Hero Interview: Generate buzz on social media, build loyalty with CRM. The "system that keeps selling" yutori built with StoreHero

Founded in 2018 from the Instagram vintage clothing media account "Furugiko-jo" (Vintage Clothing Girls), yutori became the youngest company in the apparel industry to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market. Today, the company has grown rapidly into a Gen Z apparel powerhouse with approximately 35 brands and annual revenue exceeding 8 billion yen. While operating more than 50 physical stores primarily in urban areas, yutori runs its own e-commerce platform "YZ STORE."

In this interview, we speak with Mr. Aoshima, who has overseen EC and store operations since the launch of YZ STORE, about the realities of managing EC across multiple brands, the coordination with rapid store expansion, and the tangible results of the CRM initiatives undertaken together with StoreHero.

Mr. Kenshiro Aoshima, Head of EC Business, yutori Inc.

From "Vintage Clothing Girls" to a company uniting 35 brands

――First, could you tell us about yutori's business?

Aoshima: The company was founded in April 2018. It originally started from an Instagram media account called "Furugiko-jo" (Vintage Clothing Girls). From there, we began selling vintage clothing online, and gradually started planning and selling our own original products. In 2020, we joined the ZOZO Group, continued to grow, and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market in December 2023.

――You currently have around 35 brands — was a multi-brand strategy the plan from the beginning?

Aoshima: Yes. From the start, management's philosophy was not to aim for 10 billion yen with one brand, but to reach 10 billion yen with 100 brands each generating 100 million yen. Our organization is structured accordingly, with a manager assigned to each brand so they can operate autonomously.

Consolidating 10 sites into one: the birth and operations of YZ STORE

――Could you tell us about the background behind establishing "YZ Store," the integrated EC site carrying products from multiple in-house brands?

Aoshima: We were originally operating Gen Z-focused brands such as "9090" and "CENTIMETR," and then in 2022 we acquired A.Z.R Inc. — which operates "Younger Song" and others — through an M&A deal, bringing the number of Gen Z-focused brands to over ten. Each brand had its own individual EC site, but from the customer's perspective, they had to shop on separate sites even though the brands all belonged to the same company.

So we consolidated the Gen Z-focused brands into a single site, creating a mall-style platform called "YZ STORE."

However, for brands with a different target demographic, we made the deliberate decision to keep them as separate stores. YZ STORE currently houses around 20 brands, while the remaining brands are operated as independent stores.

――Could you tell us about your operational structure?

Aoshima: In terms of brand operations, each brand has a small team consisting of an MD director, SNS members, and a few others. This team handles decision-making for the brand. On the other hand, the logistics team and customer support are shared cross-functional organizations — five people handle logistics and three handle CS across all brands. I personally don't belong to a specific brand; I oversee overall efficiency improvements in EC and store operations.

Approximately 50 stores in 3 years: overcoming the "EC penetration wall" with physical stores

――What was the rationale behind yutori, which started as an EC business, deciding to expand into physical stores?

Aoshima: When we launched YZ STORE in 2022, the company's revenue was largely driven by EC. However, the EC penetration rate in Japan's apparel industry is only around 20%. To continue growing as a publicly listed company, EC alone had a limited ceiling for expanding our customer base. We believed that having physical stores — as a place to convey the brand's worldview in person — would allow us to reach customers we couldn't connect with online. Over the past three years, we've grown to approximately 50 stores, but rather than simply increasing the number, we're focused on strategic store openings designed to accelerate brand growth.

――As stores expand rapidly, customer management across EC and physical stores seems like it would become a challenge.

Aoshima: That was exactly our next challenge. If the customer experience is fragmented between stores and EC, we can't fully leverage all those locations. We needed a system where loyalty programs and purchase history are integrated seamlessly across stores and EC, giving customers meaningful rewards. However, we didn't have a dedicated EC marketing specialist in-house, and there were limits to how far we could go on our own. That's where our collaboration with StoreHero began.

Reshaping the loyalty program into what it was always meant to be: the story behind our CRM reinforcement

――Could you elaborate on the background of how the collaboration with StoreHero began?

Aoshima: YZ STORE had already introduced a mobile app and loyalty program, but we weren't fully making use of them yet. With stores expanding rapidly, we felt a strong need to make the loyalty benefits and purchase history integration between stores and EC smoother. So we decided to seriously strengthen our CRM with the help of outside professionals, and we reached out to StoreHero.

――What specific initiatives did you work on with StoreHero?

Aoshima: There were three main areas. First, we revised the loyalty tier conditions. Previously, the bar for moving up a tier was high — even customers who shopped frequently had a hard time advancing. We analyzed the data together with StoreHero and changed to clearer, more meaningful criteria for customers, such as "one more purchase will move you up a tier."

