Navigating Japanese E-CommerceYosuke Ito General Manager of cleverbridge KK
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Navigating Japanese E-Commerce
About cleverbridgecleverbridge is the premier e-commerce provider for software and SaaS companies around the globe. Drawing from years of experience and expertise, cleverbridge provides a customized, multi-channel e-business solution.
International corporations like Avira, GFI, Ipswitch and Quest Software count on cleverbridge to support their perpetual license, SaaS and subscription-based e-commerce needs.
#cbJapan
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Introduction
General Manager Japan Japanese Native from Tokyo
Software business experience for 25 years in Japan and US for Japanese, US and European companies as a country manager
B2B and B2C software businesssuch as Financial, Security, Utilities and Games
Long term localization experience
Major EC platform provider for 6 years
Educated in San Francisco / TokyoWorked in US and Australia
Yosuke Ito 伊藤陽介 いとうようすけ イトウヨウスケ
Navigating Japanese E-Commerce
Questions? @cleverbridge
#cbJapan
Craig VodnikVP of Marketingcleverbridge@craigvodnik
Yosuke ItoGeneral Managercleverbridge KK
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• Basic Information of Japanese Market
• Language Barriers
• Localization & Web Design / UX
• Currency & Payment Methods
• Quality Assurance
• Customer Support
Navigating Japanese E-Commerce
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Japan vs. US vs. Germany
Source: Wikipedia
JapanPopulation: 128 MillionLand size: 377K sq km
GermanyPopulation: 82 MillionLand size: 355K sq km
USPopulation: 300 MillionLand size: 9.4 million sq km
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Specified Delivery Date and Time
5 time slots
6 time slots
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Internet User Population
Source: Google Public Data
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Internet User Population (%)
Source: Google Public Data
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IcelandLuxembourg
EstoniaSlovenia
Slovak RepublicIreland
New ZealandFinland
Czech RepublicNorway
IsraelChile
HungaryAustria
DenmarkPortugalGreece
SwitzerlandSwedenBelgium
AustraliaPoland
NetherlandsTurkey
CanadaSpain
MexicoItaly
KoreaUnited Kingdom
FranceGermany
JapanUnited States
0 10,000,000 20,000,000 30,000,000 40,000,000 50,000,000 60,000,000 70,000,000 80,000,000 90,000,000
Total fixed (wired) broadband subscriptions, by country, millions, June 2011
Global Wired Broadband Subscriptions
Source: OECD
United States: 84,672,000 (25%)
Japan: 34,360,672 (11%)
Germany: 26,615,000 (8%)
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Global Wireless Broadband Subscriptions
IcelandLuxembourg
EstoniaMexico
SloveniaHungaryBelgium
ChileSlovak Republic
New ZealandIrelandAustria
IsraelGreeceTurkey
NorwaySwitzerland
DenmarkFinland
Czech RepublicPortugal
NetherlandsSwedenCanada
AustraliaPoland
SpainGermany
FranceItaly
United KingdomKoreaJapan
United States
0 50,000,000 100,000,000 150,000,000 200,000,000 250,000,000
Total wireless broadband subscriptions, by country, millions, June 2011
Source: OECD
United States: 203,180,000 (34%)
Japan: 101,869,228 (17%)
Germany: 23,874,300 (4%)
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US Online Retail Sales
B2C Market Size in Japan
Source: Forrester Research
Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR): 9.16%
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German Online Retail Sales
B2C Market Size in Japan
Source: Forrester Research
Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR): 10.75%
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Japanese Online Retail Sales
B2C Market Size in Japan
Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR): 9.60%
Source: Forrester Research
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Japanese SaaS Growth
Source: Forrester Research Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR): 57.24%
Total $723 $1,096 $1,764 $2,795 $4,077 $5,662 $7,604 $9,845 $11,962 $13,925 $15,6464
Language & Localization & Design
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Cultural Diversity
White
Hispanic
Black
Asian
Amerindian / Alaskan native
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander
Two or More race
Source: CIA World Factbook
German
Turkish
Greek
Italian
Polish
Russian
Serbo-Croation
Spanish
Japanese
Korean
Chinese
Other
USA Germany Japan
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Localization
• Localize your product, website and entire e-commerce infrastructure into Japanese.
• Don’t use raw translation materials• Proof read by industry expert
• Information must be transparently open and clear.
• Auto-Renewal
• Japanese localization requires a double byte enabled infrastructure.(Unicode 6.1)
Web Design
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Web Design
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Web Design
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Currency & Payment Methods
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Payment Methods (Konbini)
• Customer orders goods
online
• Customer selects the
convenience store option
and are then given a pay
ID.
• Customers have six days
to go to a konbini and pay
for their items after which
the goods are then
shipped.
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• Major Credit Cards: 76.6%
• Konbini: 17.2%
• PayPal: 6.3%
Payment Methods Usage Ratio
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Pricing Strategy
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Everyday Low Price VS Limited Time Offer
Japanese people love campaigns.
The Limited Time Offer is always well accepted by Japanese customers.
Campaign for every 2 months• Summer in July• Fall in September• Xmas in December• New Year in January• Spring in March • Golden Week in May
Buying Habits
Quality Assurance
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Japanese customers are:• Quality oriented, expect high standard to
the products, documents in Japanese• Their computer literacy level is low
• Surprised to see error messages
• Not good at English• Shocked to see messages in English
Quality Assurance
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Quality Assurance
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• Do the quality assurance work well• Test products on different hardware
Quality Assurance
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Risks to release non-tested products
• People think it is scam• Spread rumors in social network• Spread bad reputations without knowing
Quality Assurance
Customer Support
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Customer Support
Not Busy Busy Very Busy
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri
10:00 to 11:00
11:00 to 12:00
12:00 to 13:00
13:00 to 14:00
14:00 to 15:00
15:00 to 16:00
16:00 to 17:00
Ave. Waiting Time in Second
34 15 13 12 10
Monday Last week longest waiting time was 6:23 Other days was 4:04
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Customer Support
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Customer Support
• Efficiency• Timely Manner• Preciseness • Formality• Manage customers expectations well
(Give & Take)• Know their computer literacy level is low
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Customer Support
• Managing Expectations – Communicate the level of service that is offered.
• Prefer field forms for email support.• Ask them to specify all configurations
• Auto-reply should be in Japanese as well.• Often time it is in English and goes Spam
folder.
Conclusions
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• Localize; Don’t trust translators – You must have industry expert for proof reading. Transparency is important to meet expectations.
• Design – What looks good in the West may not be attractive to the Japanese customer.
• Currency / Local market pricing - Present the price according to local custom
• Payment methods – Understand how Japanese prefer to buy, and offer them those methods.
• Quality Assurance – Don’t risk your reputation by not performing a thorough QA before bringing a product to the Japanese market.
• Customer Support – Understand what your support capabilities are, and be certain to communicate them clearly to customers with timely manner and transparency.
Conclusions
Navigating Japanese E-Commerce
Questions? @cleverbridge
#cbJapan
Craig VodnikVP of Marketingcleverbridge@craigvodnik
Yosuke ItoGeneral Managercleverbridge KK