INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Masaru Wasami started working part time at a vegetable store at age 12.Masaru Wasami started working part time at a vegetable store at age
12, determined to help his ailing mother in her battle with tuberculosis.Just three years later, he walked away from school and a promising
future as a long-distance runner to thrust himself into the business full time.He started in 1970 with a single truck -- a few years later,
had more than 100 of them on the road -- and built a produce-delivery behemoth that now handles logistics for drugstore chains and
supermarkets across Japan
Today he's a billionaire, thanks in no small part to Amazon.com Inc., which enlisted his firm in 2017 to manage same-day delivery service
in the country."I couldn't sleep," Wasami said in an interview, recalling the night he came up with the idea for his business.Earlier that
day, he said, he accompanied a friend who was picking up packages from a yarn factory and bristled at the incompetence of some of the
workers handling the parcels
Within just a few months, he began delivering produce with his truck.Wasami, 74, has a keen eye for "winning opportunities," said Kenji
Kanai, an analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute Co., referring to the timing of the deal with Amazon.His partnership with the world's
biggest online retailer helped turbocharge shares of Maruwa, which have more than doubled this year
Wasami owns almost 60 per cent of the company directly and through his closely held asset-management firm, giving him a net worth of $1
billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.Revenue should continue to grow in the medium- to long-term as Amazon and Tokyo-based
look to work more closely with couriers like Maruwa for same-day delivery over more established logistics firms, Kanai said.The rise of
Amazon and other e-commerce behemoths has created fabulous wealth in the past few decades
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the world's richest person, with a $107.7 billion fortune, and his ex-wife, MacKenzie Bezos, owns a 4 per
cent stake worth $34.6 billion
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Jack Ma, who stepped down as chairman last month, is China's richest person, while two co-founders of
Flipkart Group became billionaires last year, when Walmart Inc
took a controlling stake in the Indian e-commerce company.Maruwa saw an opening as Yamato Holdings Co., one of Japan's biggest parcel
carriers, withdrew from providing same-day delivery for Amazon to ease the burden on its workforce
That prompted Amazon to turn to other private couriers as it pushed to expand in the world's fourth-largest e-commerce market, which still
has plenty of room for growth.E-commerce accounted for just 6.2 per cent of the country's retail transactions last year, compared with 18
per cent for China, according to Bloomberg Intelligence
Underscoring that potential is Blackstone Group Inc.'s plan to spend more than 100 billion yen ($927 million) to acquire distribution
centers in Japan, Nikkei reported in July."We had suggested Amazon to do their same-day delivery service with us for years," Wasami said in
the interview at Maruwa's office in Tokyo
"We convinced Amazon that it could count on Maruwa to handle the job."While increased demand for delivery will be a boon for companies like
Maruwa, it also comes with higher costs and can take a toll on personnel
In 2017, Yamato raised delivery rates for the first time in almost three decades amid a labor shortage and surging shipping volumes from
It proposed another price hike last month ahead of a recent increase in Japan's consumption tax.Maruwa, which hasn't negotiated a price
increase with Amazon, rejects demand that exceeds its capacity, Wasami said
The company also promises competitive salaries for its drivers, he said
They can earn 7.2 million yen a year by delivering more than 150 packages a day, according to a regulatory filing.Maruwa's revenue climbed
15 per cent to 85.6 billion yen for the fiscal year ended March 31
While logistics for food retailers remains its biggest business, e-commerce delivery now accounts for more than a third of its revenue, up
from 24% in 2017, the company said in the filing.Despite his success and fabulous wealth, Wasami isn't close to being satisfied, saying
sales should be several times bigger considering he's spent almost a half century building his business."I haven't done my best," he
said.(This story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)Get Breaking news, live
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