Japan Post Co., Ltd. (headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter "Japan Post") and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. (headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter "Isetan Mitsukoshi HDS") announced that they signed a memorandum of understanding on January 25th to prepare for the establishment of a joint venture company that will jointly engage in product procurement, catalog production, and other activities.
Japan Post's subsidiary, Japan Post Marketing Services Co., Ltd. (headquarters: Koto-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter "TS"), and Isetan Mitsukoshi Mail Order Co., Ltd. (headquarters: Koto-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter "IMDS"), a subsidiary of Isetan Mitsukoshi HDS, have separated and integrated their product procurement and catalog production divisions to establish a new company. The new company is scheduled to begin operations on October 1, 2013.
The purpose of establishing this joint venture is to improve customer satisfaction and increase profitability by combining Japan Post's nationwide sales power of approximately 24,000 post offices and their approximately 400,000 employees with IMDS's product procurement capabilities and brand power.

Currently, the post office's retail business is centered on food, but new demand will be created by expanding into product areas such as clothing, miscellaneous goods, and living supplies. In addition, by continuing to maintain and improve the existing catalog sales and TV shopping businesses of both companies, the aim is to become one of the leading comprehensive catalog mail order companies in the future. Furthermore, this integration will increase the efficiency of fulfillment from product orders to packaging and shipping, thereby improving profitability.

TS's sales revenue was 63.5 billion yen, and IMDS's sales revenue was 28.2 billion yen (both for the fiscal year ending March 2012).