Cultural connection and prouder, more dedicated employees
Based in Japan, Miniso expanded to Mexico in 2016 and has since grown to manage businesses in five other Latin American countries. MinisoLovers, the company’s customers, are attracted by the quality, creativity, and affordability of the products.
On the eve of their third anniversary, Miniso Mexico began work on the formal design of itself as an organization, and this involved searching for a corporate media platform to communicate with the employees, who are known as Minisers.
The company compared various platforms (by visiting the developers, evaluating the services and measuring the reach and impact) and carried out market research through the Mexican Association of Organizational Communicators, and Workplace was chosen unanimously. The platform was the right choice to connect the corporate head office to the stores and distribution center. Today, Kazoku (the name they chose for Workplace within the company) is available via mobile devices for 90% of the employees who do not use a computer in their work, and it allows two-way communication as well as being intuitive and easy to access.
Miniso Mexico’s Workplace includes a Community Manager known as “Mr. Miniso” who can be used to solve queries and chat. The name Kazoku was chosen unanimously by the Minisers themselves. The name means family in Japanese, and is another way to link back to the company’s culture and country of origin. The previous communications platform was limited to WhatsApp groups and email, but now they can recognize the various teams’ achievements, follow new store openings and product launches, and share the most relevant news—all in real time. This continuous dialogue with the employees creates a sense of belonging to a community much bigger than just the place where each person works.
Retailer
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LATAM
“A wonderful surprise!! The experience created when all the Minisers were connected so quickly gave them an advantage in their business strategy and in building the organization of the future, which then becomes a benefit that the employees appreciate when they think about the company where they go to work and develop their career. They thought Kazoku was just fantastic!”
Results
Connected Organization
With Workplace, Miniso Mexico has gained an ability to connect in a way that did not exist before. They use the platform to distribute policies on travel expenses and use of resources, explanations about auditing, information on the culture of prevention and attention, as well as everything else the organization needs to talk about. And it’s all done in a way that’s fun, easy and economical. A good example is their tips related to the theft of goods, which is a common occurrence, especially at new stores which often receive more customers and have new staff members. Within Workplace, the organization provides advice on how to prevent theft and what to do if it happens. This information is circulated quickly and efficiently so that employees can act fast.
Strategy and Fun
Business issues can be handled in a more fun way on Workplace. Dialogue with the company on Kazoku takes place through the Community Manager, Mr. Miniso. The platform is lively and personalized. Employees log in and talk to him, and he always gives them answers which are aligned with the company’s strategies. Through this personalized dialogue, staff members organically absorb what is important for Miniso and share that information in a more natural way. That strengthens the brand and everything related to it: new store openings, licenses and launches.
Learning and Standardization
Miniso works the same way all over the world, and Workplace helps reinforce that. They can use the platform to run training sessions and to align and standardize behavior. For example, Kazoku helps promote Japanese protocol through various courses which teach employees how to open and close the store, how to welcome customers, how to present products and how to say goodbye to them. The service established by this protocol is impeccable and the experience created at any Miniso store, anywhere in the world, is the company’s main differentiator. With Workplace, they are expecting to be able to improve that experience even more.
