in the medical field.
The company used Biz-Create, a corporate matching service offered by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., to find the new client. The free service matches over 1,200 products, skills and needs offered by companies with potential clients. Talks between the companies are conducted fully through email, and the sales representative said that Hakuzo Medical was able to sign a contract without meeting the client.
According to SMBC, the number of such online business negotiations in the four months through June totaled 576, double the number in the previous four months.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
