Which Shopify features are not available in Japan (…yet)?
This article will explain in details which of the most recent Shopify features are not yet available for Japanese merchants selling in Japanese yen. We have witnessed a steady growth of the available features in the country during the last year, and we feel quite confident in saying that this article will need to be updated soon, with more and more features being localized for the Japanese market.
Shopify tends to release new functions step-by-step, experimenting first in Canada and the US and subsequently expanding to the rest of the world, with a localized and implemented version of the feature itself. There are still in facts functions which can only be used when the store currency is set in USD.
We expect to see more and more functions becoming available in Japan, but we also think it is important for merchants selling in Japanese yen to be aware of which functions are and are not available at the moment.
1. Integration with Instagram
Still at its first stages - for the moment even in the US the feature is available to only some merchants - Shopify has recently kicked off one of the most exciting integrations in the world of e-commerce of the most recent years. We are speaking of Shopify’s integration with Instagram, which allows the social media users to shop directly on the application, creating a highly smooth and immersive consumer experience and reducing the gap between social media contents and the actual shopping platforms themselves. The feature doesn’t have any additional cost, and it will gradually be available to more and more merchants.
2. Integration with Amazon
Any merchant who sets its store currency to USD and who meets the requirements, can now sell on Amazon.com.
Once added Amazon.com as a sales channel for your Shopify store, you can choose which items to sell on Amazon from the products you have registered with Shopify, and both inventory and orders can be centrally managed through the Shopify’s admin screen. The categories of products which can be featured at this stage are limited, but still cover a broad range of products, from clothing and beauty merchandise to electronics.
Even if not currently available, we expect to see some news on a possible integration with Amazon.co.jp soon.
Discover more about Shopify and Amazon integration here.
3. Shopify Payments
Shopify Payments is a feature available at the moment in United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. Its main advantage is that, for purchases which happen through this payment system, there is not transaction fee and no third party payment method involved. The only fees involved will be credit cards rates and the Shopify Plan subscription fee. This results of course in a significant higher margin for the merchant, and it comes fully integrated with Shopify.
The payment services behind Shopify Payments are provided by Stripe. It seems that the introduction to the feature in Japan is getting closer, we will keep you posted on the developments of the service.
4. Shopify POS
Shopify POS allows merchants to accept payments in offline stores, combining online and offline sales in a single Shopify account, with an integrated inventory system which makes it possible to manage different channels simultaneously.
Shopify is also currently offering a wide range of hardware to help merchants managing their online activities, from credit card readers to barcode scanners and printers.
To use Shopify POS, it is necessary to have already set up Shopify Payments.
When will all these amazing features be available in Japan?
What we can say, is that 2017 it has been a CRAZY year for Shopify in Japan. So many obstacles have been overtaken, and the amount of localized features has grown impressively.
There is still some regulations that need to be complied with and some further development to be done before making these services available in Japan, but we feel fairly optimistic to see some great advancement in the first few months of this year.
To stay up to date on which payment services are available in Japan you can always check here, and, of course, follow our blog. ;)
