Scaling Japan Podcast

Japan Scalers | Episode 9: Scaling Haribo in Japan with Paul Kraft

Jul 6, 2024

01:07:45

Welcome to the ninth episode of our new series Japan Scalers. In this series, we will only interview guests who have surpassed 100 million yen in revenue annually.

In this ninth episode, we are joined by Paul Kraft, the Founder and President of JapanIQ, who guides multinational corporations enter and succeed well in the Japanese market. He has helped launch and scaled brands already well known around the world in Japan, including Starbucks, Nespresso and the main subject of this interview, Haribo. Join us as Paul shares how he made the world famous gummy candy brand go from #8 to #1 in the Japanese market in the span of four years, helping it go from a niche imported brand to a worthy mainstream contender.

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TimeStamps :

0:00 Introduction
3:25 Initiatives
4:29 About Haribo’s History in Japan
7:40 The Communication of the Packages to the Customer
11:45 Further Communication with Haribo with Television Advertising
14:28 Advantages and Experiences as a Leader for Growth
26:32 About the Competitive Nature of Convenience Stores
30:18 Convincing the Internal Business Team and the Likely Obstacles that Comes
40:10 Further Likely Obstacles Between the Japanese partners and Headquarters
45:10 “The Death of Thinking” and Inventory
50:00 “Walk the Talk” and “Doing Things that Don’t scale”
55:32 European Customer Support Time Zone Obstacles
56:38 Advice before Starting Sale in Japan
59:13 Consumer Understanding
1:05:40 Where to find Paul and Final Thoughts --- Links from Guest Appearance :

LinkedIn | YouTube | JapanIQ

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The Japan Scalers Podcast is produced by our companies Scaling Your Company & SmartStart Japan