Tree of Life Co., Ltd. is a herb and aroma brand with a 70-year history. Kao Nakamura, Deputy General Manager of the Marketing Division, has been redesigning the customer experience around the concept of "unified commerce" by integrating the company's e-commerce and physical store divisions.
In Part 1, we heard about the decision-making process behind integrating e-commerce and physical stores, and about data showing a major gap in LTV between customers who shop only online and those who have also experienced the stores or workshops.
In Part 2, we explore how the move to Shopify changed the organization, how the RuffRuff apps are used, and the new challenge of cross-border e-commerce into Singapore and Taiwan.
"The more convenient e-commerce becomes, the more the value of real-world experience rises." We asked why, in an era when e-commerce keeps getting easier and easier, the company continues to place such importance on real-world touchpoints.
(Kao Nakamura, Deputy General Manager, Marketing Division, Tree of Life Co., Ltd.)
Moving to Shopify, and an Organization Changing from Within
Tree of Life moved to Shopify in 2024. Before that, the company was running on a system that was close to fully custom-built, where even a minor feature addition could cost millions to tens of millions of yen. Every new attempt required internal approval, and much of the e-commerce team's work was spent on inward-facing tasks like chasing unpaid invoices and handling chargebacks.
The move to Shopify became the catalyst that changed all of that. It wasn't just the system that changed — the content of the team's work changed, team morale changed, and even how they kept an eye out for new opportunities changed.
—— What kind of system were you using before moving to Shopify?
Kao Nakamura (hereafter, Nakamura) It was technically a package solution, but it was practically a fully custom-built system. Whenever we wanted to add social login or a new payment method, the modification cost would run into the millions or tens of millions of yen. Every new attempt required internal approval each time, which cost both time and money. We arrived at Shopify because it's a platform where we can use apps to try things out on our own, one after another.
—— What kind of team handles your actual development and operations?
Nakamura We don't have any engineers, but the team members who enjoy it are building things out aggressively using AI. Just last week, someone told me, "I implemented a feature where you can draw an omikuji fortune and earn points by checking in at a store."
Being able to customize without code and keep moving forward makes it a platform that really suits team members who want to push ahead energetically.
—— That omikuji feature is impressive. Has the way you work changed since moving to Shopify?
Nakamura It's changed quite a lot. On the previous platform, a lot of the work was inward-facing — calling customers to remind them about unpaid bills, or writing incident reports when a credit card chargeback happened — and the e-commerce work had come to feel tedious.
Now that receivables are managed automatically by the app, that freed-up time has shifted toward writing newsletters, writing on LINE, and implementing new features. Because the results show up visibly, our team members have started keeping an eye out for opportunities on their own, and now everyone is doing more than we can keep up with.
—— How many people are currently involved with Shopify?
Nakamura There are only 3 people who are purely e-commerce staff. But if you include the order processing, marketing, and store teams, about 20 people touch the Shopify admin in some form as part of their work.
Now that all the data is consolidated and we can instantly see customer segments and best-selling product rankings, our strategy differs by store — some stores define their entry-level products for beginners, while others, with more repeat customers, lean toward more advanced products.
We carry 2,000 SKUs online, but a physical store can only fit around 600 to 700 at best, so the image is that e-commerce has a broader assortment while stores connect more deeply.
(An online store with categories and rankings laid out for easy browsing)
Getting Past the Limits of Default Features, with Apps
After moving to Shopify, the next challenge was the wall of "things the default features can't handle." Early access for loyal customers, complex B2B conditions, workshop reservation management — the more sophisticated Tree of Life's initiatives became, the more fine-grained control was needed. They cleared each of these hurdles one by one by using apps.
—— Could you tell us the background behind adopting the RuffRuff 予約販売 app?
Nakamura There were two reasons. First, with Shopify's default features, we couldn't design inventory levels in advance and then publish them. Second, we wanted customers who purchase a lot from us to be able to buy before items sell out.
We wanted to make sure our best customers, in particular, could buy on good terms, and in searching for a way to do that we arrived at RuffRuff 予約販売.
There were other pre-order apps out there, but with the overseas ones, support was in English or there was a time-zone delay in replies, which made them harder to use for team members who weren't used to that. This one is made in Japan, support is in Japanese and thorough, and replies come quickly. We weren't used to setting up Shopify in the first place, so being able to use it with peace of mind was the biggest deciding factor.
