Zappos is one of the largest online shoe and apparel retailers in the United States, based in Las Vegas. Known for its exceptional customer service and a corporate culture that prioritizes employee well-being, it remains a legendary company, maintaining its unique management style even after being acquired by Amazon. This company made an effort to listen to and address customers’ everyday concerns, even those unrelated to their orders. They engaged in “small talk” with customers for hours, far removed from productivity standards. In the long run, this earned them top ratings and continued profitability. In Japan, the women’s monthly magazine “Halmek” could become a company like Zappos. One of Halmek’s key successes was its effective use of its abundant in-house customer data. They achieved the ability to deliver exactly what customers wanted. Data analysis allowed them to visualize customer needs. Furthermore, beyond data analysis, they seem to have listened deeply and persistently to the voices of their readers, their customers. This approach seems to follow the same pattern as Zappos’ “small talk” style, where they spend hours engaging with customers.
An interesting aspect of the women’s magazine Halmek is its avoidance of terms like “old” or “senior.” This magazine broke away from traditional, enlightening content aimed at the elderly. It redefined itself as a women’s magazine, not a senior magazine. This departure from enlightening content led to a surge in new features on fashion, beauty, and other topics. Many unprecedented features emerged, covering fashion, beauty, travel, and interior design. It shifted from narrow, deep content to broad, shallow, and cheerful content. Appropriate methods of communication are employed, such as using videos for exercise, photos for style, and online courses for learning. The use of large photographs brightened the magazine’s pages. Incidentally, the print version of Halmek targets women aged 65-80. This generation is familiar with print media, and there seems to be an expectation that they will continue to read in print.
Halmek aims to prevent women from feeling isolated. Japanese women tend to have longer lifespans, and are more likely to spend their later years alone. It seems that Halmek aims to be a tool that makes their later years active, bright, and enjoyable. The foundation of enjoyable behavior is curiosity. Pursuing curiosity is enjoyable for people of all ages. Curiosity is often described using the terms divergent curiosity and inquisitive curiosity. In recent years, it has been suggested that curiosity has many more elements. For convenience, here we have listed “four types of curiosity.” These four are being sensitive to the unknown, enjoying exploration, wanting to know others, and seeking thrills. If these elements appear in moderation in daily life and are resolved, one can lead an enjoyable life. Halmek is a tool that supports this. If Halmek becomes as highly regarded as Zappos, Japanese women may become brighter as well.
