• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile

  • CORONAVIRUS
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • REGIONS
    • Asia Pacific
    • Canada
    • China
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East/Africa
    • North America
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Ex-Truck Driver Becomes a Billionaire With Some Help From Amazon

Ex-Truck Driver Becomes a Billionaire With Some Help From Amazon

Ex-Truck Driver Becomes a Billionaire With Some Help From Amazon
Masaru Wasami. Source: Bloomberg.
October 16, 2019
Bloomberg

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, Maruwa Unyu Kikan Co. 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% 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 Rakuten Inc. 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% 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% of the country’s retail transactions last year, compared with 18% 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 e-commerce retailers. 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% to 85.6 billion yen for the fiscal year ending 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.

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Last Mile Delivery Logistics Express/Small Shipments Logistics Outsourcing LTL/Truckload Services Transportation & Distribution Education & Professional Development E-Commerce/Omni-Channel Food & Beverage Asia Pacific
KEYWORDS Asia Pacific E-Commerce/Omni-Channel Education & Professional Development Express/Small Shipments Food & Beverage last mile delivery Logistics Outsourcing LTL/Truckload Services Transportation & Distribution
  • Related Articles

    Deliveroo Pushes Into U.K. Provinces With Help From Amazon

    The U.S. Truck Driver Shortage Is On Course to Double in a Decade

Bloomberg

Baby Formula Shortage Shows Risk of U.S. Industry Concentration

More from this author

Wake up to live
“Supply Chains in Crisis”
updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • Medical drone

    Amazon May Be Proof That Delivery Drones Aren’t Practical

    Last Mile Delivery
  • digital work

    Supply Chain Managers Are Quitting in Unprecedented Numbers

    Coronavirus
  • North Jakarta, Indonesia

    Physical, Financial Visibility: A Dual Approach to Supply Chain Resilience

    Supply Chain Planning & Optimization
  • Heat Wave Triggers Blackouts

    Vast Swath of U.S. at Risk of Summer Blackouts, Regulator Warns

    Supply Chain Security & Risk Mgmt
  • Worker using tablet

    Podcast | Stitching Together the Physical and Digital Supply Chain

    Technology

Digital Edition

Scb may 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain ESG Guide

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • 3PL Doubles Productivity With Robots to Fulfill Medical Supply Orders

  • E-Commerce Company Cuts Order Fulfillment Time by 40%

  • Fashion Retailer Halves Fulfillment Time With Omichannel Automation

  • Distributor Scales Business by Integrating Warehouse Automaton Software

  • Fast-Growing Fashion Brand Scales E-Commerce Fulfillment With Whiplash

Visit Our Sponsors

Yang Ming Alithya Barcoding
Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics Generix
GEP GIB USA GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated Inmar
Keelvar Kinaxis Korber
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Lucas Systems
Nvidia Old Dominion Parsyl
Redwood Logistics Saddle Creek Logistics Schneider Dedicated
Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD Shipwell
Tecsys TGW Systems Thomson Reuters
Tive Trailer Bridge Vecna Robotics
Whiplash    
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2022 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing