Problems (and solutions) to Localizing Your Online Store to Japan
Breaking into the Japanese marketplace can be a daunting task but the many benefits make it worth the effort. With annual online sales reaching $79 Billion, Japan clocks in as the 4th largest e-commerce nation. Japan has a unique culture that must be accounted for when localizing your store. There will be roadblocks throughout the process including new website designs, proper translations, and shipping logistics, but this article will help you navigate the wild world of Japanese e-commerce.
Website Expectations
Japanese customers have expectations for websites that differ from other western countries e-commerce platforms. It is crucial that your online storefront appeals to the average Japanese consumer.
Firstly, the design of the website must be specifically catered to the Japanese market. Customers in Japan must trust the product before they are willing to buy it. This means that your website must have as much information about your product as possible, front and center. You may have seen flashy Japanese advertisements with text jammed in every open space possible. This is done for a reason. The more that you’re able to say about your product, the more likely a customer will be willing to buy it. Highlighting keywords will help you draw the customers attention in and will quickly provide them with the information they need to make a purchasing decision. A good example of this is Kakaku.com, a Japanese shopping comparison website. The moment you open the page you are hit with walls of text and different categories. To a western consumer, this website would seem clunky and outdated, but this design is exactly what a Japanese consumer will be looking for.
Second, the language barrier is nuanced and it is highly recommended that you pay for a professional, native, translator when designing your website. The tone set by your website is important and bad translations will quickly push away Japanese customers. A website should have a polite tone, but not too polite. If the website is too polite it will come off as unnatural. A native speaker can help set the tone for your website and create the trust needed for a Japanese customer to make a purchase through your platform.
Finally, you must account for the compatibility of your website to their devices. Many Japanese computer systems are outdated and it important that you take this into consideration. 47% of e-commerce customers expect your web page to load in under 2 seconds. Anything longer than this may cause customers to back out of your website and find a quicker solution. Japanese web fonts can be limited and many will take up lots of memory. It is important to use non-intrusive fonts or create graphic images instead of just plain text websites.
More information about website design can be found in our blog post “Differences Between a Japanese and a Western Website Design”
Shipping Logistics
A huge issue that companies face when localizing in Japan is the shipping system. Japanese customers have high expectations when it comes to their shipping services. These include next day delivery, redeliveries, designated pick up locations, and specific pickup times. On top of this, language and data inputs for shipping can be time-consuming.
There are 3 main shipping companies used in Japan: Yamato, Sagawa, and Japan Post. If your company is dealing with a large number of orders, Yamato provides the “B2” upload system where orders can be entered through CSV or manual entry. Sagawa has a similar data and label creation system, “e飛伝” (e hiden) and the Japan Post has online delivery registration with flat rate shipping and package tracking. It is highly recommended to use an app to help with order creations. Flagship has created an app that will assist with the language and data formats needed to ship your goods. This app will get order data localized for the Japanese market, download data in a format ready to use with Japanese shipping software, and save time and energy in your fulfillment process.
Detailed information can be found in our article “An Introduction to Shipping for E-commerce in Japan”
Agencies
If you are planning on breaking into the Japanese e-commerce world, it is recommended to go through some sort of agent to help you with the process. E-commerce agents will help create the website design needed to appeal to the average Japanese consumer, provide translation assistance, and create shipping logistics systems to make the transition into Japan as smooth as possible.
Shopify is a great platform to use when localizing your website in Japan. They are currently making a big push into the Japanese market and are localizing all of their interfaces, apps, and web content to cater to Japan. On top of their localization, Shopify already has well-established connections with warehouses based in Japan which will make shipping your goods less of a hassle. Using Shopify takes out a lot of the middlemen involved with shipping logistics in Japan.
If you are looking to aggressively enter in to an international marketplace like Japan, we recommend investing in Shopify Plus. Shopify Plus allows you to create several domains, dramatically increased scalability, complete customization of your web store, access to Shopify Pay, and many more useful features to help your transition to international markets.
Furthermore, Shopify has a wide range of partners that are able to guide you step by step through your transition into Japan. Even if you are creating a small setup, it is important that you get outside help when creating your storefront. Flagship LLC will help make your transition in to the Japanese market as painless as possible. We are experts in the localization process and our team will help every step of the way.
The transition to Japan can be difficult but the wide variety of resources available will help smooth out the transition. Once your store is up and running you have one of the worlds largest marketplace available at your fingertips.
