The ‘as-a-service’ business model is on the rise in Japan

There are a number of reasons Japan has been late to the ‘subscription economy’ party – some of them regulatory, some of them cultural – but the idea of paying flat monthly fees for goods and services is finally beginning to pick up steam with Japanese consumers as more companies pivot towards the model. 

One example of this pivot can be seen in Tokyo-based Wanget Inc., a company that has devised a new ‘video-creation-as-a-service’ product called Video Plant. The idea behind this new product is to provide businesses access to high-quality video content creation services for a flat monthly fee.

Said Ｍasaya Yoshizawa, founder and CEO of Wanget, Inc. “Our mission is to provide the infrastructure that can produce, distribute, and manage the digital content that is needed as the world shifts digitally.”

To help Wanget Inc. facilitate this shift for its customers is ‘as-a-service’ juggernaut CloudBlue, whose SaaS platform will power all of Wanget Inc’s backend billing, subscription management, multi-country management, marketplace, and fulfillment requirements. 

Thus, by white-labeling its entire digital supply chain through CloudBlue, Wanget Inc. can focus on growing its subscription-based digital content studio in Japan while plotting the next stage of its growth, internationally. 

“We are excited to team with an innovative brand like Wanget to help them scale their subscription-based video advertisement services in Japan and internationally” said YiLun Miao, managing director, Asia Pacific and Japan at CloudBlue in a recent press release.

“Adoption of B2B subscription models has been slower in Japan, unlike the quick uptake in many Western countries,” Miao noted, adding. “Now, the tide seems to be turning as users in Japan are recognizing the many business benefits, including increased customer loyalty, more accurate forecasting, and better customer insights.” 

Through the power of CloudBlue, Wanget Inc. may be able to deliver on its promise of offering a stunning two-day turnaround on its high-quality video production services at the lowest cost in the industry, all while being able to scale its service internationally.

If they succeed, expect to see more media-as-a-service companies pop up in the crowded alleyways surrounding Shibuya’s hip Cat Street.

This article includes a client of an Espacio portfolio company