Updated: July 7, 2005



CURRENT FILE

Marketing Strategy to Penetrate the Japanese Market


Japanese Marketing Consultants


Online Marketing Solution


Direct mail Marketing


Japanese Precision Technologies


Characteristics of the Japanese People


Historical Analysis on the Japanese Characteristics


Analysis of Japanese Consumers


Analysis of Japanese Online Shoppers


Localization for Japanese Market


Latest News from Japan


Japan World Mall


About Us


Contact Us

 

For actual performance for the marketing in Japan, there expected following two ways:

1. Direct marketing by yourself utilizing internet facilities and direct mail marketing etc.
2. Indirect marketing appinting reliable Japanese agent.

Intelligence Bridges provide the service to help the above in any aspect totally or partially according to your budget.


  1. In case of direct marketing: 
      In case of consumer products, products are generally sold via distribution 
  system described in the following.

  Manufacturer → Wholesaler → Distributor → Retail shop → Consumer

  and prices on each step are generally

  Retail price            80 - 100%
            ↑
  Distributor price       65 - 70%
            ↑
  Wholesaler price        50 - 60%
            ↑
  Manufacturer's price    45% 
      (Importer)
            ↑
  Import price            10 - 30%

  Actually it is common sense of Japanese importers that they must buy by
  30% of Japanese retail price at highest. 
  If they find merchandise to buy by 10%, it will be very profitable. 
  (this low percentage usually come from the difference between retail
  prices in each country. i.e. if they find the merchandise with retail
  price of $1 in U.S. and can be sold at the retail price of \400 in Japan,
  it can be realized.)
  If you have this kind of merchandise, you'll have very profitable business.
    Anyway, you can sell your merchandises directly to Japanese consumers at retail price skipping much commissions for imprter, wholesale, distributor and retail shop by direct marketing in Japan.

    You can feel free to ask Intelligence Bridges the infomation of price comparison together with the suggestion of preferance by Japanese people for this merchandise etc. simply by email clicking here.

    Procedure to start direct marketing in Japan

    1. Advertizing your merchandise:
      Though there are many media such as News Paper, Magazine, TV, Radio etc., we recommend Internet advertizing as the most cost saving way in current advanced Japanese internet environment and can sell products at the same time.
      The procedure is:
      1. Creating your webpage in Japanese or translate your current English webpage and add some modification to meet Japanese consumer's taste if necessary.
      2. Submitting to Japanese search engines
        (Intelligence Bridges can provide the service for the above totally or partially according to your budget.
        Please feel free to write us for more information clicking here.)

    2. Sales activities:
      While Internet advertizing is passive way to advertize and has slowly expanding advertizing effect, direct sales activities bring more immediate potency.
      Though there are many ways of sales activity such as direct mail marketing, door-to-door sales and telephone shopping etc., we recommend direct mail marketing for foreign companies who are not residents in Japan.
      (Intelligens Bridges can provide Japanese direct mail database fit for your marketing. Click here for more information about direct mail marketing in Japan.)


  2. In case of indirect marketing:

    In this case, you will be required to find relaiable Japanese agent.
    Intelligence Bridges provide any help totally from finding appropriate agent to conclusion of agreement or partially according to your budget.
    Please feel free to write us for the cunsultation for this purpose clicking here.



In any case of the above, it is essential for you to know unique Japanese market structure, distribution system, their behavior to do business, and especially for the online marketing, the characteristics of Japanese consumer, and to watch quickly changing market sequence all the time to correctly forecast the future situation , and to establish well localized marketing strategy,for the most successful marketing strategy to penetrate Japanese market for better control on the agent even in case of indirect marketing.
  1. Japanese market structure:
    Conventionally, retailers consist of department stores, super markets, convenience stores, specialty shops and small private retailers' shops, and manufacturers and importers supply to wholesalers and the wholesalers supply to retailers.
    Currently, consumers' demand is concentrating to the merchandise priced highest or lowest. This is called "Two extreme end phenomenon". This trend yielded "Super mall" and "100 Yen shop" as a successful new concept of retailer. "Super mall" is like a spacious theme park with amusement facilities and beautifully designed shops, and shoppers enjoy their shopping in gorgeous and relaxing mood.
    On the other hand, 100 Yen shops are expanding their size and variety of merchandise. Their motto is "Demolishing of current price" and 85 Yen shops have appeared already.
    These trends have come from current Japanese economical situation of "Low-consumption and high savings society" caused by their anxiety for the future life and their characteristics.

    It is reported that currently, average Japanese people are saving more than 10% from their income.

    Click on Japanese Consumer page for more information about Japanese consumer.

    As explained in this page, they tend to save money buying the most inexpensive merchandise for daily consumption and, when they buy the consumer durables for their appealing of status etc., they tend to buy the highest priced from their savings.
  1. Distribution system in Japan:
    Basically, manufacturers or importers deliver to wholesalers at the price of 40-50% of retail price. The wholesalers deliver to retailers at the price of 65-70% of retail price. Therefore, the cost of manufacturers or importers should be less than 30% of retail price. Currently, the movement of doing direct business between manufacturers or importers and retailers are expanding for creation of competitive retail price.
  1. Japanese behavior to do business:
    Many corporate systems are structured for cooperative employee performance. An employee submits an application for approval, for such things as a new project, a new plan, purchasing or even business trip (called "Ringisho") to the chief who passes it along to a higher level where it is again passed up the chain of command. If the application is approved, it is sent to accounting section, and then to purchasing where the order is placed. In this way, responsibility is shared by many people. It takes very long time and this system seems very inefficient however, once the decision is made, the subject is performed in whole enterprise scale as a company mission.

    Click on Characteristics of Japanese People page for more information.
  1. Japanese consumer:
    Japanese people have their own unique characteristics, considerably different from, sometimes contrary to, that of Westerners. Consequently, Japanese consumers have their unique buying behavior, buying motive, their preference on merchandise and taste on design etc. Therefore, the marketing strategy to penetrate Japanese market should be localized to this Japanese characteristics.
  1. Current rapidly changing market sequence:
    Current Japanese market sequence is rapidly changing. The sales of department stores and super markets are declining with no effective countermeasure. However, they are making effort to improve their system. It is important to watch what their future strategy will be.
    As explained in the above, Japanese market situation is rapidly changing. "The super mall" and 100 Yen shop have appeared as a successful new concept of the retailer in current situation of "Two extreme end" consumer demand. A coffee shop has quickly grown forming franchise system with its particular policy. It is important to watch all over the market as current market situation has much possibility to yield new prospective business.
  1. Localization:
    As stated in the above, market structure, distribution system, Japanese behavior to do business are considerably different from that of western countries, it is very important to localize the marketing strategy, especially it is essential for online shops to localize web site and shopping follow-up.

    Please refer to Localization page for more information.