Nitori Holdings has migrated its core system supporting store sales and delivery operations to a cloud infrastructure, boosting key processing performance by up to approximately four times. This shift resolves challenges such as heightened system loads during the peak spring demand season and lengthy demand-forecasting batch processes, while securing processing capacity to drive business growth.

Key Points of the Cloud Migration and 4x Performance Boost

On September 15, 2026, Oracle Corporation Japan announced that Nitori Holdings Co., Ltd. has successfully migrated its core system infrastructure supporting store sales and delivery operations to the cloud, initiating full production operations. In the new environment following the migration, primary processing performance has improved up to roughly fourfold compared to the legacy system, dramatically enhancing overall system capabilities.

A particularly notable milestone is the substantial reduction in processing time for in-house demand forecasting calculations. Previously, this process took nearly 6 hours from initiation to calculation completion, giving rise to severe operational bottlenecks where batch processing failed to complete before morning business hours. Following the cloud migration, this processing time has been drastically cut to 1.5 hours (90 minutes), enabling a significant advancement in the readiness time for next-day store and delivery operations.

The conceptual diagram illustrating this dramatic leap in processing performance is shown below:

This system renewal has also substantially reduced database wait events. As a result, a robust operational framework has been established to maintain stable system performance even during peak periods marked by sudden surges in data volume.

• Announcement Date: September 15, 2026
• Target System: Core system supporting store sales and delivery operations
• Performance Improvement: Up to approximately 4x vs. legacy environment
• Demand Forecasting Batch Time: Reduced from nearly 6 hours to 1.5 hours
• Operational Status: Continuous stable operation maintained during the peak spring 2026 demand period

On-Premises Challenges and Background of the Migration

The Nitori Group is rapidly expanding its store footprint and business domains both domestically and internationally to fulfill its mission: “To provide the foundation of prosperous living to people all over the world.” The Group has set a long-term goal of opening 3,000 stores and achieving 3 trillion yen in net sales by 2032. Ensuring the scalability and stable operation of its IT infrastructure to support this ambitious roadmap had become a top-priority management issue.

Previously, Nitori Holdings’ core system ran applications on an on-premises server virtualization platform, paired with an on-premises Oracle AI Database. However, the approaching end-of-life for existing hardware maintenance, combined with processing capacity shortfalls amidst year-over-year growth in data volume, brought underlying infrastructure limitations to light.

In particular, during the peak spring moving and new-life demand season from March to April each year, the system experienced extreme operational loads, raising constant concerns over system outages and processing delays. Furthermore, prolonged demand forecasting calculations and automated ordering batch jobs threatened to disrupt field operations, such as delivery planning and store inventory allocation. Securing sufficient processing headroom for future data growth served as a powerful catalyst for the cloud migration.

Technical Architecture and Operational Benefits

System Infrastructure via OCI and Multi-Region Disaster Recovery

In renewing its core system, Nitori Holdings selected Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), a leading public cloud service. By deploying “Oracle Exadata Database Service” for the database platform and leveraging “Oracle Cloud VMware Solution” for the application infrastructure, the company successfully achieved both high scalability and superior processing performance.

To further safeguard against widespread disasters and unexpected system disruptions, Nitori engineered an infrastructure designed to elevate business continuity planning (BCP). Leveraging Oracle Data Guard, the company established a two-region Disaster Recovery (DR) environment that continuously synchronizes data in real time between the Oracle Cloud Tokyo Region and the Oracle Cloud Osaka Region.

The architecture of the two-region DR failover process is illustrated below:

Thanks to these multi-layered safety measures, the operational time required to fail over to the DR environment has been reduced from 12 hours to just 3 hours. SCSK Corporation supported the overall core infrastructure renewal and the construction of the application platform on OCI, while Ashisuto Co., Ltd. spearheaded the database platform evaluation and migration support.

