6. Wanting to Close the Distance Between Customer, Retailer and Maker

Iwata - At the top of the monitor of this search tool there’s a small camera, and if you just put the package of a game up to it, it gives you an introduction to that piece of software. How did the idea for this functionality come about?

Oda - At first we didn’t think about using any camera. But another internal team, unrelated to the “Search Guide” were making a demo unit and proposed that, technically, it was feasible. It was an idea that had been around for quite some time. However, software packages and demo units are typically not close together, so it wasn’t realistic.

Iwata - And different from demo units, this search tool was made so that it could be placed next to the product shelves.

Oda - Right. Most often, a customer who visits the store first picks up a package and thinks about what software they’re going to purchase. So we thought, “it would be nice if customers didn't even need to operate the search tool at that point to see the content of the software”, and we chose to add the camera.

Sakai - Even if a customer picks up a package, it’s not guaranteed that they’ll be able to figure out how to bring up that information on the “Search Guide” right away, so we thought it would be convenient if they could put the package up to the camera to bring up software information right away.

Iwata - Naturally, they could read the title of the package, it says “Zelda”, so they could type that in and get to that information, but the difference in speed is night and day…

(He places the package in front of the camera and information for “Twilight Princess” appears) Wow, that WAS fast (laughs).

Sakai - There’s nothing special about the camera, it’s just made to recognize the picture on the package. As such, you could use color copies of the package, or bring up the software catalog located at the retailer, and as long as it’s the same package it would recognize the game. The Saturday after this search tool was released I went to check things out with my kids. Immediately my kids noticed the camera and went into a fervor finding different packages to place in front of it. They really seemed to enjoy it. Unfortunately that didn’t lead to any sales, however…

Iwata - (laughs)

Sakai - But I felt the store’s atmosphere was more jovial thanks to having the search tool there.

Hatano - Well, that’s one of the things we should be aiming for. I mean, our products are entertainment in various senses of the word. I think the places that sell our products need to have a fun atmosphere as well.

Iwata - To put it in one extreme, if people think “I don’t really have any plans to buy anything, but it’s fun to go there so why not?”, then our chances to deliver one of the interesting things we’ve made to customers increase, even for customers who don’t go out of their way to collect information on our products.

Hatano - Exactly. I think one big theme retailers are always researching is how to get different customers to visit. So I think it’s important that we all work together and challenge ourselves to create environments that are bright and seem fun for the stores.

So to begin with, we’ve created the “Search Guide” and we’ll be improving on it as we go, and I think if we can get retailers to place this on the floor I think we can really close the distance between game makers, retailers and customers.

Iwata - Right, it allows for us to properly explain the content of our products to customers.

Hatano - Right. And Nintendo has Distribution Meetings（※8）10 times a year, but they’re only held in Tokyo and Osaka, so it’s hard to get people from remote regions to come. Hopefully through the use of this “Search Guide” those retailers and buyers can fully understand what we’d like to explain to them.

※8 Distribution Meeting＝Exhibition showing off new products, targeted at game retailers.

Iwata - Moving forward it’ll vital for us to improve, watching our customers response and reactions, and I think that this is a really big first step - getting our customers to use this.

Finally, I’d like to hear what ambitions you all have to go above and beyond once retailers have these “Search Guides”.

Sakai - Although it’s no more than just a function included in a retail terminal, I have deep feelings for the “Everyone’s recommendations” that were included in the “Everyone’s Nintendo Channel”, which I spent lots of time working on. I hope that there will be less instances of customers buying software and thinking “Ah, that was mistake, even though I thought it would be good” , with customers being able to check out the objective evaluations of other players who have actually played the games, and make informed purchases based on that information. I hope a kind of positive cycle will occur where the information provided from voting in “Everyone’s Recommendations” helps other customers, they play the games, are satisfied, and then they recommend that software to others.

Iwata - Next up, Oda-san.

Oda - My wish is to help create a friendly retail environment for customers. I would certainly like to have lots of customers use the search tool and feel confident in their ability to purchase product, but in the end I think there’s a limit just using the “Search Guide”. The fine details in dealing with customers will ultimately best be handled by an actual person, and easily understandable displays and layouts will be important as well. That’s something I felt strongly during my experience as a concierge. As such, I’d like to cooperate with retailers to help create customer-friendly sales floors that customers can easily shop in.

Iwata - Takeuchi-san, if you please.

Takeuchi - Sure. I feel that shopping is something that is inherently fun. Of course, it’s not fun at all for customers who are lost on the floor.

Iwata - Customers having a difficult time end up being in a bad mood.

Takeuchi - Exactly. As such, I hope that we can help ensure that less people have a difficult time shopping with this search tool, even if it’s only one person less than would have been otherwise. I also hope to provide a place where customers can encounter new products and enjoy shopping.

Iwata - And finally, Hatano-san.

Hatano - As I mentioned before, because our products are entertainment, it’s vital that the places that they’re sold are fun as well. So how do we get together with everyone on the retail side to create that kind of environment? What can we do so that customers can feel confident and satisfied with their purchases? Of course to accomplish that what’s necessary is for us to close the distance with everyone at retail, communicate and cooperate.

This “Search Guide” is one tool to help accomplish that. I want to move forward with closing the distance between customer, retailer and game maker, allowing for customers to shop with confidence in their purchases, and creating a bright and fun retail floor.

Iwata - As Hatano-san said, this “Search Guide” is a tool, so it won’t solve everything, but in the interest of ensuring that even 1 less customer is troubled during their shopping experience all 3 parties need to become closer, and so we’ve created this tool in the interest of achieving just that.

Naturally the environment will continue to change in the future, so this challenge will never really end, but in 15 years - actually, in 3 or 5 years, I hope people will be saying “You know, we didn’t have these kinds of search tools at retail back in the day.” “So then how did you decide what to buy?” It sounds silly, but we feel that kind of potential from this, that such a conversation even seems possible.

It’s only natural that you’d be able to properly explain the product you’re selling, and indeed that’s how a lot of product gets sold around the world, but I feel like that this is one of the first tools that you can look at and call an “entrance” to that obvious necessity. Even so, it’s still just an entrance. We still have a lot to do, but I think that this is clearly a step in the right direction, so I expect that we’ll put a lot of effort in to making this even better for 2010 so that it can be introduced at all kinds of retailers.

Everyone - Yes!

Iwata - Thank you for your time.