JP Building

Cinarra was used to measure visits to KITTE Nagoya, which opened in 2016.

Mr. Masashi Itatsu of JP Building Management Co., Ltd. who is in charge of property management was in charge of the implementation. We asked him about the challenges he faced and his impressions of using Cinarra.

Highly accurate targeting required for facility operation policy planning

Could you tell us again about your company’s business and what you do?

Itazu: JP Building Management Co., Ltd. is a company that focuses on the operation and management of all commercial facilities and office buildings owned by Japan Post. We work with business operators and tenants to improve asset value and ensure safety.

The Building Business Division, to which I belong, is a team that implements property management for facilities. Specifically, I am responsible for operations, tenant relations and reporting, and facility maintenance and management. In particular, operations are an important part of maintaining stable earnings. While providing a comfortable environment for all users, we are required to formulate and implement operation and management plans that meet market needs.

As part of our marketing activities, we also conduct promotions through events, campaigns, bulletin board planning, and advertising. You are always looking for ways to collect data to make decisions and measure the effectiveness of these activities.

Could you tell us about the challenges you faced in collecting data?

Itatsu: Since the opening of KITTE Nagoya in 2016, we had not been able to conduct quantitative and qualitative surveys of visitors with a satisfactory level of granularity. We had a sensor-based visitor counter, but we had no way of knowing the attributes of our customers.

In order to understand what kind of customers are most likely to visit our store, we conducted a questionnaire at the store. For example, we asked, “How often do you visit KITTE Nagoya? “Please tell us the purpose of your visit,” but that is not really accurate data either. The frequency of visits that customers are aware of and the real frequency of visits may differ in many cases.

I feel that these issues had an impact on the planning of sales promotion. For example, we could not narrow down the target of events and campaigns to be held in the building, and we could only target local media and OOH advertisements based on the general trade area.

Visitor information is also very important for tenants’ store management. It is also our job to work together with tenants to come up with strategies on how to target their sales promotions and what kind of products to offer.

Anyway, we needed to gather a lot of information accurately.

At that time, Cinarra appeared like a bright comet (laughs).

Extracting user orientation from real behavioral data, contributing to effectiveness measurement and policy improvement

Thank you very much for your interest in Cinarra.

Itazu: When we first received your call, we were only half listening. I had some doubts about the compliance of acquiring customers’ behavioral data, and I was also concerned about the security aspect.

However, when I looked at the information provided, I found that it had been implemented in various major companies. I thought, “Maybe this is a safe way to measure visitors,” so I decided to ask for more information. When I asked for more details, I found out that the product was designed in consideration of the Personal Information Protection Law.

In addition, we were attracted by the fact that Cinarra allows us to target detailed attributes that we have not been able to do so far. Furthermore, Cinarra’s unique visit analysis logic enables us to understand the personality of visitors, such as what kind of life they lead and what they like to do.

It is also possible to determine hobbies, lifestyles, and other preferences based on Wi-Fi records installed nationwide. The measurement was conducted from March 1 to March 31, 2019, and we were able to obtain data from 18,000 people. Can you tell us what you think of the actual report?

Itazu: I feel that we obtained quite a bit of useful data. We were able to learn about data that we had not seen before, and we were able to reconfirm the validity of the data that we had seen.

I was especially shocked by the frequency of visitors to the store. Although the measurements were taken within a short period of one month this time, the number of repeat visitors was lower than we expected. This result made us realize that we should focus on measures to increase repeat visitors.

The “Cinarra segment” of visitor orientation was also an interesting result. For example, we found that people who frequently visit movie theaters also visit KITTE Nagoya. We have conducted several movie tie-up promotions in the past, so we thought that movie lovers might be coming to KITTE Nagoya.

Of course, it is necessary to segment by age and gender, but I think it depends on the orientation and direction of the antenna of the person who actually catches your attention. It is important to be able to capture insights and provide what the customer wants. However, it is impossible to conduct a qualitative survey on 18,000 people, so it is very nice to be able to understand their orientation through a quantitative survey.

There is also online communication based on cookie data as a similar means of segmentation based on intentionality. However, users who visit the cinema site may only be looking at the movie and not actually visiting it. Cinarra is highly accurate because it creates segments based on realistic behavior.

Itazu: You are right. When we applied for the service, we were attracted to the fact that the data is based on real behavior. Some methods of measuring behavioral data use GPS or beacons, but Cinarra uses Wi-Fi, which can tell not only where you are, but also what floor you are on, which is perfect for a building like KITTE Nagoya, where each floor has its own characteristics.

I was really looking forward to seeing how much my initial expectations would be overturned, but I think Cinarra was able to provide the value that I had hoped for, as it once again confirmed the effectiveness of the measures that JP Building Management has taken, and even showed me things that I had not seen before.

As for future actions, first of all, we would like to provide this information to our tenants and move toward improvements and new initiatives.

Furthermore, we would like to consider continuous measurement. This time, we were only able to implement it for one month, but we need to see how many visitors come throughout the year. I would like to formulate a strategy by comparing the measures taken and the movements of visitors, such as what kind of changes occurred in the attributes of visitors as a result of the promotion, and what kind of changes will occur in the months after the event is over.