Background
Nextorage Inc. was born with Sony's DNA. The company has complete confidence in its technology, but in e-commerce, especially Amazon operations, it had hit the limits of a self-taught approach. How did Nextorage achieve the overwhelming result of No. 1 share in the memory-card market during Black Friday? We spoke with Mr. Moroishi, who leads the Business Development Department, about the path to that outcome.
Wellridge Murohashi (Murohashi)
To begin, could you tell us about Nextorage's mission, your role, and the scope of responsibilities you currently oversee?
Mr. Moroishi, Nextorage (Moroishi)
Nextorage Inc. was established in 2019 as a company carved out from Sony's memory business. Since 2022, it has operated fully independently as a Japanese company backed by Taiwanese capital.
We mainly handle memory-focused products: imaging products centered on memory cards, gaming products centered on replaceable SSDs, and BtoB memory products. From October 2025, we also started selling ATOMOS monitor-recorders as the exclusive distributor in Japan.
My role is to oversee the Business Development Department, covering sales, marketing, and sales-production procurement.
Murohashi
Thank you. Your main products are memory cards such as CFexpress and SD cards, as well as SSDs. In autumn 2025, you also began selling the Australian brand ATOMOS. Which countries are you focusing on as target markets, based from Japan?
Moroishi
Japan is currently our largest target market. The next major markets we are focusing on are the United States and Europe, specifically Germany, the U.K., and France.
Murohashi
The project began in summer 2024 when you asked us to hold an internal seminar on Amazon operations. At the time, was the key KPI to increase overseas sales?
Moroishi
We had been selling products on Amazon under the name Nextorage Direct, but our employees had essentially built it themselves by reading Amazon strategy books and studying on Udemy.
We were missing answers to questions like, is this really the right way to do it, and what should we do to grow sales further? One of our employees said, Anker is amazing, and after researching online we found Wellridge and Mr. Murohashi, who had worked on Anker's own e-commerce launch and Amazon operations. That is how we reached out.
Murohashi
Thank you. I remember being surprised because just when relatives who worked at Sony were showing me around the Shinagawa office, we received an inquiry from your company, also originally from Sony. At the time, was the issue that products were selling, but you wanted to know how the operations looked from a professional perspective?
Moroishi
Speaking for myself, it was really an amateur operation. Normally many of those parts might be outsourced, but we had been doing it our own way. When we started wondering how our Amazon operations looked through professional eyes, we found your company and contacted you. That was the biggest reason.
Murohashi
That was the background. At the time, what were you most worried about, or what risks did you feel you were facing?
Moroishi
We felt risk in the fact that we were too dependent on sales in Japan. We needed to grow overseas but had not been able to do so sufficiently. The United States, the U.K., Germany, and France all needed to grow like Japan for us to reach the next stage.
Murohashi
You mentioned that researching Anker was the trigger. Did you have other options at the time?
Moroishi
Your company was the first. When we heard your internal seminar, the biggest thing was that you explained everything based on real examples. That gave us conviction, and our employees felt that we wanted to work together.
Murohashi
How did your expectations differ between the first internal study session and the later Amazon consulting and operations work?
Moroishi
From the study session stage, you explained using actual Nextorage pages, saying that improving this part would raise conversions or increase traffic. That made sense from the beginning. It was eye-opening. I think our employees also felt that although we had been doing things our own way, we could now do work with stronger backing.
Murohashi
Once the collaboration started, it expanded from Amazon consulting in Japan to operations in three European countries and then the United States. Was there any communication that left a strong impression?
Moroishi
There were many, but the biggest was ATOMOS, the Australian brand we started handling in October 2025. It was suddenly decided at the end of July that we would become the exclusive Japan distributor. We then decided to exhibit ATOMOS products at Inter BEE 2025, a major trade show in mid-November 2025. In only two and a half to just under three months, we had to launch both the Amazon ATOMOS Direct page and the official website all at once. At that point, we immediately decided that we had no choice but to ask Wellridge.
I think there were around 44 products, so it was really a matter of saying, please handle this.
What impressed me most was Mr. Watanabe from Wellridge saying, my arms are ready, I'll prepare my shoulders, with full motivation.
We were feeling down for a while because there was so little time, so his highly motivated comment really encouraged us. There are many other examples, but that was the most striking recent one.
Murohashi
Thank you. Personally, I was also struck by how our Sasaki recreated 1,200 product images and product-introduction videos for overseas markets, replaced them before the Black Friday sale period, and helped achieve bestseller status on Amazon Germany. How was the Nextorage brand side?
