Global Gateway: Rakuten
Selling into Japan: What Utah businesses need to know
Japan offers a significant opportunity for U.S. companies expanding through e-commerce. At this Global Gateway event, Arnold Lee, senior business development manager at Rakuten, shared practical strategies for selling on the platform.
Japan is the world’s fourth-largest e-commerce market, and Rakuten Ichiba is one of its largest online marketplaces. The platform allows U.S. companies to sell directly to Japanese consumers without establishing a physical retail presence in the country.
A practical path into Japan
Lee outlined how overseas companies can set up a Rakuten Ichiba shop, manage cross-border shipments, and work with logistics partners to deliver products to Japanese customers. For smaller companies, this can offer a practical way to test demand, learn the market, and build sales before making a larger investment in Japan.
Localization matters
Successful companies need to understand Japanese consumers and localize their products and marketing. Lee emphasized the importance of fluid language transfer. WTC Utah offers STEP grant funding to assist businesses in translating their product labels, websites, and other important marketing materials.
What businesses can do next
Companies considering Japan can start by assessing product-market fit and what would need to change to sell successfully there. They can then register with the essentials such as photos, a letter of authorization (if needed), their signed application, and other documents. From there, businesses can explore Rakuten’s marketplace, determine their logistics approach, evaluate regulatory requirements, and develop a localization strategy.
The opportunity is there — but success depends on treating Japan as its own market, not simply translating a U.S. strategy and taking it overseas.
