On-line shopping becomes the international trend in consumer product market. It is easier to browse your favorite products by different and beautiful ecommerce page if you are smart consumer. How
about if you are seller ? This article helps you to understand the basic steps of selling products in Amazon Japan.

Inside This Article

5 Steps you need to know :

1. Register in Amazon
2. Comply the Local Law
3. Special Days Selling
4. Professionals Support
5. Local Taboo

It is becoming more common for business to sell their product oversea via e-commerce, especially when consumers change their habit from shopping in physical shops to a virtual one. This makes that consumers can “window shop” or actually buy products anytime, anywhere and anyhow. Sellers, on the other hand, may save their cost on rental, wages or other operation overheads. However, selling product online does not mean you can skip all rules of game. Following are our tips we want to share with you before you can sell your product over Amazon Japan	1. Register in Amazon This is the first step. If you already have an Amazon account and want to expend your business to Japan, you can use your existing credentials – you can use your existing entity and bank account. However, the name of your store shall not be the same as your previous one. However, you may simply affix “JP” in your existing store name to make a new one. Finally, Amazon will ask for seller verification. You need to update pdf format of your recent bank statement and a government issued ID. Then you can sell your product in Japan.
“You need to follow different laws…”	2. You have to comply the local laws This is, of course, the basic requirement regardless of the country. Depends on the product type, you need to follow different laws. Electric products, for example, shall comply with the Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act and it is your obligation to attach PSE Mark on the product; clothing, on the other hand, shall comply with The Household Goods Quality Labeling Act, which impose compulsory labelling requirement, and Act on Control of Household Products Containing Harmful Substances, which lays out restricted harmful substances in the product. Check relevant local laws before you place the product online.
	3. Planning for the sale in special days Like sales in physical shops, different products get their own peak seasons. Understand the Japan holidays and buying habits in respective peak season can help you boost your sale. Some special days are universal, such as New Year (good for selling lucky bags in Japan), Valentina’s Day (Chocolate, gifts for men or baking supplies are normally in good sales), and Mother’s or Father’s Days. One the other hand, there are some special days specific to Japanese, such as Hinamatsuri (selling hina dolls, girls’ dresses,), cherry blossom season (snack, beverage, party goods) or Silver Week (selling travel goods). Plan your sales schedule ahead.
4. Getting support from other professionals If you are a small size enterprise and cannot afford whole team of skillful staff on different disciplines, don’t worry. There are companies out there to offer different profession services, such as translation, shipping support or customer services in Japan. You may contact Amazon for some recommendations. Japan is quite unique and special market. Knowing their market character may help you expend your market there ! For enquiries (HK Office) : Mr. Joey Kwok (852) 2690-8255/ 6059-9644 Email : joeykwok@cmatesting.org	5. Knowing local taboo Consider some Japanese taboos when design or sell your products online. The most well-known taboo is that Japanese does not like tattoo, as tattoo is always related to gangsters (also known as Yakuza, 極道). Avoiding selling tattoo stickers, especially those project image of Yakuza. If you want to include animals or plants in your product, consider pine tree, bamboo, plum blossom, ducks or tortoise. Do not use fox or badger as they project the image of “cunning” or “greedy”. They also don’t like cats with golden or silvery eyes. They feel frustration when they see such kind of cats. Most of Japanese believe in Shinto. They don’t like purple color as it represents sadness. They also hate green color as it represents unlucky.