Founded in Tokyo in 2004 by Hironori Yamakawa, this company was among the first in Japan to offer online shopping of used cars for international export. With its cross-border ecommerce site developed exclusively for the firm, the company entered into the global ecommerce business market, selling and exporting used cars.
Their selection is versatile: from Japanese-made vehicles to American / European imports that have been used in Japan, from 4-door sedans to buses, trucks, tractors and motorbikes. Sale of auto-parts to expand their range of products and services was added in April, 2015.
BE FORWARD’s cross-border ecommerce site marks 56 million page views per month (as of May, 2015), an overwhelming number for a used car exporter in Japan, which places the company within the top 15 of Most Frequently Searched companies after Google and Yahoo (often exceeding Wikipedia’s ranking) in the dominant African markets including Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
Additionally, the company is aiming for diversified-practices by offering the “Consultancy for Japanese Entities to Venture into African Markets” program and sponsoring the professional football team (“BE FORWARD WANDERERS”) in the Republic of Malawi.