OREANDA-NEWS. February 29, 2012. Soukai Drug Co., Ltd. ("Soukai Drug"), a Sumitomo Corporation subsidiary and online retailer of household and health-related goods, took home the grand prize from the 2011 Rakuten Ichiba Shop of the Year Awards for the third consecutive year. Chosen from among 38,000 online retailers on Rakuten Ichiba, Japan's largest online shopping mall, the grand prize recipient was determined through a combination of several factors including user voting and overall sales. In addition to the grand prize, Soukai Drug also received again this year the annual Best in Category Award for the pharmaceuticals, contact lenses, and nursing products category.

At the award ceremony on February 2, 2012, Makoto Kato, General Manager of Web Operations at Soukai Drug, expressed his appreciation while also looking forward: "I am truly delighted with this honor. I believe the comprehensive efforts made over the past year to improve product selection, pricing, delivery, and customer satisfaction were duly recognized with this award. In the coming year as well, we at Soukai Drug will continue to work hard to improve the overall quality and performance of our service."

Strengthening its reputation among customers as the place for everyday items at low prices, Soukai Drug undertook several efforts to improve the convenience of its service. With over 80,000 items available as of February 2012, product selection has been considerably expanded. Furthermore, in spring 2011, the minimum purchase requirement to qualify for free shipping was lowered, and support for website access via smartphones was started.

More recently, Soukai Drug has started using social networking services, such as Twitter and Facebook, not just as promotional channels but also as tools to communicate closely with customers. This is part of new company efforts to bring the quality of their service to an even higher standard.