Miles Launches In Japan; Accelerates Momentum for Platform With New Brand Partners
Today, Miles is excited to announce the international expansion of our platform with the launch of Miles in Japan. The launch further builds on the rapid growth of the Miles marketplace, which now offers users 500 personalized rewards from 350 leading brands. In Japan, leading national brands including Family Mart, Garmin, Hulu, JAL Group (Japan Airlines), Red Bull, Under Armour, among others join the platform’s growing list of brand partners.
Our vision at Miles has always been to deliver value for every mile traveled, across every mode of transportation, anywhere in the world. The launch of our platform in Japan brings us one step closer to executing on our full vision.
As Miles Japan CEO Masami Takahashi shared at our launch event in Japan today, “research has shown that people’s sense of joy and happiness increases when they travel. At Miles, we believe that mobility should be rewarded as a universal behavior, while making a positive impact on the environment with incentives for eco-friendly travel.”
Building on the success of our platform in the U.S., Miles users in Japan will be able to earn miles for all their travel, redeemable for rewards from brand partners including Anker Group, FamilyMart, FLOWIN, Garmin, Green Snap, Hulu, JAL Group (Japan Airlines), Mr. Minute, Red Bull, Sanrio, Udemy, Under Armour, among others. Miles users will also be able to participate in monthly activity challenges to unlock gift cards and other rewards, as well as contribute to charity.
The story behind the launch of Miles Japan
Over the past year, Miles has introduced a number of new ways for users to earn miles. We have also more than doubled the rewards available on our platform in the U.S. These changes resulted in a 15x increase in miles redeemed by users year-over-year, more than tripling revenue with partners.
With our platform rapidly growing in the U.S., it was time to expand internationally. In early 2021, we established our offices in Japan and named Masami Takahashi as Miles Japan CEO to lead our entry into the Japan market. As the former President of Uber’s business in Japan, Masami is the ideal leader for the job with a deep knowledge of Japan’s growing loyalty service market. Having formally led the successful launch of Uber Eats in Tokyo, Masami has also been instrumental in securing brand partners for Miles — with more than 100 different rewards available to users in Japan starting today.
There are a number of reasons why we choose Japan as our first country to launch Miles outside the U.S. One, Japan has among the fastest-growing loyalty markets in the world. According to the research firm Yano Research Institute (Nakano, Tokyo), the market size of loyalty point services in Japan is expected to increase to 2.087 trillion yen in the next fiscal year and is about 20% larger than five years ago.
Secondly, Miles has a number of Japanese investors (or with strong roots in Japan) including Translink Capital and Japan Airlines (JAL Innovation Fund), Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance (MS&AD), Sony Innovation Fund, Panasonic, and Scrum Ventures, which naturally led to the development of our business in the country.
Last, but not least, we have conducted a number of pilots with Japanese transportation companies in the past year including Japan Railways East, JAL Group (Japan Airlines), and Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance, the latter of which are also investors in Miles. These early pilots set the stage for a successful launch by understanding the travel and usage patterns of consumers in Japan and preferred rewards.
We’re thrilled to launch Miles in Japan as we continue to build on our vision to deliver value for every mile traveled. The on-demand, mobile economy has forever changed the way people travel and interact with brands. With Miles, we’ve created a new currency and marketplace where brands compete to present users with relevant, local rewards in the moment.
Miles is available to download for free on iOS and Android devices. To learn more about Miles, visit http://www.getmiles.com. Additional information about Miles Japan can be found at https://www.getmiles.com/jp.
