Wakako Tokuda: “They are the largest TV shopping company, they are famous in Japan, and there is considerable synergy. They have 14m senior members, we have nine million.”
Japan’s largest home shopping company, Japanet Holdings, has acquired Yuko Yuko Holdings and Yuko Yuko Net, a travel company specialising in the senior ryokan and onsen market, in a deal described as “amazing” and “happy moment” by the latter’s CEO, Wakako Tokuda.
Speaking to WiT, Yuko Yuko’s Wakako said, “They are the largest TV shopping company, they are famous in Japan, and there is considerable synergy. They have 14m senior members, we have nine million.”
She said that she would continue as CEO and, with her team of 350, would operate independently. Asked how they celebrated the announcement of the acquisition, she said, “Just drinking, we had a big party in the office.”
She could not disclose terms of the deal but said her mission, when she joined Yuko Yuko Holdings, in 2020 was to find a new home for the business. “I have completed my mission. I am now looking forward to our next phase of growth.”
In August 2016, Unison Capital acquired Yuko Yuko from Recruit Group as part of supporting a management buyout. On its website, announcing the transfer of business, Unison Capital said, “We are confident that Yuko Yuko will further expand and advance its business in its next phase of growth under the support of its new shareholder.”
Asked how the deal came about, Wakako said it was thanks to a TV interview she did back in January. The interview caught the attention of a senior executive of Japanet, and the rest is history.
Japanet Holdings, founded by the charismatic TV sales personality, Akira Takata in 1986 as a mail order business, has since grown into a conglomerate operating in travel, as well as in sports and regional revitalisation.
It operates luxury cruises and has a US subsidiary, Japanet America, established in May 2023 to grow inbound business. According to local media reports, Japanet Tourism has expanded its travel business to a sales scale of over 15 billion yen since acquiring Type 1 travel agency status in 2017.
In 2017, it began to manage the V-VAREN NAGASAKI professional football club in Nagasaki, where it is headquartered. “This business has increased our desire to revitalize the region,” said Akita Takato, the son who took over as CEO 10 years ago.
Being part of Japanet will give Yuko Yuko access to more customers. “We will sell our travel packages on their TV channel,” Wakako said, while Japanet will benefit from the relationships with the 3,000 ryokans and onsens in Yuko Yuko’s network.
“They have great experience in selling to seniors. For example, they are very successful in cruise travel, with up to 4,000 people on one cruise, but for them, it’s very difficult to communicate with Japanese ryokans and hot springs accommodation.”
There’s also synergy in both companies’ mission statements. Japanet is “the joy of living now” while Yuko Yuko’s is “adults, enjoy everyday”.
Wakako said Yuko Yuko would ramp up its supply acquisition adding not only budget but also luxury accommodation. And while it will continue to focus on off-peak, weekday travel, it will also expand to weekend travel. In addition, it would look at reducing commissions to encourage more accommodation owners to join the platform.
With the weak Japanese currency curtailing outbound travel, domestic travel has been strong this year and Wakako said Yuko Yuko enjoyed a 10% growth in revenues in the first quarter. It’s also seen shifts in Japanese senior travel patterns given the surge in inbound travel crowding out more popular spots like Kyoto.
For example, she said, Gero Onsen, in Gifu Prefecture, which was rated third most popular onsen 1,000 years ago, after Kusatsu and Arima, was enjoying a renaissance. “It dropped out of the most popular list but is now becoming a favorite again among Japanese people.”
In acquiring new supply, she said Yuko Yuko would explore other regions and rural areas to diversify its reach.
Japanet and Yuko Yuko, with their focus on the senior market, is in a sweet spot. Japan is the world’s fastest ageing market, with 30% of its population over 60 years old with the men:women ratio at 3:4. The average age is 50.
“I remember at WiT Africa learning the average age there is 18. We are at the other end of the spectrum,” laughed Wakako.
Japanese women also have the longest life expectancy in the world, 87.09 years. Wakako said Japanese seniors were changing their behaviour and were using more mobile devices. It is making its booking site more senior-friendly and will add video content to make it easier for seniors to plan and book their travel.
The priority now is to expand the domestic market and then expand into inbound at a later date, she said. Meantime, it is exploring partnerships with global OTAs to see if it can tap into the current inbound growth being seen in Japan.