Can higher average spend offset the shrinking まいぷれ user base?

In the Regional Information Distribution business, the company continues to prioritize selling high-priced, high-value-added services over simply increasing the number of stores. In the FY2026 interim period, the average spend in directly operated regions was ¥10,556, up ¥1,295 year on year, while MRR revenue from directly operated regions was ¥94.589 million, up 14.2%. The strategy is to raise average spend by expanding contracts for the regional information-focused AI agent まいぷれくん, multi-store contracts and enterprise products, in addition to the existing Maru-Maru Omakase Plan.

This average-spend strategy is intended to offset the quantitative weakness of the user base. In the FY2026 interim period, the number of stores using the まいぷれ platform nationwide was 17,545, down 16 from the same period a year earlier, while the number of partner companies stood at 146, down 17. Meanwhile, more than 2,000 stores nationwide were using まいぷれくん. The key issue for the next earnings release is whether average spend is rising while the store base is not, or whether the AI agent and multi-store contracts are also helping attract new participating stores.

For the nine months ended FY2026 Q3, revenue in the Regional Information Distribution business was ¥610.948 million, up 8.9% year on year, and segment profit was ¥132.949 million, up 8.0%. The business secured higher revenue and profit even as consolidated revenue fell 1.8% year on year, partially offsetting the decline in the Public Solutions business. However, segment profit growth was below revenue growth, and the company has not disclosed the extent of improvement in contribution profit, including AI-related development and selling costs and the cost of maintaining its sales organization.

At the next earnings release, we will check whether the average spend at the end of the period maintained or exceeded ¥10,556, whether the 14.2% year-on-year increase in MRR revenue continued through the full fiscal year, and how far the number of stores using まいぷれくん increased from more than 2,000. Further disclosure is also needed to determine whether the increases in Regional Information Distribution revenue of ¥610.948 million and segment profit of ¥132.949 million were attributable solely to higher average spend or were accompanied by improvements in the number of participating stores, multi-store contracts and churn.