E-COMMERCE

By FedEx | First published: July 21, 2022   Updated: July 12, 2024

Cross-border e-commerce in Japan is on the up, thanks to a surge of overseas interest in Japanese products and brands. Discovery Japan Mall is an online platform bringing the best of Japan to over 120 countries around the world.

• Online shoppers around the world are increasingly attracted to products and crafts made in Japan.

• Japanese e-tailers are finding new customers and curating offerings via online mega-malls.

• For Discovery Japan Mall’s founder, Norio Itabashi, smoother expansion into overseas markets is reliant on the right logistics provider.

From matcha tea to hand-crafted tableware, Japanese products are globally famous and increasingly sought-after on the international market. These days, it’s easy to shop online for your favorite Japanese snacks, comics or electronics. And this shift in demand has prompted some businesses to change their sales models.

Cross-border e-commerce helps Japanese brands reach new markets

For decades, Japanese brands and businesses relied on domestic sales of their retail products. However, faced with a declining population and shrinking local market, local players have started to think global in recent years.

Other factors beyond domestic shopping habits have contributed to the transformation. Thanks to the explosion of inbound tourism, more global travelers are becoming fans of Japanese culture, design and consumer goods.

The economy has also played a role. In the last three years, a decline in the value of the Japanese yen has led to a boom in interest from overseas spenders on Japanese products and websites. For Japanese businesses, there’s a growing awareness of the potential of overseas markets as a rich source of new customers.

E-commerce platforms and online malls are a gateway to Japan for global consumers

One way for Japanese SMEs to reach global customers is by leveraging existing online marketplaces. Digital Studio helps brands expand their presence into new markets, offering one-stop e-commerce solutions through their online platform, Discovery Japan Mall.

Launched in 2016, the mall ships to over 120 countries and regions around the world, with growing numbers of customers in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and the EU.

Norio Itabashi, CEO of Digital Studio, believes that hobby-related items with an established reputation for quality, such as fishing tackle, guitars and amplifiers, are some of the mall’s best-selling products.

“The number of Discovery Japan Mall users continues to increase. Overseas markets for Japanese sellers will continue to gain momentum, especially as visitors to Japan increase.”

In addition to managing an online marketplace, Digital Studio offers marketing solutions and data insights in cross-border e-commerce. To reach more customers, Itabashi recommends that Japanese sellers build a solid fan base among domestic shoppers before tackling global expansion. For Itabashi, generating positive comments and reviews on social media and building a newsletter subscription and social media follower base is key.

Putting the spotlight on service reliability in logistics

Another important service that Digital Studio offers is shipping support. The company prepares packages and documents and ships them on behalf of the sellers. While Digital Studio used to rely solely on postal services to deliver products to overseas shoppers, the global service disruption caused by the pandemic led them to look at new options and collaborate with FedEx instead.

As sales increased, more packages needed to be handled every day. When Digital Studio found itself having to process 200 shipments of fishing equipment on the same day, it outsourced the most time-consuming part of the shipping process to FedEx.

Itabashi was impressed by the speed and reliability of delivery. He said, “A product headed to the United States from Japan was delivered the next day, which used to take more than a week with another service I used. For some destinations from Japan, FedEx even had competitive pricing.”

A US-based customer purchasing fishing equipment on Wednesday or Thursday could look forward to using their new gear on a fishing trip that very weekend. And customers in Southeast Asian countries can receive purchases as early as 3pm the next day.

After seeing shoppers’ reactions and positive feedback on faster, more reliable delivery, Itabashi realized the importance of adding greater value for e-tailers and improving the overall customer shopping experience.

Integrating FedEx services to deliver better outcomes

For SMEs that import, relying on suppliers for source materials and components from overseas, the speed of our network is even faster if you live in Tokyo. Importers can now receive their deliveries one day earlier for inbound parcel and freight shipments that arrive to Japan on a weekday.

Improving efficiencies in the shipping preparation process is vital, especially for SMEs. This is where leveraging technology and a reliable logistics partner can make a real difference.

Digital Studio linked its system with FedEx, so documents such as commercial invoices and shipping labels can be prepared directly from Digital Studio’s website. Additionally, online booking for package pickup has eliminated the need to wait in person at the FedEx counter.

The company also utilizes a FedEx service designed specially to support Japanese customers in preparing goods for international shipping. Digital Studio simply sends the products to FedEx in Japan. From here, everything from preparing shipping documents and Airwaybills to sorting case-packed merchandise and repacking items for overseas shipments is handled by FedEx.

For brands that are new to cross-border e-commerce, Itabashi believes that using FedEx’s enhanced services in Japan will make for a smoother start to operations. Outsourcing logistics operations and inventory management is ultimately more cost-effective. It also reduces the risk of service disruption when a product runs out of stock.

“Made in Japan” products are highly sought after all around the world, and e-commerce platforms have made it possible for Japanese brands to explore global expansion. With the right logistics partner, there’s never been a better time to take your business to the next level and go international.

For more information on shipping solutions, visit our e-commerce page here.