MonotaRO Co., Ltd., is a Japanese

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

company of industrial supply products based in Hyogo, Japan. The company was named to Forbes Asia "Best Under A Billion" list in 2013.

Overview

MonotaRO sells

Maintenance, repair, and operations The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure, and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential install ...

products through internet and catalogs, targeting small and mid-sized manufacturing companies. MonotaRO sells various product categories such as

personal protective equipment Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, elec ...

hand tools A hand tool is any tool that is powered by hand rather than a motor. Categories of hand tools include wrenches, pliers, cutters, files, striking tools, struck or hammered tools, screwdrivers, vises, clamps, snips, hacksaws, drills, and kni ...

fasteners A fastener (US English) or fastening (UK English) is a hardware device that mechanically joins or affixes two or more objects together. In general, fasteners are used to create non-permanent joints; that is, joints that can be removed or disman ...

, and lab supplies. It has more than 1 million customers in Japan. The company name MonotaRO is an acronym for Maintenance, Repair & Operations. It also means to have sufficient number of products in Japanese. It is also a play on the name of the Japanese hero Momotaro.

Global expansion

In 2013, MonotaRO began web-based sales in Singapore. In 2014 web-based sales expanded to Malaysia, Thailand, and Australia. Now they ship to following countries. (countries names are arranged alphabetically)

History

* 2000 -

Sumitomo The is one of the largest Japanese ''keiretsu'', or business groups, founded by Masatomo Sumitomo (1585-1652) around 1615 during the early Edo period. History The Sumitomo Group traces its roots to a bookshop in Kyoto founded circa 1615 by Masa ...

and W. W. Grainger, Inc. founded a company as

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

in Japan * 2001 - Website launch, which began and nationwide sales * 2004 - Start selling

private label A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...

(MonotaRO, Otokomae-MonotaRO, and Osaka-Spirit) * 2006 - Launch IHC MonotaRO, targeting private use customers * 2006 - Listed on the

Tokyo Stock Exchange The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. It is the third largest stock exchange in the world by aggregate market capitalization of its listed companies, and the largest in Asia. It had 2,292 listed co ...

* 2009 - W. W. Grainger, Inc. acquired a majority ownership of the company * 2013 - Started service in Singapore * 2014 - Started service in Malaysia, Thailand, and Australia

References

External links

MonotaRO

IHC.MonotaRO

MonotaRO Indonesia

MonotaRO Singapore

MonotaRO Malaysia
{{DEFAULTSORT:MonotaRO Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Industrial supply companies Retail companies established in 2000 Internet properties established in 2000 Online retailers of Japan W. W. Grainger