87.4% of Japanese SMEs "Fail with the Web." When Neighbors Notice Their Loneliness, Society Begins to Change.

Discovering and improving the failed websites of acquaintances' SMEs—if "everyone" acts, 87.4% will change.

Reality in Japan Participation Conditions Compensation for Action Scale of Transformation SME Web Failure Rate 87.4% Completely Free Registration/Participation 0 yen Up to 600,000 yen 4 Reward Patterns Melting the loneliness of 2.94 million companies

01 Release Overview

Guardian Inc. (Representative Director: Yuichi Aoyama, Location: Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo) is officially releasing a new system, "SCSC Partner—"Everyone" Participatory Paladin Circle—" to solve the structural problems faced by SME websites with the power of "everyone."

The essence of this system is not a "side job program." It is an "everyone" participatory web support system where "everyone" without specialized knowledge participates as "bridges of awareness" to address the social issue that 87.4% of SMEs in Japan are failing with the web.

No qualifications are required. After free registration, you can start activities with just one LINE message.

Why now?

The 2026 edition of the White Paper on Small and Medium Enterprises reported that the labor distribution rate of SMEs is already close to 80%. Management capacity is almost at its limit. In such a situation, the continued dysfunction of the web, which is a crucial customer acquisition base for SMEs, is no longer an individual company's management problem but a structural loss for the entire Japanese economy.

Experts alone cannot reach 2.94 million companies. Administration alone cannot keep up with the speed. What is needed is the participation of "everyone" armed with trust. In 2026, Guardian will officially launch SCSC Partner based on this conviction.

02 Background — The Social Issue of "87.4% Failure"

This figure is not a theoretical estimate. It is a reality revealed from 15 years of diagnostic data.

Since its establishment in 2011, Guardian Inc. has produced and operated over 74,000 SME homepages. As a result of diagnosing 216,500 sites accumulated during this process based on 7 criteria: customer attraction, customer service, credibility, goal conversion, security defense, production quality, and improvement system, only 12.6% of sites met all criteria. In other words, the reality is that 87.4% are "not in a state where they should function."

These 7 criteria are, so to speak, the "minimum conditions for a homepage to truly function." If even one is NG, it means "a state where success is impossible"—no matter how good a company's service is, it's like pouring water into a leaky bucket.

Furthermore, what is more serious is the "multiplication of failures." Among the 87.4% of failed sites, approximately 83% failed in two or more criteria simultaneously. On average, 3.8 out of 7 criteria were NG. The reality is not "slightly insufficient" but "fundamentally not functioning."

Applying 87.4% to Japan as a whole

Fact Number Meaning Number of SMEs in Japan Approx. 3.36 million companies 99.7% of all Japanese companies Companies failing with the web Approx. 2.94 million companies Skilled craftsmen, patient-caring doctors, and long-established businesses spanning three generations are treated as if they "do not exist." Managers expecting new customer acquisition from their HP 67.5% However, only 6.8% know "how to achieve it." A disconnect of over 60 points between expectation and ability.

* The failure rate of 87.4%, multiple failure rate of 83%, and average number of NG criteria of 3.8 are based on Guardian Inc.'s own survey (cumulative from 2011 to 2026, approximately 216,500 site diagnostic data). The HP expectation value of 67.5% and the recognition rate of how to achieve it of 6.8% are based on Guardian Inc.'s "SME Homepage Awareness Survey" conducted in 2024. The number of SMEs, employment ratio, and labor distribution rate refer to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's "2026 Edition White Paper on Small and Medium Enterprises," etc.

This is not due to managers' negligence. There are 5 layers of structural responsibility.

● [First Layer] The 4 "admission fees" imposed by the web industry—the wall of jargon, high initial costs, long-term contracts, and invisibility of results.

● [Second Layer] Society's indifference due to the "self-responsibility" argument—the structurally unfair situation where nearly 90% fail has been concealed.

● [Third Layer] Dysfunctional support systems—Chambers of Commerce, SME Agency, credit unions, tax accountants, etc., often cannot adequately address specific problems such as "trouble with homepages."

● [Fourth Layer] "Resignation" instilled in managers—learned helplessness caused by repeated failures.

● [Fifth Layer] Deepest layer of lack of education—no one taught the "meaning" of a homepage, only "how to make" it.

The chain of "failure" does not stop at one company.

HP dysfunction → Stagnation of new customer acquisition → Decreased sales → Wage freeze → Hiring freeze → Employee exhaustion/turnover → Further sales decrease. 2026 Edition White Paper on Small and Medium Enterprises.