KOMOJU makes konbini payments available on Shopify
KOMOJU, built with the aim of integrating all main payment methods in Japan, represents at the moment the only option to integrate konbini (Japanese abbreviation for “convenience stores”) payments with Shopify. In a country where credit card usage and penetration is still extremely low, and where convenience stores are present in every corner of the streets, this represents a crucial advancement in terms of payment options for who sells on Shopify in Japan.
“There are cases where sales have grown of tens percent more, all at once right after introducing convenience store payment.” states Shopify Japan.
Depending on the type of website or products, introducing the possibility of konbini payments is expected to raise your revenues somewhere in between 15% to 25%. Many Japanese customers, in fact, abandon the online purchase only because they are not willing to use their credit card online. Being able to address this type of customers can generate a direct revenue increase.
But how does the KOMOJU convenience store payment system work?
KOMOJU doesn’t charge any fixed or monthly fee, but would get the 2.75% of orders revenues.
To use it, it is necessary to create a KOMOJU account and to enable it from the admin panel of your Shopify store.
Sales are payed out on a monthly basis. At the end of every month KOMOJU will wire the funds they collected from the previous month (minus the transaction fees) directly to the merchant bank account. It is possible to receive money on a foreign bank account, but it will cost 2500 yen per transfer.
More information are provided on the support page of KOMOJU.
KOMOJU is a payment service by Degica.
Head office based in the lively neighborhood of Kichijoji, Tokyo, Degica’s claim is “making Japan simple”, a task not simple at all as everyone who has ever tried to penetrate one of the most complex and exciting markets worldwide knows well.
Having supported the Japanese localization of overseas companies like the game platform Steam and HTC Vive VR headset, Degica has quickly built a strong know how on Japan-related digital commerce solutions.
Visit here their website in English.
How to make Shopify and KOMOJU integration work at its best:
For detailed information on how to set up the basic integration, KOMOJU provides an extensive explanation here.
Once settled the accounts, two are the key issues that it is important to address in using KOMOJU on your Shopify store:
- Which amount should be displayed to customers who will use the konbini payment? By default, the convenience store payment fee does not appear on Shopify’s payment amount display screen or e-mail, so adjustments are necessary to make your customers aware of the total amount they will have to pay. We are currently working on a separate article which considers different options in this sense, but if you have any immediate doubt or question please feel free to get in touch with us at Flagship for some advice on the topic.
- How would refunds work in case of konbini payments? Refunds are clearly easy when payments are made with a credit card, but convenience store payments can lead to some complications. As stated by KOMOJU, in cases of refunds KOMOJU would take care of making a bank transfer to the customer requiring a refund guiding the customer through their admin panel. A commission of 1,500 yen per refund will be applied to the merchant.
The refund amount will be deducted from the next sales payment to the merchant, and the transaction fees will not be reimbursed.
Current issues of KOMOJU konbini payment:
- Conversion tracking with Google Analytics: currently, conversion tracking with Google Analytics on orders where the convenience store payment is selected is not supported. Shopify’s report screen will be displayed normally. This happens because in this case the user closes the browser tab without returning to the Shopify’s Thank You page after reaching the Thank You page of KOMOJU, and therefore the Google Analytics tracking code on the Thank You page of Shopify does not activate, not allowing the tracking. This issue seems to have received already many inquiries for a solution, and we could expect to see improvements soon in this sense.
2. Display of the convenience store payment fee charged to the customer in Shopify management screen: at the moment, it is not possible to display the convenience store payment fee (185 yen) that customers get charged, in addition to the total price of the orders, on the administration screen of Shopify.
So is it a good idea to provide a convenience store payment option?
As just pointed out, there are advantages and disadvantages of such a choice. It is important to keep that in mind and know where the strengths and the flows are, and hopefully some further development of the product will come up in the future months.
Said that, we would like to stress strongly how much the type of target and customers should be at the basis of your decision, making the customer experience as smooth as possible and at the same time identifying the opportunities where further revenues lie. We recommend to give a try to Komoju, monitor the changes, and judge by yourselves if this is the payment method your business is in need for.
You can set up KOMOJU for your Shopify Store here.
