Designing more love at first sight products... Revealing the Japanese "brothers" behind tea delivery cup stickers: Inspired by China | Company | Brothers

Among the five regional companies of Brother Group at the age of 115, Brother is considered the least experienced, but it is often envied by other established regional companies due to its growth speed and innovative temperament.

At the beginning of the Japanese Brothers Group's entry into China in 1989, China was only its processing and manufacturing base. But today, 34 years later, China has become the only overseas market for the group to integrate production, research, and sales. The brothers have also broken the conventions of Japanese companies twice, producing two non Japanese chairmen for overseas regional companies.

What growth code do brothers have?

Brother Chairman and President Zhang Yan.

"China" brand foreign enterprises

Zhang Yan did not expect to follow her brother for 20 years, let alone sit in the position of brother's chairman and CEO.

Zhang Yan's booth at the Brother Import Expo in 2022.

In 2003, Zhang Yan, who had returned from studying abroad in Japan, became acquainted with her brothers and started as a grassroots salesperson, gradually advancing to her current position. In her opinion, personal motivation is valuable, but she benefits more from the reform and opening up.

In May of that year, Zhang Yan applied to join Brother Machinery Equipment Co., Ltd. At that time, the brother's business in China was still operated by importers, but the brother group had made the decision to personally operate the Chinese market and began to establish a business model and channel layout. In April 2004, the Measures for the Administration of Foreign Investment in the Commercial Field were officially introduced, which allowed foreign investors to register "China" brand companies in China. This heavyweight policy has sparked a strong response, and the brothers immediately registered and filed with the Ministry of Commerce of China. In March 2005, Brother Commercial Co., Ltd. was established and held its opening ceremony at the Shangri La Hotel in Pudong in June.

Expanding overseas markets, Brother is not a newcomer. His regional company in Europe and America had been established for nearly 50 years at that time. But for the Chinese market, brothers dare not be empirical - unlike most foreign counterparts who use the "national agency" model for sales in China, brothers choose the provincial-level agent system. This system requires more time to cultivate, but gives agents more flexibility and autonomy. Agents can develop differentiated marketing plans based on different regions, which is closer to end users and can provide more accurate customer feedback to their brothers. Under the concept of win-win, those distributors who were originally engaged in other brands gradually turned their brothers into their main products, and quickly grew from unknown small companies in the industry to one of the top players in the regional market.

At that time, Zhang Yan was in the sales department, and she vividly remembered that the company had maintained double-digit growth for many years, and there was a great sense of achievement in sales. "For a while, I was interviewing almost every day. When the company was first established, there were only seven or eight people, but now it has expanded dozens of times in scale, and sales branches have also been established in six cities including Beijing, Guangzhou, and Wuhan."

Touching Innovation DNA

Behind the rapid growth lies a precise insight and grasp of the demand in the Chinese market, just like the slogan of brothers - born in China, growing with China.

Providing cup sticker printing solutions for Starbucks takeout is a vivid example.

In the past, when Starbucks served customers, they often used a pen to write down the type of beverage and the user's surname on the cup. In 2018, Starbucks launched delivery services in China, but in the face of increasingly diverse business scenarios, handwriting efficiency clearly fell behind. In less than three months, Brother has developed a fully compatible solution for Starbucks - Starbucks cashier terminals are directly connected to Brother's label printing equipment. Brother has collaborated with partners to develop a label stripper, ensuring that the label is separated from the bottom plate when printed. Store staff can directly attach the label to the cup, eliminating the label tearing process and greatly improving efficiency.

This eye-catching solution is now not only applied to all Starbucks stores in China, but also serves coffee and tea brands such as Xicha and Tims.

Brother label machine cup sticker application.

The efficient service provided by Brother to Chinese customers relies on the software company established by Brother Group in Hangzhou as early as 2010. This is also the only overseas research and development center of the Brother Group. "The demand in the Chinese market is diverse, personalized, and often leading the world, so it is necessary to establish a localized R&D system to achieve timely communication with customers, timely capture of new technologies, and rapid implementation of solutions." Zhang Yan said.

