OREANDA-NEWS. August 9, 2011. ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minatoku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”), FeliCa Networks, Inc. (headquartered in Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; Hirotaka Sugiyama, President & CEO; hereinafter “FeliCa Networks”), FamilyMart Co., Ltd. (Headquartered in Toshima-ku, Tokyo; Junji Ueda, President & CEO; hereinafter “FamilyMart”) and Famima.com Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Toshima-ku, Tokyo; Toru Ichikawa,, President & CEO; hereinafter “Famima.com”) announced today that they would launch a service to appeal to customers and promote sales by combining Pitpon, a coupon service using smartphones compatible with the Osaifu-Keitai service, and the Famiport Coupon, a coupon issuance service using Famiport multimedia kiosk terminals installed in 8,400 FamilyMart convenience stores nationwide.

Valued for its usability and security, the Osaifu-Keitai service is used for many services, including electronic money. The service already extends to around 70 million handsets (as of the end of March, according to FeliCa Networks), and is gaining recognition as part of Japan’s social infrastructure.

The partnership of the four companies, using smartphones that are rapidly achieving market dominance, will provide a coupon service that enables campaign organizers, including manufacturers, to manage coupon distribution and measure advertising impact, both difficult to achieve with conventional coupons that were in paper format or were downloaded and displayed on cellular phones. In addition, users will be able to avoid troublesome operations such as storing paper coupons, screen memos, or entering coupon IDs to issue coupons. They can use their coupons by simply pointing their smartphones at the Famiport terminal.

All four companies have a role to play in achieving this unprecedented coupon solution: ITOCHU works on the development and operation of the coupon system; FeliCa Networks provides the Osaifu-Keitai coupon platform, which is precise and secure to use, unlike in the past, including the link for advertising coupons from the coupon site on the desktop menu of the smartphone, Osaifu-Keitai, and the measurement of advertising impact; the FamilyMart Group provides the Famiport multimedia kiosk terminals, which enable the issue and receipt of coupons at FamilyMart convenience stores nationwide, where customers can redeem them in exchange for products.

By utilizing the unique combination of Famiport multimedia kiosk terminals and the Osaifu-Keitai service, ITOCHU, FeliCa Networks, FamilyMart, and Famima.com will continue to enhance and expand these extremely convenient services, and will support the marketing activities of the companies using the service.

As the inaugural campaign under this partnership, free coupons for ice creams (for the first 10,000 customers) will be distributed from August 2, 2011 and August 16, 2011.