Welcome back to PayPay Professionals, featuring incredible experts that drive the PayPay group.
This time, we sat down with Ryoko Shimojima, Leader, Synergy Planning 1, Synergy Promotion Department, Marketing Strategy Division, Business Operations Group. The Synergy Planning team was newly established in January 2024 within the Synergy Promotion Department. We talked about the team missions, her current priorities as a marketer, and future challenges.
Ryoko Shimojima
Leader, Synergy Planning 1, Synergy Promotion Department, Marketing Strategy Division, Business Operations Group
She joined SoftBank Corp. as a new graduate and was involved in headquarters operations such as rolling out sales promotion initiatives and negotiations to procure devices at consumer electronics retailers. After being transferred to PayPay through an internal job posting system in 2018, she worked as a member of the Promotion Department’s Sales Promotion team, producing in-store promotional materials and promotional materials for merchant sales. She returned to work in May 2023 after taking childcare leave and has assumed the current position since January 2024.
Switching from Sales to Marketing
Tell us about your background and why you joined PayPay
After graduating from college, I started my career as a sales representative for an electronics retailer. As I worked with agencies to devise and implement user-targeted strategies running PDCA cycles, I began to think that I wanted to make a greater impact on a wide range of users through marketing.
That’s when I stumbled upon an internal job posting for PayPay. The PayPay app had not yet been released and QR code payments were far from the mainstream, but I was strongly attracted by PayPay’s vision to change society through cashless payments. Plus, being part of a major new project funded by SoftBank and Yahoo! Japan (currently LY Corporation) from the ground up seemed like a fantastic growth opportunity, so I jumped at it.
*“QR Code” is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED.
Initially, I was involved in organizing events to encourage users to download the PayPay app and joined caravan campaigns at convenience store fronts. Also, I stood in front of the PayPay Dome(currently MIZUHO PayPay Dome FUKUOKA) before the baseball game started, engaging with people one by one to introduce PayPay and provide tutorials on how to use it. Through conversations with customers at those events, I was able to gather a wealth of firsthand feedback on their pain points in using the PayPay app. For marketers, maintaining a user-centric perspective is indispensable because understanding how customers feel is crucial. Even today, when I need to reconnect with why I wanted to be a marketer, I still remember the experiences from that time.
How do you manage work, kids, and household tasks post-childcare leave?
Since PayPay’s launch, I was always all about diving deep into my work without worrying about time, but my mindset changed after the childcare leave. Now, I focus on maximizing my performance within the limited time I have. I make it clear what needs to be done to achieve goals, prioritize my tasks and focus on important ones. As a result, I got better at managing my time than before. Many of my team members also have children, so we help each other out.
Creating PayPay’s Ecosystem Centered around PayPay Points
Can you tell us about your team’s mission?
In January 2024, the Synergy Planning team was newly established within the Synergy Promotion Department that was set up with the mission of creating PayPay’s ecosystem focused around PayPay Points.
As of August 2024, PayPay has more than 65 million registered users. But there are about 90 million smartphone users in Japan, leaving a potential market of 25 million people. My team’s mission is to leverage group synergies to reach out to these untapped users and contribute to the business.
To achieve this mission, we collaborate with other group companies such as SoftBank and LY Corporation to expand our user base. It is challenging to reach out to non-PayPay users on our own. So, we team up with our group companies to connect with those who haven’t tried our app yet. By working together, we can effectively communicate the convenience and benefits of using PayPay through a variety of strategies.
We are always conscious about expanding PayPay’s own business, but we are also focused on how we can contribute to our group companies as well. By having PayPay users also use services of our group companies, we can contribute to the business goals of the group companies. We aim to build a win-win relationship through implementing the initiatives that are mutually beneficial for PayPay and the group companies, and to provide users with the enhanced benefits of tapping into PayPay’s ecosystem.
Could you share any challenges you faced recently?
One memorable project was integrating PayPay Points with the My SoftBank app, which is an app for SoftBank users. We teamed up with SoftBank to launch an initiative to visualize how much SoftBank users could save each month by using PayPay with an aim to reduce SoftBank’s churn rate and encourage users to upgrade to the Pay-toku plan.
The PayPay app has a Point Portal page, which shows the number of points earned each month. We started an API integration in July 2024 to ensure that this content is accurately displayed on MySoftBank and tailored specifically for SoftBank users.
It was a project that required development for both companies where corporate cultures and work processes are different, so we needed meticulous coordination with internal and external stakeholders.