Moroishi
Our challenge was definitely speed. Wellridge worked with us from issue identification through improvements such as enriching Amazon carousel images and A+ content, while checking against sales and repeating trial and error. The speed was remarkable. Actions that might have fallen behind if we managed them ourselves moved forward reliably, and behind the scenes Sasaki and the rest of your team produced a tremendous amount of content. That left a strong impression.
As a result, fiscal 2025 brought good results in both Japan and the United States. In Japan, we achieved No. 1 share in the high-end memory-card segment, and we are truly grateful.
We were No. 1 in share for high-end products such as CFexpress Type B and Type A used by Sony, and even in SD cards, a category with many competing brands, we achieved No. 1 share during Amazon Black Friday at the end of 2025. I think the results of our collaboration with your company showed in both areas.
Murohashi
We are very glad it led to results. In other words, you identified issues quickly, built actions, and connected them to actual sales and No. 1 share.
Moroishi
This is more of a feeling, but when we wondered whether it was okay to ask for something and you said, we can do it, that really raised our motivation. The feeling that you would actually take it on was big. Our employees are working hard too, but the fact that Wellridge pushed forward on a different level was very significant.
It was also important that you handled not only the Amazon launch but also the ongoing Amazon operations afterward. Our employees were able to focus more on core strategy, such as product strategy, pricing strategy, and procurement. That was a huge benefit.
If we had handled both sides ourselves, operations would have consumed us and we might not have been able to focus on what came next. We were able to divide roles and manage well. For example, around October we were able to decide to procure roughly twice the forecasted amount for Amazon Black Friday at the end of the year. Because we could do that, we secured supply for the fiscal year.
Murohashi
So by entrusting Amazon operations to us, your team could allocate resources to more essential strategy.
Moroishi
Exactly. Internal resources are limited.
Murohashi
Did Wellridge's support for Amazon operations change internal decision-making or speed?
Moroishi
It definitely increased speed. While each member was busy with many tasks, your team managed schedules and processes properly. Because it was clear which image was needed by when, we could focus on what we had to do. When you told us this is necessary, it helped the project move forward.
Murohashi
I hope we were not pushing too hard.
Moroishi
Not at all. Without that, schedules would drag on. It felt like you were sparring with us on improvement activities every week, which was very significant.
Because this was not outsourcing but collaboration, Wellridge generously shared its knowledge, and our employees' awareness and experience have definitely improved.
Murohashi
Thank you. What exceeded your expectations the most?
Moroishi
The biggest was the rapid ATOMOS launch, but the same impact came from overseas Amazon operations, especially in Europe. We had struggled because no matter what we did, sessions and sales would not rise. By receiving many ideas, trying them, and changing them when they did not work, we were able to run trial and error. Sales in 2025 clearly increased compared with 2024, so that initiative left a strong impression.
Murohashi
Thank you. It was also significant that not only I but Sasaki said, we have to do this, and created product-introduction videos in English and Japanese for all main product series before Black Friday, contributing to sales growth.
Moroishi
If it had only been us, the initial response might have been delayed. You prioritized issues that might otherwise have stopped at, we should do this, and moved them forward. I think Wellridge's strengths are speed and the number of trial-and-error cycles. For us, being able to grow sales through collaboration without increasing internal resources was extremely valuable.
Murohashi
Thank you. Finally, please summarize the results of this collaboration and your outlook for 2026 onward.
Moroishi
The biggest result was achieving our target of doubling imaging product sales year over year in 2025. Thanks to that, we also received the President's Award internally.
You also helped us launch ATOMOS in the short period of two months, which was truly helpful. We are grateful.
Because we have established a foundation on Amazon Japan, we are now expanding offline sales channels. Next, we want to aim for No. 1 in the United States, the world's largest market, in the same way we did in Japan. The structure is similar in some ways, so if we reproduce in the U.S. what we achieved in Japan, I believe No. 1 share is possible.
Murohashi
The U.S. market will be exciting.
Moroishi
Yes. Nextorage independently develops the firmware inside CFexpress products. That leads to strengths such as the world's fastest cards, fewer heat issues, and broad compatibility. Until now, our strength was that customers could buy products with this high level of proprietary functionality at accessible prices.
However, the situation changed in 2026. We do not know how long NAND flash memory price increases driven by the AI boom will continue, but it will be important to communicate as a brand not only in Japan but also in the U.S. and Europe why Nextorage is good, beyond price alone.
We want to move Nextorage one step beyond being a brand with good products at good prices, and become a brand chosen specifically because customers understand the strengths of our proprietary development.
Murohashi
Understood. We look forward to working with you again in 2026.
Thank you very much for sharing your valuable story.