Oji Nepia Revamps Customer Service with Generative AI for Skincare Market Entry, Turning 2,000+ Product Items into Digital Assets
Karakuri Inc. has implemented its Generative AI-powered CXM system for Oji Nepia's customer service office. Aiming to eliminate knowledge silos as the company enters the skincare market, the solution introduces chatbots, voice-based VOC extraction, and AI quality assessments. The implementation has already reduced response preparation time from 30 minutes to just 5-10 minutes.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: May 21, 2026 at 19:00
- 🔍 Collected: May 21, 2026 at 10:31
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 28, 2026 at 15:40 (173h 8m after Collected)
Karakuri Inc. (Chuo-ku, Tokyo; CEO Shimon Oda) has provided its Generative AI-based customer management system, "KARAKURI CXM," to Oji Nepia Co., Ltd. (Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President Takayuki Moridaira). This initiative aims to design an AI-native customer support structure coinciding with Oji Nepia's entry into the skincare (soap) category. The system is designed to transform expert operator knowledge into organizational assets and automatically extract Voice of Customer (VOC) data for strategic business use.
## Background: Moving Beyond Manuals and 2,000+ Data Rows
As a long-standing manufacturer of household paper products, Oji Nepia manages complex data for over 2,000 items. Previously, the company relied heavily on the individual experience of veteran operators and handwritten manuals, making knowledge transfer difficult. With the skincare launch, the company decided to implement the KARAKURI series to better serve digital-savvy customers and leverage VOC.
## Three-Step Implementation Roadmap
### STEP 1: Digital Channel Construction (March 2025–)
The AI chatbot "GeN" was deployed on the skincare website, while "KARAKURI assist" was introduced to support operators. AI now assists in drafting responses for complex inquiries, reducing the time required from 30 minutes to 5–10 minutes and ensuring consistent quality.
### STEP 2: VOC Extraction from Voice Data (October 2025–)
The "Voice Search" feature transcribes telephone inquiries in real-time. AI summarizes and categorizes logs to reveal deeper customer insights, such as brand loyalty and distribution requests, which were previously overlooked by standard classification methods. This data is now fed back into product development and distribution strategies.
### STEP 3: AI-Driven Quality Evaluation and Training (Planned for May 2026–)
The company plans to use AI for real-time evaluation of operator performance. By generating automated feedback based on veteran benchmarks, Oji Nepia aims to establish a data-driven training cycle to ensure sustainable and high-quality customer service.
## Quote from Oji Nepia
Hiromi Fujisawa of the Customer Service Office stated: "Our goal is to improve customer experience and build a fan base. By turning expert knowledge into company assets and utilizing AI as a versatile 'new employee,' we aim to fulfill our mission of increasing the number of Nepia fans."
## Background: Moving Beyond Manuals and 2,000+ Data Rows
As a long-standing manufacturer of household paper products, Oji Nepia manages complex data for over 2,000 items. Previously, the company relied heavily on the individual experience of veteran operators and handwritten manuals, making knowledge transfer difficult. With the skincare launch, the company decided to implement the KARAKURI series to better serve digital-savvy customers and leverage VOC.
## Three-Step Implementation Roadmap
### STEP 1: Digital Channel Construction (March 2025–)
The AI chatbot "GeN" was deployed on the skincare website, while "KARAKURI assist" was introduced to support operators. AI now assists in drafting responses for complex inquiries, reducing the time required from 30 minutes to 5–10 minutes and ensuring consistent quality.
### STEP 2: VOC Extraction from Voice Data (October 2025–)
The "Voice Search" feature transcribes telephone inquiries in real-time. AI summarizes and categorizes logs to reveal deeper customer insights, such as brand loyalty and distribution requests, which were previously overlooked by standard classification methods. This data is now fed back into product development and distribution strategies.
### STEP 3: AI-Driven Quality Evaluation and Training (Planned for May 2026–)
The company plans to use AI for real-time evaluation of operator performance. By generating automated feedback based on veteran benchmarks, Oji Nepia aims to establish a data-driven training cycle to ensure sustainable and high-quality customer service.
## Quote from Oji Nepia
Hiromi Fujisawa of the Customer Service Office stated: "Our goal is to improve customer experience and build a fan base. By turning expert knowledge into company assets and utilizing AI as a versatile 'new employee,' we aim to fulfill our mission of increasing the number of Nepia fans."
FAQ
王子ネピアがKARAKURI CXMを導入した主な背景は何ですか？
スキンケアカテゴリーへの新規参入を機に、2,000行を超える膨大な商品データと熟練オペレーターに依存していた「ナレッジの属人化」を解消し、AIネイティブな顧客対応体制を構築するためです。
AI導入によって問い合わせ対応時間はどの程度短縮されましたか？
オペレーター支援ツール「KARAKURI assist」の導入により、複雑な対策報告書の理解と回答文作成にかかる時間が、従来の30分から5〜10分へと大幅に短縮されました。
VOC（顧客の声）の活用にはどのような機能が使われていますか？
「Voice Search機能」により、電話問い合わせの音声をリアルタイムでテキスト化・要約・分類し、従来の分類では見えにくかった顧客インサイト（ブランドロイヤリティや流通への要望など）を可視化しています。
今後の展開として予定されている機能は何ですか？
2026年5月より、AIによる応対品質の自動評価機能を活用する予定です。熟練者のスキルをベンチマークとして、新人・中堅オペレーターの育成サイクルをデータドリブンで回す体制を目指します。
王子ネピアのお客様相談室が目指すゴールは何ですか？
単なる対応件数の消化ではなく、顧客体験の向上と「ファン作り」をゴールとしています。お客様の声を会社に届け、ネピアファンを増やすことを使命としています。