PayPay Leader Interview is a series of interviews with PayPay Group’s top executives that show a glimpse into their personalities and perspectives. In this installment, we talked with Kentaro Kato, Division Head of the Partner Sales Division.
Kentaro Kato
Sales Group, Partner Sales Division Head
I worked as an editor at a publishing company before moving into the IT industry. Later I got involved in the points business and QR code payment business at Yahoo Japan Corporation (now LY Corporation) and joined PayPay in August 2018. Since then, I have been in charge of setting up the Enterprise Sales Department, expanding the merchant base, and merchant account sales with a focus on national chains, and assumed my current position in April 2023.
Table of Contents
Grow the payment business and evolve it into a sales promotion platform
Tell us why you joined PayPay
In late 2017, I became involved in a QR code payment project for Yahoo! JAPAN Wallet. Later, SoftBank and Yahoo! JAPAN decided to establish PayPay as a joint venture company between themselves, and the business of both companies got integrated. We really didn’t know where to start back then, so we just grinded our way through negotiations with national chains, debating with them on the details of merchant agreements, and also negotiated with payment gateway companies on integration contract conditions. I was so absorbed in the launch of this new cashless business that before I knew it I was a member of PayPay (laughs).
Please tell us the role and mission of the Partner Sales Division
The Partner Sales Division is comprised of two departments: the Partner Sales Department and the Point Sales Department, each with its own mission.
The Partner Sales Department’s goal is to expand our payment business by strengthening cooperation with partner companies. The Point Sales Department’s task is to create new value in the sales promotion market by making PayPay a marketing platform by leveraging PayPay Points.
Now getting into the specific roles of each department, Partner Sales is responsible for working with gateway companies and payment service providers (PSPs), and increasing the number of merchants and GMV amongst small and medium-sized businesses. I must also add that deepening collaboration with partners is also essential to ensure stable operation of our payment infrastructure. The department also plays a protective role by regularly conducting load tests with various companies to check that the environment can handle traffic even during promotional campaigns.
Meanwhile, the Point Sales Department is in charge of increasing the number of locations where PayPay Points can be issued and exchanged. On top of that, we hope to utilize our points and data to offer further value in marketing, like customer attraction and CRM. The department also began initiatives in sales promotions for manufacturers, but this entails linking payment and data, which is still an untapped area, so I hope to see PayPay become the pioneer.
Expand future possibilities by building rapport with partners
What areas do you focus on and what are your strengths compared to other companies?
PayPay is not just a payment method but a service with immense customer attraction capabilities, which is a significant advantage.
We have a solid foundation of over 61 million users and 10 million available stores* (locations where you can shop with PayPay and PayPay Card), and we have been able to demonstrate our ability to direct customers to merchants through diverse promotional campaigns. We also have established a track record of independent promotions funded by merchants.
As the next step, we are focusing on product-specific coupons and PayPay Gifts, which are sales promotion services that leverage our merchant network. One benefit is that not only merchants can use these services, but also manufacturers. It is precisely because PayPay has established a trusting relationship with merchants that we have been able to implement sales promotions linked to retail stores for manufacturers.
Plus, PayPay Points has become more of a consumer incentive than before, as the number of point users has been growing steadily in proportion to the spread of PayPay. The points can now be given in the form of “PayPay Gift Cards,” which allows it to be used for a plethora of other sales promotions not limited to manufacturers. Given that, we are conducting sales activities with the mindset to expand points usage to consumer rebate programs by local governments as well as sales incentives, special one-time payments, and shareholder benefits.
What makes working at PayPay worthwhile?
Working here, I can see the changes taking place in society immediately and ahead of everyone, and there are always opportunities to challenge yourself in the company.
QR code payments have existed in Japan since around 2015, but had little penetration. But after PayPay’s launch and breakthrough in 2018, I was able to experience firsthand the expansion of QR code payments in general. PayPay’s initiatives always attracted media attention, and I was proud to see our business performance featured in news programs, newspapers, and magazines. I also still vividly remember the time I heard the “PayPay” jingle at a newly partnered national chain store.