The second was unifying the experience between physical stores and EC. We established a system where purchases made on YZ STORE's EC site and purchases made in physical stores are all counted toward a shared loyalty tier. In-store members are properly rewarded as well, and customers can use perks such as birthday coupons at both stores and online.

The third was linking LINE, email, and app push notifications. In conjunction with organizing the loyalty program, we launched information distribution via email, LINE, and app push notifications. We are now able to reliably reach customers with new arrival information that might otherwise be missed on Instagram and other social media.

――What changes did you see as a result of these initiatives?

Aoshima: The biggest change is that the loyalty program is now functioning as it was always meant to. Whether a customer buys online or in-store, their purchases are properly recorded and their tier advances. It has started to work as a true reward system for our most loyal customers. Being able to provide a consistent customer experience across both stores and EC is a major step forward.

――You've also strengthened CRM initiatives using email, LINE, and app push notifications. For a business like yutori, where new product drops happen frequently, the reliability of information delivery is critically important.

Aoshima: Exactly. Previously, due to small team size and competing priorities, we weren't sending many email campaigns. When we launched email and LINE distribution as part of our CRM initiatives with StoreHero's support, the response exceeded our expectations. We now have an efficient system up and running.

One particularly impactful improvement is being able to prevent customers from missing updates on social media. We can now utilize email, LINE, and app push notifications comprehensively, allowing customers to receive notifications through whichever channel they prefer. We let customers choose which channel they shop on — expanding those options has contributed to an overall lift in performance.

Refining the "winning formula for a standalone brand" with MARITHÉ FRANÇOIS GIRBAUD — then rolling it out across the portfolio

――You operate MARITHÉ FRANÇOIS GIRBAUD as an independent store separate from YZ STORE. What is the rationale behind that?

Aoshima: MARITHÉ FRANÇOIS GIRBAUD (hereinafter MARITHÉ) is a brand that yutori operates in Japan under a license agreement; we have about four other licensed brands as well. For MARITHÉ specifically, because the target customer base and style are different, we keep it as an independent store. It's an environment where we can fully leverage initiatives unique to a standalone brand and design various touchpoints more easily.

We are currently advancing CRM operations with StoreHero, and during pop-up store events and new product launches, we announce that customers can purchase through both the store and EC. As a result, sales via CRM have been growing steadily, and we can feel that we're making consistent progress through our operations.

――What new selling approaches are you planning to challenge with MARITHÉ going forward?

Aoshima: Up until now, we've been primarily focused on launching new products, but going forward we want to put more effort into selling from different angles. Recently, we've started experimenting with approaches like coordinate-based selling and model-based selling. We're also looking to use LINE Mini Apps and other tools to connect stores and EC even more seamlessly. The next step is to take the patterns we've established with MARITHÉ and roll them out across our other brands.

――Candidly, how do you evaluate your work with StoreHero?

Aoshima: What I appreciate most is that they bring concrete proposals and implementation together as a package, backed by their track record working with multiple clients. Initiatives naturally have their hits and misses, but with the large number of actions we're taking, I can feel that we're steadily accumulating more wins. They've also been flexible in responding to yutori's specific requests, and as an outside professional, they are a trustworthy partner in an environment where we don't have a dedicated in-house EC marketing specialist.

――Finally, could you share yutori's vision for the future?

Aoshima: We're thinking in two main directions. First, expanding our business domains targeting Gen Z. Up until now, apparel has been our core, but we plan to expand into other categories such as cosmetics and IP (intellectual property).

The second is international expansion. Looking at inbound demand at our stores and overseas store sales, we believe the potential is enormous.

――We're very excited to see what's next for yutori as you go beyond apparel to deliver Gen Z energy globally. Thank you so much for sharing your valuable insights with us today.

[StoreHero Comment]

A trend-driven business model that generates excitement through social media and new product drops, combined with a seamless OMO (Online Merges with Offline) framework connecting over 50 physical stores and EC — yutori has masterfully achieved both.

At StoreHero, we have supported the optimization of loyalty tier conditions, the establishment of cross-channel point integration across stores and EC, and the construction of a multi-channel CRM leveraging email, LINE, and app push notifications.

CRM-driven sales at the MARITHÉ FRANÇOIS GIRBAUD independent store have grown significantly, and rolling out this winning formula to other brands is the next major theme. Operating each brand autonomously with a minimal team while optimizing the CRM infrastructure across the entire organization — this organizational design should offer great inspiration for commerce businesses aiming to build a multi-brand portfolio.