Shimamura, a major apparel retailer, updated its all-time highs for sales, operating profit, and net profit in its consolidated results for the fiscal year ending February 2026. For the fiscal year ending February 2027, the company is projecting net profit of 47.3 billion yen, a 6.4% increase from the previous period, which would mark six consecutive periods of record high earnings. Commenting on the company's marketing methods amid its continued strong performance, Koichi Katano, a professor at the Faculty of Business Administration at Meisei University who published "The Economic Sphere Created by UGC and Fan Communities: The Behavior and Growth of Passionate Posters" (Senkura Shobo) in March 2026, states that "attention should be paid to how the company has built a win-win relationship with influencers." We asked Professor Katano about the perspectives companies should have in an era when UGC (User-Generated Content) is becoming widespread, and key points to learn from Shimamura's utilization of UGC.