#Japan #Tokyo #Good Design #Co.HUB #MIC Corporation

MIC Corporation's Co.HUB Receives 2025 Good Design Best 100 Award

MIC Corporation, located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, has made headlines by winning the prestigious Good Design Best 100 award for their joint delivery platform, Co.HUB, for the year 2025. This award is administered by the Japan Design Promotion Association and aims to recognize exceptional design and functionality in products and services.

What is Co.HUB?

Co.HUB is a collaborative delivery service targeted at retailers and manufacturers, revolutionizing how promotional materials—like point-of-sale displays—are distributed. Traditionally, such materials were sent separately by individual manufacturers, leading to inefficiencies and excessive cardboard waste. Co.HUB strategically aggregates these items at a central logistics hub, sorting and packing them based on store-specific needs. By utilizing a unique digital measuring system and algorithms, the service maximizes package efficiency and minimizes CO2 emissions while ensuring timely weekly deliveries to stores.

Judges' Commentary

The judges praised Co.HUB for effectively reducing the burden on retail environments while simultaneously streamlining logistics. They highlighted that by consolidating deliveries and enhancing packaging efficiency, the service reduces cardboard usage and carbon footprint significantly. The platform enables competitor manufacturers to collaborate, an unprecedented move in the industry, and demonstrates strong performance with more than 10,000 stores implementing the service within just two and a half years since its launch.

Addressing Industry Challenges

The Japanese retail sector faces multiple challenges, including labor shortages and increased operational burdens. The logistics landscape is complex, particularly for drugstores, which receive around 100 boxes monthly. Disturbingly, it was found that nearly half of those boxes are filled with