Could and should you be selling on Amazon Japan? Amazon Japan is growing quickly and represents a fantastic opportunity to grow a business. Here are some facts about Amazon in Japan which might surprise you:
This article breaks down how you can get started on Amazon Japan into 10 steps.
Is Japan a good market for your product?
It's important to have some idea whether Japan is a suitable place to sell your products. Generally speaking, it is, and many people overthink it. There are a few types of products that won't be a good fit in Japan:
Generally speaking, if you have a product that sells well on Amazon in your home country, it should be fine to sell on Amazon Japan. It's relatively straightforward to look at your category of products on Amazon Japan:
It's easy to add Japan to your account. Although Amazon counts the territory separately (you can't transfer products there like you can between European countries), they do make it straightforward to add Japan to your account. They have an official video on YouTube of how to do it. If you're starting from scratch or you want to set up a new account, then you will need to submit your ID and wait for verification checks to be processed. This usually takes around 7 days and is the same process as you went through when you first set up your Amazon account.
If you’re on Amazon’s Brand Registry 2.0 program and your account is connected, you just raise a support case with the team to get Japan added to your brand registry.
The important thing to note here is that you (currently) don’t need a trademark in Japan to have a brand registry on your Amazon Japan account. European & USA trademarks are accepted.
It’s important to get a good quality translation and copywriting done. Very few Japanese people are comfortable shopping online in English, so you will struggle to sell much without getting your listings properly written. And whilst Google Translate works for translating an individual word or phrase, the grammar is so far removed that it isn’t effective at all for translating sentences.
Amazon Japan operates FBA centres the same as they do in Europe & the USA. You can send your products directly to them. The thing to look out for here is that you will need either an “Importer of Record” (IOR) or “Attorney for the Customs Procedures” (ACP) to be responsible for accepting the goods into Japan. Amazon doesn’t provide this service, but various companies do. It costs from around $100+, depending on the size of your shipment.
At the point of import, you pay import tax and duties. These are around 11-14% of the value of your goods, depending on what particular category they are in.
In addition, there is a Consumption Tax, which may or may not apply to you:
Foreign companies providing goods or services may be obligated to charge consumption tax. This includes ongoing compliance, including filing tax returns and paying taxes to the Japanese tax authorities
Exporters with taxable supplies below this limit may elect to become taxable businesses to facilitate the recovery of an input CT.
Amazon Japan has sponsored products like they do in the USA and Europe. This is where you bid on your chosen keywords and pay for the clicks you get. They also have automatic campaigns, which make it easier to get started. Facebook & Instagram are both very popular in Japan, so you can use their advertising services to attract customers too.
Amazon transfers money to international banks, so this is fairly straightforward - simply input your bank details into your Amazon account to get paid. However, transferring money directly from your Amazon account to your home bank account usually costs around 4% in fees. International currency transfer services can help you save on these fees.
Once you’ve proved there is demand for your products in Japan, you can start to expand the range of products that you sell there and restock on your first batch. Congratulations! You’ve successfully added a whole new market to your business.
This was a guest post by John Cant, Amazon Market Analyst, from Rising Sun Commerce
