GMO TECH to Form Business Partnership with Five Malaysian IT/Ad Companies to Foster O2O Services: Strengthening O2O Business Overseas Centering on Southeast Asia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jun 26, 2018

Tokyo - June 26, 2018 - GMO TECH, Inc. announced today that, as of June 26, 2018, it started sales of its O2O*¹ services in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries. GMO TECH, one of the leading Internet marketing companies in Japan, has formed a business partnership with five Malaysian IT/Ad companies that engage in Internet advertising and mobile marketing businesses to expand its O2O business overseas, particularly in Southeast Asia: People 'n Rich – H. Sdn. Bhd (CEO: Richard Steven), VLT KUALA LUMPUR SDN BHD (CEO: Adrian Lim), TK International Sdn. Bhd (CEO: Shingo Abe), ENTINIUM (M) SDN BHD (CEO: Jacky Lai), and PROMO TEC SYNERGY SDN. BHD.(Managing Director: Eriko Kitamura).

*1 O2O stands for “Online to Offline” that refers to promoting store business via sending online users physically to stores

Fostering O2O Business Overseas & Expansion into Malaysian Market

GMO TECH has supported more than 4,300 stores and facilities across Japan with their marketing and customer acquisitions through its broad range of services as GMO AppCapsule, which enables clients to create their original O2O apps. Pondering smartphones have been increasingly spreading in the world and O2O marketing measures via apps are highly demanded, GMO TECH has advanced its global business development. It has its axis on O2O services in Southeast Asia where penetration of smartphones has rapidly grown.

Malaysia stays high in ratio of smartphone penetration in Southeast Asia, reaching 75.9% (7.2% increase from 2016) in 2017*². Another survey states that 89.4% of all Internet users access to the Internet via smartphones*³. Furthermore, companies increasingly engage in mobile O2O marketing via apps, following openings of large-scale shopping malls and restaurants operated by Japanese companies in Malaysia.

Based on such potential needs in the region, GMO TECH has set about its business tie-ups with the five Malaysian IT/Ad companies to step into sales of its O2O services to help clients, including owners of retail stores, F&B stores, other facilities, with promoting their stores and customer acquisitions in Malaysia and surrounding countries.

*2 Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, “HAND PHONE USERS SURVEY 2017”, Statistical Brief Number Twenty-Two (2017)
*3 Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, “INTERNET USERS SURVEY 2017”, Statistical Brief Number Twenty-One (2017)

Outline of Business Partnership

GMO TECH and its five business partners will engage in marketing for store/facility operators in Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries through its expansion of GMO AppCapsule, including the following business roles:

Endorsements from Business Partners

■ People 'n Rich – H Sdn. Bhd.
We at People ‘N Rich are excited and very happy to partner with GMO TECH to launch the AppCapsule in Malaysia. We understand that this will be the first country outside Japan to launch this innovative application that will help businesses promote their products and engage with their customers on the new digital era.

（Richard Steven, Group Managing Director, People ‘n Rich Holdings)

■ VLT KUALA LUMPUR SDN BHD
This partnership allows us to leverage on GMO’s technology to be able to serve the retail and hospitality business in the markets we’re in. The technology allows us to deploy quickly and effectively so we can focus on the content and user engagement. We’re looking forward to working with GMO towards more technologies and markets in the future.

（Adrian Lim, CEO,VLT Kuala Lumpur)

■ TK International Sdn. Bhd.
We sincerely welcome GMO TECH, Inc. to Malaysia for their business expansion in this region. We, TK International Sdn. Bhd., specialize in Digital Marketing Services that includes Website Creation, Social Media Marketing as a Global Hub Agency. We look forward to deepening our partnership with GMO TECH, Inc., and will be able to offer O2O services through mobile apps created by GMO AppCapsule.

(Shingo Abe, Managing Director & CEO, TK International Sdn.Bhd.)

■ ENTINIUM (M) SDN BHD
We are proud and excited to collaborate with GMO TECH in introducing its O2O services platform to assist Malaysia merchants in promoting their businesses via mobile apps.

（Jacky Lai, CEO, ENTINIUM (M) SDN BHD)

■ PROMO TEC SYNERGY SDN. BHD.
We are very excited about our partnership with GMO TECH and are thrilled to introduce GMO AppCapsule into Malaysia market. By leveraging GMO TECH’s latest online capabilities to effectively and efficiently empowering the O2O evolution in the digital era.

（Eriko Kitamura, Managing Director, PROMO TEC SYNERGY SDN. BHD.)

About GMO AppCapsule

GMO AppCapsule provides clients with easy ways to create their original O2O apps through its platform. It helps store operators with less knowledge of online marketing create their original apps that increase their exposure to potential customers to acquire more, boosting their sales. Users can access to AppCapsule’s wide range of design templates, functional upgrades, full-support for their promotion.

Business Partners

【People 'n Rich – H.Sdn. Bhd.】（URL：https://www.peoplenrich.com/）

【VLT KUALA LUMPUR SDN BHD】（URL:https://wearevlt.com/）

【TK International Sdn.Bhd.】（URL:http://tk-international.com/jp/）

【ENTINIUM (M) SDN BHD】（URL：http://www.entinium.com/）

【PROMO TEC SYNERGY SDN. BHD.】（URL：http://www.promotec.pro/）

【GMO TECH】（URL：https://gmo.tech/）