Together with all the courses of action required to develop a new product, a sales force is also necessary to see success through to the end.

Kobayashi Pharmaceutical has thus far devoted itself to focusing on on-site sales and promotions.With a focused advertising strategy, salesmen aggressively conducted visits to pharmacies and drug stores and always paid great care and detailed attention to arranging products attractively in cases and on shelves and avoiding stock shortages.
In order to boost the focus of on-site sales and promotion to its fullest potential, "Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Sales and Promotion Corporation" was founded and began operations in 1985.This company was comprised of elite members assembled from only professionals in store-front management.

With only 8 people at the time of its founding, the company two years later grew to 40 employees who concentrated their efforts in managing large-scale retail outlets (supermarkets) in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya.Future plans call for not only increasing the number of staff and large-scale retail outlets, but also for covering pharmacies and drug stores nationwide.

A manufacturer can develop good products, advertise them on television, and deliver them to retail stores, but this alone is not enough to sell them.What makes a hit product a hit is not the fact that it’s been put on the market, but that it has been nurtured.

Large-scale retail outlets and pharmacies number over 40,000 stores nationwide.This new company was founded to make these retail stores more efficient and to periodically conduct sales visits.

In order to carry out sales and promotion systematically, the need for greater use of computers was recognized, and the implementation of the SCS (Seihin Computer System) is in progress in the Manufacturing and Sales Operation Headquarters.

Furthermore, with regard to health products, the company joined Planet VAN in 1986 and is engaged in the collection of end user information.The number of “Kobayashi Group” stores that have joined this network presently stands at 7,400.The number of members is increasing steadily toward the target of 10,000 stores.

The KICS system under development in the Wholesale Operation is also a strong ally to the Consumer Products Operations.If this gets off the ground, valuable data can be obtained for regional and product-based strategic planning purposes.

The data gathered by the KICS system may indicate the need for a reexamination of the company’s internal organization and also possibly the need for reorganization.Such information will promote organizational activity and increased efficiency.

In future Japanese society, women will continue to advance in the workplace, and the growth of non-store sales is practically certain.The development of completely new sales routes adapted to change in such a society is as critical as the development of new products.

Social needs change with the times.And sales routes are never set in concrete.Manufacturers have to be quick to react to all changes.On-site locations must not be neglected, not only when it comes to sales but in product development as well.A manufacturer that has lost awareness of its surroundings and the ability to react to change will be left behind to whither.

(From an interview with Hiroaki Miyata)