Amazon Japan: An Undiscovered Goldmine
Japan has a population of 126 million people, making it the 3rd largest economy in the world. This alone makes it an exciting marketplace for online sellers.
Add to this that over 91% of its residents have access to high-speed internet and a magnificent delivery network (Source), it all points to Japan as being a goldmine in the e-commerce world.
But why would you try to sell in an unfamiliar territory?
If thinking about testing the Japanese market a good place to start is with Amazon in Japan. Factors that may entice you would include, low Pay Per Click (PPC) costs and a guaranteed good value when it comes to exchange rates (especially after Brexit!).
Your profit margins are guaranteed to increase exponentially when you sell on Amazon Japan, here’s why:
“Premier Value” of British Brands: In Japan, British brands are loved by the local population. Therefore, they are willing to pay for it, no matter the cost. Our analysis found British products sell extremely well and at a higher cost than they would in the UK. Most notably, brands like Paul Smith do brilliantly on the Japanese market and make fantastic sellers.
Strong Exchange Rate: With the emergence of Brexit, the Pound (£) has plummetted significantly. Although some view it as a weakness, sellers that are well established in the e-Commerce market abroad may think otherwise. At the moment, as the Yen (¥) is very strong against the Pound (£), profit margins are likely to widen.
Visibility is higher: Watch your view counts increase as you gain access to an untapped hidden market. Due to fewer and weaker competitors, niche products listed on Amazon Japan would increase the likelihood of it being seen. A well-optimized page is often all your product needs to get to the top of the listing – something the competitors lack. The more views garnered, the higher the chance of the product being sold!
Enhanced listings: People are constantly underestimating the value of an enhanced listing on Amazon Japan. Don’t be one of them. Enhanced listings are open to any seller and you should recognize that they can really be a platform for showcasing your product, telling its story and getting it noticed.
Advertising pays for itself! The price of Pay Per Clicks (PPC) costs is staggeringly cheap in Japan compared to the UK. Therefore, the cost of advertizing eventually pays for itself! For those unaware, PPC is a useful tool to help get your products to the top of the listings and start selling fast,
Honest reviews: In the UK, costly giveaways are often held in order to earn reviews and get to the top of the listing pages. However, due to the nature and culture of the Japanese, it is not needed in Japan. Reviews are most often honest and human. Therefore, you won’t have to fight past sellers who have only managed to make their way to the top of the lists on the back of paid, fake reviews. Asking for reviews is no problem at all. If you ensure your product is good then customers on Amazon Japan will be happy to give you a good review.
So there you have it, a goldmine at your fingertips!
What are you waiting for?
Get in touch
Rising Sun Commerce help brands get set up on Amazon Japan. Please get in touch and we see if your products can be set up in Japan.
WE SPECIALIZE IN:
- Amazon Japan Listing Creation & Optimizations
- Amazon Japan Advertising
Our goal is to help brands launch and grow sales on Amazon Japan.
PRICING SUMMARY
We want to make our pricing as clear and simple as possible, which is why we have fixed fees rather than complex commission based pricing or contact us for a quote links.
NEW LISTING SETUP OR OPTIMIZATION
$449 per product type + $30 for any additional variation
UNBOXING/ EXPLAINER VIDEO/ VOICE-OVER VIDEOS
$199 per video
ACCOUNT & ADVERTISING MANAGEMENT
From just $799/month or 5% of revenue
AMAZON JAPAN LISTINGS
LISTING CREATION / OPTIMIZATION PRICING
$449 per product type (Parent ASIN) + $30 for any additional variation (Child ASIN)
EXAMPLE PRICING CALCULATION
10 x product types with each product type having 3 colour variations.
- 30 products in total, 20 of which are classed as Child variations and 10 are classed as Parents
- (10 x $449) + (20 x $30) = $5090
Having a well written and keyword rich product listing is essential because:
- Shoppers need to be able to find your product on Amazon Japan.
- When they do find you product they then need to have confidence so they buy.
See a finished result for one of our clients on Amazon Japan - https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/product/B08RS5MKW5
This was quite a complex project with a lot of size and type child variations. But the effort was definitely worth it.
The Rising Sun Commerce Amazon Japan Product Listing Process:
We gather all the information needed to fully understand your product and brand. We need to understand your products' features and benefits in fine detail so that we can hone the copy of your listing. We can use your English Amazon listings as a guide, however Amazon Japan is VERY strict in the wording you can use and often your English listings would be rejected instantly.
2.
We conduct detailed keyword research using specialist software such as Helium10’s Cerebro tool to analyze the keywords used by your main competitors on Amazon Japan. We also use Amazon’s own Brand Analytics data to ensure we pull out all of the most important keywords. Finally, we manually read over your competitors listings to pick out common keywords.
3.
Our optimally written product listings are professionally translated by one of Rising Sun Commerce’s experienced native Japanese listing editors who carefully integrate the keywords from the extensive keyword research process as they translate your product listings - check out Shiori’s short video where she discusses a client's listing here.
4.
We annotate any text in your images into Japanese, because everyone knows that the images are one of the most important aspects of your Amazon Product Detail Page.
5.
We construct an upload (AKA flat) file and upload your listings to Amazon Japan. We complete as many fields as possible in the flat file to help with Amazon indexing and categorisation. We apply any keywords that are not integrated into the product listing into the Generic Search Terms (AKA back end search terms). Uploading the flat files to your Amazon Japan account can sometimes be a smooth process, but due to Japan’s quirks and glitches this can often be a bumpy process. We guarantee that your product listings will be uploaded to Amazon Japan, even if it takes multiple Seller Support cases and multiple revisions to remove and replace text or images to satisfy the Amazon Japan gods.
6.
We upload your Japanese specific images to Amazon Japan. This can be a complex process and often requires multiple attempts and Seller Support cases. It also requires Brand Registry access so there is additional admin required.
7.
Any appropriate listing videos will be annotated and/ or a voice over will be applied at no extra cost. The videos will be uploaded to your listings.
8.
Using your English A+ content as a guide we construct and upload A+ content for your product listings. Like the Product Detail Pages this can often be a tough process because Amazon Japan are irrationally picky about the words you can use. We have a database of banned words and phrases, but we are still surprised by Amazon when they pick up on a new term. Again, we guarantee your A+ content will be uploaded to Amazon Japan, no matter how long it takes.
9.
Finally, once the listing has been on Amazon Japan for a few days we do Keyword Index Checks to make sure the listings are correctly indexed.
The video below show how we make sure your products are fully indexed on Amazon Japan.
JAPANESE UNBOXING & VOICE-OVER VIDEOS
Using one of our trusted native Japanese creators we can commission custom unboxing videos for your products.
We ensure the creators discuss the main benefits and features of your product.
Alternatively, if you have a good promotional video in English, we can replace the English voice with a professional standard Japanese voice.
Having a video on your Amazon Japan product listing is a major benefit and helps show the shopper exactly what they will get and reinforces the main product selling points.
$199 per video