Case Study: Books Kinokuniya achieves better team alignment and transparent communication with Backlog

Getting teams on the same page with Backlog

Books Kinokuniya, the largest bookstore chain in Japan with stores and webstores across multiple regions, needed a better way to coordinate its geographically dispersed teams. Before using Backlog, the teams relied on separate email threads with Japan HQ, which made it difficult to track issues, avoid duplicated work, and share information efficiently across regions.

With Backlog, Books Kinokuniya centralized issue tracking, categorization, status updates, file sharing, and wiki documentation in one platform. The vendor Backlog helped the team keep everyone on the same page, reduce email clutter, and improve knowledge sharing and transparency; after more than a year of use, the Singapore team reported more aligned teamwork and faster problem-solving, though no specific quantitative impact was provided.

Books Kinokuniya

Ng Sim Yen

Assistant Division Manager