• Adopted Cloud: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)
• Database Platform: Oracle Exadata Database Service
• Application Platform: Oracle Cloud VMware Solution
• DR Configuration: Continuous real-time synchronization across Tokyo and Osaka regions (Oracle Data Guard)
• DR Failover Time: Reduced dramatically from 12 hours to 3 hours

Operational Loss Mitigation and Cost Optimization via Price-Performance Ratio

Following its go-live, the new core system faced its largest annual operational hurdle during the peak spring 2026 demand period. The system seamlessly absorbed the surge in sales volume and data processing without a single outage, maintaining uninterrupted stability throughout. This eliminated the operational bottlenecks and system outages previously associated with peak-season capacity deficits, drastically reducing the troubleshooting load on the IT department as well as operational delays and business losses across store and logistics warehouse floors.

The project also delivered impressive financial results. While cost cutting was not the primary objective of the migration, evaluating and selecting OCI for its outstanding price-performance ratio allowed Nitori to cap post-migration operational costs at approximately 80% of initial projections.

As a result, the IT department was liberated from reactive daily troubleshooting and routine maintenance, allowing them to pivot resources toward proactive IT investments such as high-value DX initiatives and novel service development. This infrastructure modernization extends far beyond a simple system upgrade, serving as a key driver of operational efficiency and enterprise resilience across the entire Nitori Group.

In-House Strategy and Future Outlook for Digital Transformation

Proprietary Organizational Strategy Driving In-House Development

The greatest strength of the Nitori Group’s IT strategy lies in its commitment to building all operational systems in-house. While many Japanese enterprises rely heavily on external IT vendors and system integrators (SIers) for software development, Nitori has independently developed and operated virtually its entire tech stack, including its core system, official mobile app, and warehouse management system (WMS).

Spearheading this robust internal development framework is “Nitori Digital Base Co., Ltd.,” an IT subsidiary established in April 2022. To recruit and nurture highly skilled engineering talent, Nitori structured a specialized organization focused on producing tech professionals who possess both deep operational knowledge and technical acumen. Beyond traditional new-graduate and mid-career hiring, Nitori leverages its proprietary “job rotation education” system—where employees rotate through various departments every few years—to train engineers who thoroughly understand store and logistics field challenges.

In terms of staffing, Nitori is actively pursuing plans to expand its IT organization to 700 personnel by 2025 and 1,000 personnel by 2032. The agile development speed and rapid deployment of field-facing features made possible by in-house engineering serve as a formidable competitive differentiator against industry rivals.

• DX Base: Nitori Digital Base Co., Ltd. (Established April 2022)
• In-House Development Ratio: Expanded from over 80% to nearly full in-house development
• Headcount Targets: Targeting 700 personnel by 2025 and 1,000 personnel by 2032
• Talent Development Approach: Reskilling via proprietary job rotation in addition to new-grad and career recruiting

Future Horizons and Key Points of Cloud Infrastructure Modernization

The cloud migration and dramatic performance gains achieved in this core system project provide a firm foundation for the next phase of digital transformation (DX) pursued by Nitori Holdings. With a stable, ultra-fast database platform firmly established, the company is poised to accelerate the utilization of vast purchasing datasets generated in real time across stores, e-commerce sites, and delivery networks.

Specifically, this architecture facilitates seamless integration with Nitori’s existing Google Cloud (GCP) data analytics platform powered by BigQuery, as well as the field implementation of cutting-edge generative AI models like Gemini. Innovations such as “Retail Radio”—an AI-driven app that automatically generates store radio broadcasts, which previously won top honors at a cloud hackathon—are expected to drive further enhancements in store customer experiences and process automation.

Moreover, as Nitori targets global expansion toward 3,000 stores by 2032, this scalable, two-region cloud infrastructure will serve as an indispensable operational backbone. By refining its unique “Manufacturing Logistics IT Retailer” business model through technology, Nitori’s trajectory stands out as a flagship case study for retail infrastructure modernization in Japan.

Reference Pages

• [Nitori Holdings Migrates Core System Supporting Store Sales and Logistics Operations to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure] https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000494.000057729.html

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