There are still many innovative inspirations triggered by Chinese demand. For example, since 2013, Brothers has partnered with local cabinet manufacturers to enter the medical and financial fields for the first time, meeting the massive self-service printing scenarios of hospitals and banks. For example, the home cloud filled inkjet all-in-one machine, which debuted at the 5th China International Import Expo, has a unique "on-demand printing, pay per page" mode. The ink is provided by the official for free, and users can purchase the number of printed pages on demand through WeChat mini programs. This unique solution, taking into account the actual printing needs of Chinese household users, the vast number of smartphones in stock, and the developed e-commerce and logistics system, is no wonder it became popular overnight.

Brother Cloud Charging Inkjet Integrated Machine DCP-C421W.

In addition, the brothers are also laying out shared printing in schools and communities, bringing convenient and operable hot stamping machines to domestic flower shops, wedding banquets, conferences, reward medals, gift box figurines and other scenarios with hot stamping needs. Zhang Yan sighed that because of China, the innovative DNA of century old stores has become more active. When it was first established in 2005, the printer models sold by the brothers in China were only in single digits, but now there are over a hundred models. Thanks to China's reform and opening up, innovation and entrepreneurship process, and the demand for household printing, the printing and solution industry represented by printers and label machines has rapidly surpassed the household machinery industry represented by sewing machines, now accounting for more than 90% of the brother's sales.

Drive deep cultivation with enthusiasm

Among the five regional companies of the Brother Group, European and American companies were established in the 1950s, while Japanese and Asia Pacific companies were also established earlier than the brothers. But interestingly, many Japanese employees of Brother Group love to learn Chinese and often strive to stay in China. Understanding Chinese can also be a big bonus for their career advancement.

Why are Chinese markets and companies highly respected? Because it's exciting.

One of the strengths lies in the tolerance for innovation. Zhang Yan told reporters that behind all the products you have seen that make people fall in love at first sight, there are actually a large number of innovative failure cases. It is precisely through failure that one can reach the pinnacle of their debut;

The second driving force lies in ecology. In recent years, China has gained an advantageous position in logistics networks, the Internet of Things, digital technology, and other areas. A large amount of research and development by siblings requires collaboration between upstream and downstream and even cross industry partners. Many adaptive technologies can often be obtained nearby in China, making such an ecosystem particularly prosperous in China;

The third driving force lies in the high-frequency interaction with demand. In other overseas markets, hypermarkets such as the market opener and Wal Mart are the mainstream sales channels of brother products. However, in China, the provincial agent system is conducive to facing the needs of end users directly, while the developed e-commerce tentacles are convenient to lock in users' pain points more carefully, and drive and empower the brand with data.

The 6th CIIE has just passed. In fact, the brothers have been participating in various sessions since the first one, and they are like fake fans of Jinbo. Zhang Yan believes that as a national level platform, the lineup of professional audiences, encouragement signals and open attitudes conveyed by the CIIE greatly boost the confidence of foreign-funded enterprises in China. "Brothers" also promote brand values and brand stories more widely through the CIIE. Interestingly, in 2020, the headquarters of the group conducted a survey on the popularity of sibling brands in four markets: China, the United States, Germany, and Japan. It was found that there was a significant increase in the awareness of sibling brands in China across two age groups: Generation Z, and elites and corporate decision-makers around the age of 50. These changes should be attributed to the promotion of sister brands by social media and the CIIE.

Brother participated in the 6th CIIE in 2023.

"Having been in China for more than 30 years, 'brothers' have shown sincerity in the Chinese market and gained tremendous trust and rewards. We have witnessed the opening of the door to China's reform and opening up. We have never wavered in our determination to deeply cultivate China, and we will continue to focus on digital transformation and business model transformation. We hope to give back to the group through Chinese style innovation, making brothers the core of the entire brother group's growth strategy," said Zhang Yan.