While many Amazon sellers are still preparing for Prime Day, TEMU has officially launched in Japan and started a series of promotional activities. This is TEMU's first stop in Asia, which also means that TEMU has officially entered the Asian market after nearly 10 months of "racing" overseas.
Speaking of Japan, it is not difficult to find many domestic enterprises to adjust their own market layout, will look at the market from Europe and the United States to shift to the Japanese market. Why enter the Japanese market? Little K take you to see the Japanese e-commerce market overview.
Potential Market for Cross-border E-commerce - Japan
I. Unique characteristics of the Japanese market
As the world's third largest economy, Japan has a mature, high-potential e-commerce market. According to the latest report released by Japan's Fuji Economic Research Institute, Japan's B2C e-commerce market size in 2022 grew by about 5.1%, totaling about RMB666.5 billion. The report also predicts that the Japanese B2C e-commerce market size will grow by about 4.5% in 2023.
Japanese Consumers' Shopping Habits
Japan is a trusting society where consumers are loyal to the platform and have a high re-shopping rate. They don't change their shopping decisions or return products easily. They are happy to share their shopping experience and give sellers valuable feedback and suggestions.
Japanese consumers also pay close attention to festivals and promotions, and prefer to buy specific products at specific times. If sellers can understand these characteristics of Japanese consumers, they will be able to better grasp the market opportunities and improve sales performance. For example, in Japan, the school year starts in April every year, February and March is the peak season of student supplies; Japanese companies in July and December to pay bonuses to employees, when consumers have a lot of money on hand, but also sellers of prime time.
III. Japanese Consumer Structure
In addition, from the perspective of consumption structure, Japan's aging and childless problem has determined the polarization of its consumption structure. As Japan's tax policy provides great protection for its citizens in retirement, the middle-aged and old-aged groups have always been the largest purchasing power in Japan, and the above-mentioned characteristic of high brand loyalty is even more obvious in them. As the "new force" in the Japanese consumer market, young consumers are more concerned about personality, fashion, willing to try new things, and price sensitivity is also relatively higher.
Overall, Japan is a market with high consumption and purchasing power, and the characteristics of its audience are more obvious than those in Europe and the United States. Young people are more receptive to new brands, and there are opportunities for fast-moving products such as cosmetics, small home appliances and trendy clothing. In contrast, the middle-aged and elderly groups have stronger purchasing power and higher stickiness, which is more suitable for long-term profitability of the market.
What should I do to prepare for entering the Japanese market?
In order to enter the Japanese e-commerce market, sellers need to understand clearly the preferences of Japanese consumers in advance. Japanese consumers are more loyal to the brand, the pursuit of mechanism of service and quality, so the Chinese cross-border sellers to enter the Japanese e-commerce market, remember not to do a hammer buy and sell, want to sustained profitability need to rely on word of mouth as well as repeat customers.
In this regard, Chinese cross-border sellers need to start from the most basic product itself, and at the same time, before entering the Japanese market, to have an overall long-term planning, and in the operation of the period must be compliant and legal.
Register for the Japanese site
Speaking of Japan Station, I have to remind all sellers again that from October 1, 2023, the reform of Japan Consumption Tax ("JCT") "Compliance Invoice Retention System", which was initiated by the National Tax Agency of Japan, will come into effect.
Green Circle understands that since October 1, 2019, Amazon.co.jp has been issuing invoices on behalf of sellers to corporate buyers and sole proprietors. Currently, Amazon provides invoices in this format, however, when the new system comes into effect, only invoices that include a Japanese consumption tax registration number will be considered compliant invoices for corporate buyers to claim tax credits.
Now less than three months from the Japanese JCT new policy is in effect, want to get the JCT number before September 30 sellers, to quickly put the registration matters on the agenda! Green Circle Technology focuses on providing one-stop services for cross-border enterprises, sellers have Japan JCT registration needs can contact us!
Green Circle Technology focuses on providing one-stop services for cross-border enterprises, professional team, professional accountants, can provide sellers with European Middle East VAT & EPR services from registration to reporting and other one-stop services, to ensure that you are in compliance with the tax aspects of operation. If you still have questions about Japan JCT, please feel free to contact us.
EN 
ZH_TW 
ZH