The Biggest Misconceptions About Selling On Amazon Japan
Selling on Amazon Japan is great, but people are put off because of numerous reasons:
They may believe that the language is too difficult, they don’t think their product will sell, or they think that postage is tough. However, we’ve put our myth-busting gloves on and are ready to show you why these issues are not only false, but it is also costing you money!
Selling on Amazon Japan: Misconceptions
Misconception 1: The language is too hard, or too intimidating
This does cause problems for a lot of people, but it lies in the perception of the task at hand, rather than the actual difficulty of translating from English to Japanese. What we mean by this is just because Japanese doesn’t look similar to English, or share the same alphabet, does this make it any more difficult than translating to any other language you don’t speak?
In short, NO!
Japanese does need to be translated correctly of course, and we have an article all about this here. However, if you don’t know the language then you will have exactly the same struggles as translating into any other language. The fact that Japanese looks different shouldn’t put you off, or make it any more difficult. There’s plenty of help available if you need it, so don’t let the language stop you!
Misconception 2: International Postage is too Slow When you Self Fulfil
Sure, international postage may take a while, but what you’re forgetting here is that you’re probably offering a niche product, particularly if you’re selling British brand goods which sell at a premium and are held in high regard by Amazon Japan customers.
So, to your customers, that is the payoff; a niche product for a bit of an extended wait. They’re delighted as long as you’re offering something high quality that they really want.
Check out this guide to see how easy it is to post to Japan
Of course, you have the option to store your products in an Amazon Japan warehouse rather than fulfilling it directly from the UK. While this is a little more complex in terms of getting your products into the warehouses, once there you can offer next day deliveries that Amazon will take care of directly. This is what we have done for Kid Transit (See the big case study here).
Misconception 3: Understanding Customer Emails is Impossible
In this day and age, there’s a technology to solve every problem and that’s the case here. The Rikaichan add-on for web browsers is like having an instant dictionary; hover over words or sentences and it will tell you their meaning in English. It’s useful for getting the gist of what your customers are saying to you, and as we’ve mentioned before, if your product description is good, then most of the time customer service emails will only require a standard response.
Misconception 4: Understanding Japanese addresses is too difficult.
We’ve encountered some postal workers who say they can’t send off the parcel because they don’t understand the Japanese address written on it. There’s a simple solution to this problem: write “Japan” on your parcel.
The post office of your country of residence doesn’t need to know the exact delivery address. As long as they know which country the parcel is being delivered to then the post office will be able to send it. This is one area that Google translate works well, so you can put addresses through it if you want them in the Roman alphabet. We don’t bother though since there really isn’t any need to. Generally though, knowing the postal code in Japan is useful and the post office may want this.
Misconception 5: No one shops at Amazon Japan
This couldn’t be more wrong. Let’s take a look at the stats: In 2016, Amazon Japan had sales of $10.3 billion, making it Amazon’s 3rd largest marketplace (second only to the US giant – source). Add to this the fact that Japan has a population of 120 million and the 3rd largest economy in the world and we’re sure you’ll agree, it’s a great place to do business.
Misconception 6: Cultural Values in Japan are Difficult, so it’s hard to offer a good service
A point I’m about to make is so important I’ll have to reiterate what was said in a previous post. British brands sell well in Japan. Japanese people are interested in British culture and will pay a premium for high-quality British brands. Paul Smith clothing, Triumph motorcycles, Brompton bikes and Trickers shoes all do incredibly well on the Japanese market. As long as you do your research, you’ll be able to find something that sells well, despite differences in cultural values.
You don’t have to be a big brand either, as long as you offer quality. Our monocle sales prove this (we sell these for a client), and we sell for 40% more in Japan compared to the UK.
What’s next?
So now you know that most of the issues you are facing when selling on Amazon Japan are either
A) very easily overcome,
or
B) not really an issue at all(!).
Selling your products isn’t stressful or riddled with problems. In fact, it’s actually all pretty straightforward.
Need any help?
Please get in touch straight away and lets chat
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