As for me, I spent the first three years growing our enterprise merchant base, followed by two years of working as an account sales representative with a focus on deepening our partnership with merchants and increasing the number of transactions through sales promotion support. Now, as the Head of the Partner Sales Division, I am working on two missions: building win-win services with partners and promoting point sales. I find it very rewarding to be in an environment where I can dare to try something new.
What are the big challenges and what do you want to strengthen in the future?
While PayPay and our partners are comrades in arms making Japan go cashless, we sometimes butt heads regarding the auxiliary services. We sometimes could be collaborators and other times competitors, so we have to carefully navigate and maintain the relationship.
For example, one service that PayPay is focusing on is PayCAS, our multi-payment terminal, but it is a competitive service for PSP partners. As PayPay, we communicate with partners the boundaries of where we collaborate and where we compete, but if that results in ending the business relationship, it may also eliminate future possibilities. There are certainly areas where we should continue to work hand in hand with our partners, so we try not to nip these prospects in the bud. One way to bypass this sticky situation is to enable businesses to easily become PayPay Point merchants through our partners’ multi-payment terminals. That way, we may be competitors but still mutually gain benefits. We are also considering other initiatives that would allow partners to sell PayPay’s sales promotion plan on our behalf.
Make PayPay indispensable in the sales promotion market
Tell us what you hope to accomplish in the future
We will aim to expand our business with services that are favorable for both us and our partners. There is still a lot of potential for growth not only in payments but also in growing our merchants’ business. I eventually would like to see a sales promotion market where merchants say, “Performance is quite low without PayPay, and we also can’t validate performance without PayPay.”
What do you keep in mind in your daily work?
In a startup phase, quantity trumps quality. This is something I learned from experience. In my 20s, I was a magazine editor in the publishing industry, but one thing led to another and I jumped into the IT business when I was 30. After six months in sales planning, I was assigned to sales, which I had zero experience in. I had far less experience in sales compared to the members around me, but through creativity and simply doing, I was able to deliver results and was appointed as manager only after a year. So the best way to succeed is to increase productivity and take action. A lot.
I already thought back then that if an ordinary person like me were to achieve great results, I had to stand at bat twice as many times as others and deliver as many results as possible. And indeed, as long as I continued to take lots of action, results followed.
Lastly, a message for our readers please!
I am often asked this question during job interviews, so I always tell the candidates that the three common characteristics of people thriving in PayPay are speed, initiative, and followership.
The first, speed. The faster you work and more “at bats” you have, you can gain that much more experience and thus grow faster. And this may sound trivial, but by simply completing proposals, plans, reports, and the likes a day or two before the due date, people around you will tend to trust you more whether they are inside or outside the company.
The second is the ability to take the initiative, which I define as the ability to think on one’s own, formulate a hypothesis, and act. For example, people who go to their supervisors and say, “I want to do this for this reason” instead of “How can I help?” are already putting the PDCA cycle in practice and will naturally be able to create their own success pattern.
And finally, followership. This is the ability to proactively take action for others and not only for yourself. It’s about systematically organizing and sharing best practices with team members, sharing work techniques that increase productivity, and taking the initiative to lend a helping hand to colleagues in trouble—all without being told. People tend to remember these acts. If people remember, they ask for your help more, which leads to more work, and eventually larger assignments. I believe that people who already have these characteristics will be able to play an active role at PayPay.
PayPay’s goal for the future is to evolve into a marketing platform built on a foundation of our payment business, with merchant subscription and financial businesses as new pillars. Whatever the challenge at hand is, rather than those who look for reasons for inaction, I would like to forge PayPay’s future with people who have the mindset to find ways to solve issues and give shape to our vision.
Current Job Openings
*Job openings and employee affiliations are current as of the time of the interview.