Sumitomo Corporation's subsidiary, Soukai Drug Co., Ltd., is an Internet sales company that provides medicine, daily necessities, health foods, etc. In 2009, the company was chosen as "Shop of the Year" from among 30,000 online shops on Rakuten Ichiba (= market), the largest online shopping mall in Japan.

Online shopping has become popular, allowing users to place orders online by computer or mobile phone and have goods delivered to their door. In this promising market which is steadily growing despite the economic situation, Soukai Drug has improved customer satisfaction and sales volume through various efforts.

To win customers, shops need to offer attractive prices and fast delivery. Soukai Drug is able to offer goods at competitive prices through strategic purchasing and efficient sales. It has also expanded its logistics warehouse to increase stock volumes, ensuring faster, more reliable delivery of bulky items such as mineral water and detergent, which are frequently ordered by their core customers, women in their thirties. Thanks to these efforts, the company was awarded "Shop of the Year," based on a comprehensive evaluation by user votes, order volumes and so forth.

In December 2009, it also won the "Rakuten Ichiba Shopping Marathon," which is held twice a year. It has recently started to sell more foods and ingredients such as rice and rice crackers to broaden its product lines. The firm aims to improve quality by reflecting customer reviews and opinions, thus becoming even more popular.