Interview with BE FORWARD Co., Ltd.! The overseas shipping service "PochiLogi," which is available for personal use, can ship anything from a single smartphone to a rickshaw

Mr. Munefuji: Our company was founded in March 2004, so we are in our 21st year.
Our main business is exporting used cars, and we also export auto parts and operate an international express delivery service.
Our sales for fiscal year 2023 were 118 billion yen, and we have grown to about 200 times our original size in 21 years since our founding.
"BE FORWARD," which sells 150,000 vehicles annually to over 200 countries around the world, is the No. 1 cross-border e-commerce site in Japan.

Mr. Munefuji: Yes.
There are many excellent products in Japan that we can be proud of, so we thought, "All we have to do is send them out to the world." That was the beginning.
Around 2021, "PochiLogi" was officially launched, with the name meaning a service that makes logistics as simple as a "click" of a mouse like on an e-commerce site.
It's a service where a logistics team uses our existing logistics network to transport our customers' packages all over the world.

Mr. Takase: Yes, it is!
We often receive inquiries from people who have family living in other countries, such as those working away from home or grandchildren, because of the high hurdle of overseas shipping.
The majority of our users want to export food products and daily necessities.
To be honest, when you're shipping various items all mixed together overseas, the customs procedures are a pain.
While it may not always be worth it, we are doing our best because we want to make our customers happy.

Mr. Takase: Just a click might not be enough (lol).
If you contact us with a few clicks about the items and destination, we will provide a personalized response based on our expertise.
For example, we will advise you on things like, "Ivory is not allowed," "It's prohibited by the Washington Convention," or "What about lithium batteries?"
We have the theme of omotenashi (hospitality) throughout our company, and providing a caring response that other companies don't is one of our strengths.

As for the items you want to ship, you first send them to our warehouse, where we perform a physical check.
We then remove any problematic items and ship the rest.

Mr. Takase: With other companies, if there is even one prohibited item, all of the items you want to ship are almost always returned all at once.
For example, food products must be judged on a raw material basis, so many companies in the logistics industry turn them down as a matter of common practice. We had the simple idea that if we could overturn that common practice with our expertise and enthusiasm, more users would use our service.

Mr. Takase: The first thing is, of course, customs duties.
We explain the basics, like "It's a tax to protect industries," and as for payment methods, we say, "You can also pay in advance from Japan."
In addition to food products, something that is surprisingly not well known is ethanol-based items.
They are often found in cosmetics, and we also provide advice like, "Your products will be disposed of in the destination country, so let's not send this."

Mr. Takase: One symbolic example is helping Gump Suzuki (@gumpsuzuki), who crossed Africa in a rickshaw.
We were also a sponsor, and we have shipped his rickshaw and its tires, among other things.

Mr. Takase: Since we originally sold used cars, we can ship items of any size.
You can also leave it to us to ship large figures, furniture, art pieces, pianos, and more.

Mr. Takase: Of course.
For art pieces in particular, other companies do it very carefully, but the price also goes up as a result.
We pride ourselves on our high cost performance and customer satisfaction because "PochiLogi" provides appropriate packaging each time based on the user's needs and consultation.
The word seems to be spreading in the artist community, which we are very grateful for.

Mr. Takase: You can choose between air and sea freight.
Basically, air freight tends to be faster and more expensive, while sea freight is slower but cheaper, but we can accommodate users' requests.
You can get a quote by simply filling out the form on the official PochiLogi page, so please give it a try.
In some cases, air freight is actually faster and cheaper for a certain size of items.

Mr. Munefuji: One interesting example is a wedding ring.
We received an inquiry about sending it to a wedding venue in Hawaii, and to be honest, it costs about 5,000 yen to send, which was so much cheaper than the user expected that it was difficult to convince them by saying, "Are you sure it's okay?" (lol).

Mr. Takase: I believe we are specialists in logistics, as we export more than 10,000 used cars per month.
I think it's a great strength that we can offer that expertise not only to corporations but also to individuals.

Mr. Munefuji: As I mentioned earlier, you can just send us a bunch of items in a cardboard box, and we'll only send back the ones that are prohibited. There is no other service like that.
Other companies will send back the entire shipment, dispose of it, or charge you a fee after it gets sent overseas and then returned as a prohibited item.
To be honest, it is a lot of work, but I think that is where our strength lies—in purposefully doing things that others don't.

Mr. Takase: We will continue to expand the "PochiLogi" service.
Specifically, we are working on starting a pickup service.
We also want to simplify the procedures, so we will also transfer our automation expertise, which is quite advanced in used car exports, to "PochiLogi."

Mr. Munefuji: Our greatest strength is our logistics, and we are especially confident in logistics for emerging countries.
Since about half of our used car exports go to Africa, we want to leverage that strength for "PochiLogi," which is currently used mostly for shipments to the United States, Canada, and Australia.
In addition, we want to get serious about a third-country logistics service, such as from the United States to Singapore, or from Africa to South America.
We currently have users who repeatedly use our third-country service, and we will strengthen our greatest strength, which is our ability to handle third-country shipping for heavy items.
We are also aiming for an IPO (Initial Public Offering), so we would appreciate your continued attention.

Mr. Takase, Mr. Munefuji: Thank you very much!