NBC Central Distribution Center in Taicang City near Shanghai

ITOCHU Logistics is the core comprehensive logistics company of the ITOCHU Group, one of the leading global general trading companies in the Japan, and a leading third-party logistics company in the consumer goods field.

The corporate mission of ITOCHU is Sampo-yoshi, which originates from the company’s Founder Chubei Itoh I and has been passed down through the years from ITOCHU’s establishment in 1858 to the present day.

In Japanese, yoshi means ‘good’ and sampo means ‘three sides’, good for the seller (urite), good for the buyer (kaite) and good for society (seken).

ITOCHU Logistics China with the New Balance China logistics team

Chinese Focus

ITOCHU was recognized as a ‘Friendship Trading Company’ by the Chinese government in 1972 and became the first Japanese general trading company to develop business in China.

Since then, ITOCHU has actively promoted business development in China by utilizing the largest number of sales offices of a Japanese general trading company in China, a wide network of human resources familiar with Chinese business and strong partners.

In 1994 the company established ITOCHU Logistics China, a leading third-party logistics company in China, mainly in the consumer goods field, that provides optimal supply chains for the rapidly growing Chinese consumer market.

It has large-scale warehouses nationwide, a warehouse area of 800,000 square meters, and 2,700 employees.

The company provides supply chain services in the retail and ecommerce fields to consumer goods companies customers both of major foreign and domestic brand such as sports apparel – like New Balance China – cosmetics, daily necessities and food products.

By providing the latest and optimal one-stop supply chain services to Chinese and global brand companies,  ITOCHU supports the construction of value chains and business growth in the Chinese market.

The Strategy

ITOCHU aims to improve consumer satisfaction by connecting its customer brands and consumers with its logistics services.

In other words, it delivers the best branded products sold by its customers to consumers quickly, efficiently and with high quality.

Its strategy is to be a multi-function service provider that provides not just logistics services, but also a variety of functions.

ITOCHU Logistics China One-stop service provider

Reasons for Success

• General trading company: As a global company, ITOCHU fully understands the business and value chain of brand companies. In line with the business strategy of the brand company, it can design and provide optimal supply chain and logistics services.
• Global network: ITOCHU’s global network enables it to provide a value chain that connects markets in countries around the world with markets and consumers in China.
• Logistics network covering all of China: With large distribution centers throughout the country and a delivery network connecting them, products can be delivered to all consumers throughout China.
• Automation and innovation: It has introduced logistics automation equipment using the latest AI and robot technology to improve the efficiency and speed of logistics. The company has a dedicated R&D team that designs and implements optimal automation equipment according to the characteristics of each customer’s business.
• Omnichannel: Its inventory has been optimized by integrating B2B and B2C logistics operations and inventory management using multiple warehouse and order management systems.
• Supply chain dashboard: It has introduced a supply chain dashboard using digital transformation technology to visualize supply chain management and share information with customers in real time, improve logistics quality through KPI management, and implement optimal supply chain management.

Ecommerce customer contact center in Shanghai, China

• Contact center services: It is using AI to optimally respond to consumers before and after purchases, support sales improvement on ecommerce websites and improve consumer satisfaction through voice of customer analysis. Integrated operation of logistics and contact centers enables speedy responses to consumers.
• Innovative collaborations: It promotes innovation in IT technology in collaboration with specialized partners and is securing and developing operator human resources in partnership with universities in various regions.
• High ability of shipments in W11/W12 events: At the largest ecommerce event in China, we were able to ship eight million orders (20 million pieces) in a short period of time, contributing to the increase in sales of our customers.