Challenge

Yohana is a service that helps customers with home maintenance, appointments, activity planning, gifting, and more. Customers can ask questions via chat ranging from “What is a good gift for my parents?” to “How can we travel with our pet?” They can even get help with repairs, such as a broken entryway door. Yohana offers comprehensive support, including booking services and reservations, making purchases on the family’s behalf, and calling in experts.

Yoky Matsuoka, the founder of Yohana, came up with the concept for Yohana while simultaneously raising four children and helping run a company. Yohana, which has received rave reviews in the US, makes it possible for families – even those with very busy lifestyles – to maximise their precious time together.

After the company began operating in Japan in September 2022, Yohana could only accept payments via bank transfer, which was cumbersome and time-consuming for customers. The company needed to create a payments system that could support displaying estimates and invoices, accepting credit card payments, issuing receipts, and more.

Solution

Through its expansion in Japan, Yohana now provides professional services to families using the wealth of experience and extensive network of the Panasonic Group. As a result, in addition to providing traditional Yohana membership subscriptions that have been the only payment option to-date, Yohana was able to quickly offer an individual payment option for professional services, including housework, shopping, and repair services, in Japan.

“From the beginning, Yohana decided to use Stripe to maintain a high degree of confidence as a payment service with highly respected global support. While expanding services in Japan, Yohana has been able to quickly integrate a new payment system by leveraging Stripe’s ability to handle a wide variety of payment options and by integrating the many APIs available,” said Shoma Yamamoto, the Japan pro team lead for Yohana Co., Ltd.

Today, if the transaction is processed by Yohana using Stripe, customers can use their credit cards for payment. Yohana also provides customers with a smooth and seamless experience for estimates and invoices.

Results

Stripe’s payment service has improved the customer experience during Yohana’s expansion into Japan. For example, if a Yohana member uses Stripe to pay for repairs to their parents’ home, payments can be requested from the member or from the member’s parents by simply sharing an invoicing URL. Stripe’s easy-to-understand UI makes it easy to make payments using a credit card.

“Going forward, we plan to implement a simple payment system using Stripe’s functionality for customers and collaborate with various Panasonic products and services, so the group as a whole can understand customers’ hidden needs and provide solutions,” said Yamamoto.

Yohana, which has now expanded services to all 50 US states, is also expanding across Japan. The suite of services provided by Stripe are easily scalable and will support the company’s continued expansion.