A secret plan for a successful promotion of inbound tourism! NIHONBISHOKU K.K. added “TakeMe coupon” (a Groupon-type function for foreign visitors to Japan) to Alipay app on April 3, 2019.

May 11, 2019

NIHONBISHOKU K.K.

NIHONBISHOKU K.K., (location: Chiyodaku, Tokyo, representative director: Lu Dong, hereafter NIHONBISHOKU) running a customer attracting service targeting inbound market, has announced that they have started providing “TakeMe coupon” for Alipay app (one of the largest payment platforms in China) from April 3, 2019. The coupon has a Groupon-type function (through the service, people can receive a group discount by group purchase), and targets foreign visitors to Japan.

A O2O (online to offline) function of Alipay app

In Japan, a coupon market has been spreading year by year. Some famous curation sites and portal sites, which adopted a coupon function, have become a topic of conversation. Also in China, coupon culture has widely spread; in particular, popularity of Groupon-type pre-purchase coupon is highly increasing. Alipay app has a Groupon-type function for domestic users in China in, and the function has become a very popular content.

With that kind of background, NIHONBISHOKU has started treating a Groupon-type function “TakeMe coupon” from April 3, 2019. The coupon targets foreign visitors to Japan, and introduces restaurants in Japan to them. “TakeMe coupon” is an advance payment coupon. The users can search attractive services from restaurants published in the app. “TakeMe coupon” ranks as one of the most high-profile functions in Alipay app, so that it allows client restaurants to promote their attractive services to customers directly. Today, inbound market in Japan is active, and shops introduced by Chinese media have successfully invited foreign visitors to Japan. This new installation of “TakeMe coupon” to Alipay app enables a function of pre-purchase coupon for foreign visitors to Japan, which is published in one of the largest Chinese media without worry about cancel at the last minute or a risk of no show.

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Utilization state of Alipay

In the end of November 2018, Alipay announced with global strategic partners that the number of users broke through 900 million. About one month after the announcement, they revised the number to over one billion. Alipay is a platform of payment and life-style, whose users are dramatically increasing. The platform connects with not only payment service, but also with various services for daily lives. Many foreign visitors to Japan are also frequently searching coupons or campaigns through Alipay every day.

A trend in methods for collecting inbound customers

Receive overseas media exposure is essential to succeed in collecting inbound customers. These days, Chinese visitors to Japan decided to come to Japan not because of referring to Japanese gourmet media, but Chinese domestic media. For that reason, in order to successfully attract Chinese visitors to Japan, being exposed to one of the largest Chinese media is the most effective. “TakeMe coupon” can be a big key to the success in collecting inbound customers. NIHONBISHOKU continues to provide solutions for appropriately promoting really attractive tourism resources in Japan.

■Corporate profile

[Corporate name]: NIHONBISHOKU K.K.
[Location]: #1801C Shinkasumigaseki Bldg, 3-3-2, Kasumigaseki, Chiyodaku, Tokyo, 100-0013 , Japan
[URL]: http://www.japanfoodie.jp
[Representative director]: Lu Dong
[The date of establishment]: December 2015
[Business content]: Inbound customer attraction support, payment service via smartphone

■ Contact address for inquiry about this article

[Location] #1801C Shinkasumigaseki Bldg, 3-3-2, Kasumigaseki, Chiyodaku, Tokyo, 100-0013 , Japan
[Contact] Mail: info@japanfoodie.jp
TEL: 03-6869-7988