A platform for sharing the enjoyment of food with people Panasonic's strategy to change the future of cooking appliances (Part 2) | Future Kotohajime

The future of Japanese cooking appliances and white goods is about to change dramatically. We are pleased to present the second and second part of a series that pursues new business strategies in the consumer electronics field of Panasonic. This time, we will discuss the renewal contents of the food SNS "EATPICK" announced by the company on June 8, 2021, and the two subscription services "foodable" and "delicious intestinal activity". Interview with Takuro Ito, the director in charge, and Atsuko Ohno, the chief executive. Let's take a look at the potential of soft services that can support cooking appliances and influence the overall business structure of the company.

In the first part, the vice president of the white goods business at Panasonic Appliances, Shigeru Dono, will be the vice president of the white goods business for the next 10 years, and what is the position of the new SNS and subscription service announced this time. I asked if it would be. The contents can be summarized as follows.

1) The era of the "third wave" of sharing value with others has arrived in the home appliance industry. 2) The era of functional competition in pursuit of high functionality and multi-functionality of home appliances has ended 3). In the future, home appliance makers will not be able to survive simply by making and selling home appliances. It is necessary to develop business in combination with information platforms, internet services, etc. 4) At that time, it is important for users to share emotional value with others 5) The new service announced this time is the first in the field of food. Bullet.From now on, we will expand these efforts to all white goods.

In the second part, we will be in charge of the details of the renewal of the SNS "EATPICK" and the subscription services "foodable" and "delicious intestinal activity" announced by the company on June 8, 2021. Interview with Takuro Ito, Director, and Atsuko Ohno, Chief.

What kind of information platform does Panasonic create and what kind of services are it trying to develop there? From the story of the two, we can see what Panasonic Appliances is thinking about in the future home appliance business.

Renewal based on the existing home appliance support site

──First of all, please tell us what kind of concept and what kind of design you made for the renewal of "EAT PICK".

Mr. Ito (henceforth, title omitted): Originally, the service itself under the brand "EATPICK" started in May last year (2020). There is a service called "kitchen pocket" which is the predecessor, and this is the mother body.

"Kitchen Pocket" has been operated as a support site for home appliances from 2014 to 2019, and the purpose is to improve the satisfaction of those who bought our cooking appliances. "EAT PICK" inherits this member and becomes a completely new food SNS.

The predecessor "Kitchen Pocket" had 170,000 members (as of 2019), and a fairly good community was formed. Including the words of praise and scolding of those who actually bought it, I think that it has great power as a marketing of the company, and there is a history that we were free to operate to some extent. ..

"EAT PICK" is positioned as a successor to this member. At present, the number of members is 280,000 to 290,000, and the number of new members is about 100,000 from the predecessor. I feel that there are many customers who are interested in the relationship between food.

Mr. Takuro Ito, General Manager of Business Incubation Section, Corporate Planning Department, Kitchen Space Division, Panasonic Appliances Company, in charge of new businesses such as "EAT PICK" and subscription services (Photo courtesy of Panasonic Appliances Company)

An information platform for sharing the enjoyment of food with people

Ito : What I was strongly aware of in "EAT PICK" was that food is more interesting when shared with people. It's certainly nice that a person who wasn't good at cooking could do it well by using cooking appliances, and Panasonic has one purpose, but I thought that food is important for relationships. rice field. It's fun to eat with everyone and share what you've done. In addition, I get a response saying that I could do it because I did it with everyone, that I couldn't do it when I talked to people about what I couldn't do, and that I could do it this way. Relationships with others are born. I thought that relationship was important and interesting.

In the future, cooking appliances can go in the direction of being more fun than being able to solve the problems that customers are having by adding relationships. Then, I think we have to make that relationship. In this renewal, the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) have been redesigned to make it easier to take actions such as posting and sharing in order to create a place where relationships can be created more interactively. That's why I renamed it "food SNS" this time.

──How about the two subscription services?

Ito : "Foodable" is aimed at the younger generation. No matter how much we make the rice cooker highly functional and say, "It's 100,000 yen, but the contents are wonderful, please buy it", they say that they don't need it. An increasing number of people are always putting only 10,000 yen in their wallets. The number of generations Y and Z who are thinking of using it wisely rather than owning it is increasing.

The idea of ​​wanting to spend as much money as in a wallet is widespread in this generation. "Foodable" wants to capture such needs.

Another "delicious intestinal activity" is a service that meets the needs of women who want to be beautiful from within their bodies. Our cooking appliances team has a history of science in food. I thought that if there is a service that can be cleaned by reviewing eating and eating delicious food, I think it would be better to create a service based on food.

[Click the image to enlarge] The top screen of the food SNS "EAT PICK".Panasonic Appliances is considering making it a platform where various people who are interested in food can gather.

Prepare multiple microservices and aim for a new "food SNS"

Ito : We call the various contents, including these subscription services, the "theme park concept" internally. First of all, it is an image of creating a relationship mother with "EAT PICK" and setting up a number of food theme parks there. People who are interested in food gather on a platform called "EAT PICK" that has food as content, and a relationship is created with each other. In a sense, "EAT PICK" is a business-oriented body for attracting customers, and some people just see and hear it, while others seek stimulus. People with various needs gather. We will provide each and every microservice to that.

──When you look at the "EAT PICK" site, you can't really see the signs of Panasonic's cooking appliances. What are your thoughts and gimmicks in that area?

Ito : Actually, I was very careful when renewing "EAT PICK". I was most afraid that this site would be done because Panasonic wants to sell home appliances after all, and that all services are tied to buying home appliances.

The reason is that customers consider value from a broader perspective than we manufacturers. To be honest, the manufacturer's point of view is narrower. In terms of cooking appliances, we make it with all our soul during the 30 minutes of the cooking stage. However, the value that customers want is much wider.

If I leave the company and talk about my personal dreams, I have a desire to become Panasonic as a service industry in a broad sense. Of course, Panasonic is the best in the world if it can be entrusted with home appliances, but in order to become a reliable existence when you are in trouble or want to enjoy it, you can not do it only with equipment, you need to face customers from the viewpoint of service.

That's why we didn't call it Panasonic on the site, but instead made it a different brand called "EAT PICK". This is because we want to take great value as a partner who can discuss the enjoyment and problems of food. I think that if we can make it bigger, we can finally make our business bigger. There are about 130 million people in Japan who want to enjoy food. At the extreme, if you have a need to combine home appliances with other services instead of ours, we will be happy to work with you.

[Click the image to enlarge] A service that combines a popular rice cooker in Foodable with regular delivery of brand rice. It is a subscription contract of 3980 yen per month (Source: Panasonic Appliances)

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