During setup we asked a constant stream of questions, but once our operations settled down we've barely needed to reach out for support at all.
—— In what situations do you use the RuffRuff Order Limits app?
Nakamura We use it for workshop and course reservations, which are set to launch in June. Beyond just selling products, we're strengthening our focus on building community through real-world touchpoints, and order limits play a big role there.
Since workshops don't involve shipping a physical item, we need to disable cash-on-delivery, but Shopify's default features can't handle that kind of fine-grained setting. The more we strengthen experience-based reservations, the more fine-grained control we need, so the RuffRuff Order Limits app has been a huge help.
(Seminar sign-ups are also available through the online store)
What the Data Pointed To: An Overseas Option
Around the time the domestic integration of e-commerce and stores started to gain traction, Tree of Life also began expanding into overseas markets. The catalyst was a fact that Shopify's data revealed.
—— How did the cross-border e-commerce effort get started?
Nakamura The original starting point was that inbound visitors would shop with us in Japan, but since many of our products are the kind customers repurchase, they had no way to buy them again once they returned home. We wanted to solve that somehow.
After adopting Shopify, the data made it clear just how many inbound customers were visiting our stores, and even during our Instagram Live streams we'd get DMs asking, "Could you ship this product overseas?" So we decided to take the plunge, and that's the background behind rolling it out mainly to Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia.
—— Once you actually started cross-border e-commerce, did you notice anything?
Nakamura It's been about a year and a half since we started going cross-border. The types of concerns customers have were no different from Japan, but if anything, the cases overseas were often more serious.
Singapore, for example, has limited land area and limited places to exercise, so lifestyle diseases are an even more serious issue than in Japan. The need for something delicious to drink while cutting back on sugar and caffeine resonated even more strongly than in Japan. We're not changing our SKUs — we're simply going into markets where the same products resonate more easily.
—— Beyond cross-border e-commerce, are you also building real-world touchpoints locally?
Nakamura We recently did an event in Taiwan — it was more like a flea market, and we didn't bring that much inventory, so we joined in with a fairly casual mindset. We'd announced it on Instagram, but we hadn't done any serious marketing beforehand.
Even so, the response was fantastic — we sold more than half our stock in a single day, and customers kept coming until 7:30 at night, leaving us exhausted. About a third of the customers said they'd visited us in Japan before, and about a third were walk-ins. Those same customers are still buying from us in Taiwan today. Customers we've talked to directly keep coming back. I feel that not just in the data, but firsthand as well.
(Tree of Life's online store for overseas customers)
The More Convenient E-Commerce Becomes, the More Valuable Real-World Experience Gets
From adopting Shopify to going cross-border, Tree of Life has kept experimenting through trial and error. Including the things that didn't go well, what has Nakamura come to see?
—— Were there any challenges or things that didn't go well after adopting Shopify?
Nakamura Tree of Life's customers aren't necessarily digital natives. If anything, we have a lot of customers who are the opposite of digital-savvy — the kind who aren't sure how to use a smartphone. So when we switched to Shopify, our call center was flooded with so many inquiries that our staff were nearly in tears.
One area we feel needs improvement is gifting. When the UI gets more complex and there are more fields to fill in, usage rates drop. Social gifting also hasn't grown the way we hoped. Honestly, initiatives that are entirely digital haven't been going as well as we'd like.
—— What do you think will matter going forward for a brand with both e-commerce and offline presence?
Nakamura Precisely because this is an era when e-commerce keeps getting stronger, AI can do so much, and a single idea can set things in motion, I believe having real-world touchpoints is what matters most.
A customer who has become a fan of the brand even once will keep buying for a long time, more so than a customer who has only had two or three exchanges with you online. Even for businesses without a physical store, doing something like holding an event can also lead to further e-commerce growth down the line.
The same was true of the event in Taiwan — customers we've talked to directly keep coming back. The more convenient e-commerce becomes, the more the value of real-world experience rises. I feel that, both in the data and firsthand.
What began as a simple platform switch ended up transforming the organization from within and leading to a challenge in cross-border e-commerce. Tree of Life's transformation has been built up from both data and hands-on experience.
The more convenient e-commerce becomes, the more the value of real-world touchpoints rises. This is what a 70-year-old brand has come to see as it continues its ongoing trial and error.