To be honest, before joining the Synergy Planning team, I was mostly focused on PayPay’s products. Working together with members of group companies was an eye-opening experience for me because I came to understand the importance of having a broader perspective to establish PayPay’s ecosystem. Collaborating on a project with another company was far from a walk in the park, but we firmly believed in the substantial benefits it would bring to both companies. By creatively refining our communication strategies and diligently negotiating step by step, we managed to steer the project towards a successful outcome.
What are you currently working on, and what do you want to enhance moving forward?
Payments made by SoftBank users account for a certain amount of PayPay’s total Gross Merchandise Value (GMV). Our team has established a system to collaborate with SoftBank and we are currently strengthening our approach to various target segments. For example, we promote the Pay-toku plan to users who are already signed up for PayPay and SoftBank. We are also working to re-engage the users who downloaded the PayPay app at SoftBank stores but have not used it yet and to implement measures targeted at younger demographics through SoftBank’s student discount campaigns.
We are also looking into strengthening our partnership with PayPay Card. We will seek better ways to collaborate in the smoothest and most effective way so that PayPay, PayPay Card, and SoftBank will be more aligned on their business goals. There are still many things to do, but I will continue to rise up to each of those challenges.
We Believe in Our Product and Grow as a Team
What do you keep in mind when communicating within your team?
Whenever there are problems, we value sharing them within the team to find a solution together, rather than worrying about them alone. We regularly schedule time for information sharing and brainstorming and create an environment where we can get feedback from other members to adjust the direction of our work. Our team members come from diverse backgrounds, which brings in a variety of perspectives. Even if it’s a project handled by someone else on the team, we don’t just treat it as someone else’s problem. We treat all projects as team projects and support each other.
We usually work remotely, but we meet offline once a month. After all, we come closer when we meet people face to face. Team buildings are always something we all look forward to.
What do you value most in your work?
Among PayPay 5 senses I especially value “Believes in our PRODUCT & TEAM.”
From my experience in sales, I have realized that it is essential to believe that your company’s products and services are the best in the market. This mindset helps in planning effective strategies and negotiating successfully to get users to use PayPay more. I have seen PayPay and its products evolve since the very beginning, and know how good our app is, and being able to pitch ideas to make it even better adds a new level of satisfaction to my daily work. I would like to share these strengths we hold at PayPay with our new team members as well.
What do you consider important for the growth of your team members?
If they are hitting a wall in a project or cannot find a solution, I try to stay in sync with my members and closely monitor the project’s status to offer solid, unbiased feedback. I do share my views, but ultimately respect the team members’ decisions. As a marketer, I don’t have an absolute solution to everything, so I want to grow alongside my team through continuous trial and error.
How do you keep learning and growing as a marketer?
I especially try to stay updated with press releases and financial reports from group companies and competitors. Analyzing these announcements helps me understand their strategies and type of audience they are aiming to connect with. I also pick up a lot from books on how competitors handle challenges, which gives me valuable insights for solving my own issues.
At PayPay, even senior marketers continue to be hands-on on day-to-day operations. Seeing the materials they create, observing their work, and joining meetings together with them helps me improve. I also get recommendations on books to read and tips on how to enhance my knowledge and skills more during one-on-one sessions with them.
Being a Marketer to Promote Paypay’s Ecosystem and Contribute to Business
What would you like to achieve or try in the future?
By promoting the PayPay ecosystem, I want to create a world where it is natural for users to choose group companies’ services for all aspects of their lives, including communication to shopping and finance.
I think many of us use Softbank and Yahoo! JAPAN Shopping services on a daily basis without any specific reason. I want to establish PayPay’s ecosystem by using PayPay Points as a common axis across group companies. By emphasizing the benefits and convenience of PayPay Points, I believe we can create a strong customer base that rivals our competitors.
What mindset is needed to play an active part at PayPay?
Having a positive mindset is crucial. You need to continue to take on the challenges in front of you. Even if you may fail at times, you should never get discouraged, but instead think of ways to improve, look ahead, and keep trying again. Having such a mindset and drive is important.
There are many initiatives taken care of by the Synergy Promotion Department that can be achieved only through collaboration with group companies and not by PayPay alone. And I believe the scope of our work will continue to expand in the future. If you enjoy creating something new, I am sure you will like it here. We would love to work with someone who believe in themselves and keep pushing their limits. So, if that’s who you are, we’re here waiting for you to join the team!
Current job openings
Business level Japanese is required for all the following positions below.
*Job openings and employee affiliations are current as of the time of the interview.