Is the Japanese e-commerce market underestimated by brands?

Under the "shadow" of US tariff policies, the rest of the world's markets are being noticed by Chinese cross - border merchants.

 Take Japan, a neighboring country, for example.

 A report published by The Economist in 2024 stated that "Japan is undergoing a series of remarkable economic transformations." From being a popular destination for workers in the Yangtze River Delta region to hosting the Osaka - Kansai Expo, Japan has once again become an extremely attractive commercial and cultural market in Asia.

Japan has always been known for its prosperous offline business ecosystem. In the current post - pandemic era, Japanese consumers' acceptance of online shopping is also continuously increasing, especially in categories such as household appliances, home goods, and health care. According to Statista data, the scale of the Japanese e - commerce market reached $191.9 billion in 2024, a year - on - year increase of 8.4%, and it is expected to grow to $206.8 billion in 2025.

In the Japanese cross - border market, if traditional large sellers are used to flooding the market with low - priced products on Amazon and small and medium - sized factories relieve inventory pressure through "the Four Little Dragons of Going Global" such as Temu and SHEIN, Rakuten in Japan is an important channel preferred by brand - type enterprises going global to Japan for in - depth localization. Consumer brands such as Xiaomi, OPPO, Tineco, Ulike, and Florasis have already settled in.

The growth rate of the online e - commerce market is considerable, but the number of Chinese sellers is not large yet. It can be said that Rakuten in Japan and even the Japanese e - commerce market are still huge blue - ocean markets for cross - border merchants and brands.

 The Japanese e - commerce market behind 110 million users

Rakuten Japan was founded in 1997, starting with e - commerce business, and was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2000. Since then, its business has expanded to fields such as financial services, tourism, and communications, and it has entered markets in the United States, Europe, etc. through acquisitions and investments. In 2010, Rakuten acquired the French e - commerce platform Price Minister and gradually developed it into one of the top five e - commerce platforms in France, attracting an average of 15 million visitors per month.

Mayuri Takama, the General Manager of the Market Planning Department and Executive Director of Rakuten Group, revealed that currently Rakuten has approximately 30,000 employees and more than 2 billion users in 30 countries and regions. The e - commerce turnover of Rakuten in Japan reaches about 6 trillion yen (equivalent to about 300 billion yuan), making it one of the leading e - commerce platforms in Japan.

Mayuri Takama, General Manager of the Market Planning Department and Executive Director of Rakuten Group

In order to expand Rakuten's brand influence and attract high - quality Chinese brands to settle in, Rakuten established a Chinese branch in Shenzhen in 2019, officially opening its doors to Chinese sellers, and holds two large - scale summits in China every year. Recently, the 2025 Rakuten Global E - commerce Brand Summit was just held in Shenzhen.

"Through Rakuten Japan, Chinese sellers can not only reach the people behind 100 million membership IDs in Japan but also achieve efficient going - global with the help of Rakuten's logistics network and marketing tools," said Mayuri Takama.

For cross - border e - commerce enterprises wanting to enter the Japanese market, Rakuten Japan is a key channel that cannot be bypassed. Currently, Rakuten Japan has 100 million members, with over 44 million monthly active users. The user profile of the Rakuten e - commerce platform covers the general Japanese population from students to housewives, and the main consumer group is concentrated among women aged 30 - 50 who hold the family's financial power and are responsible for the family's daily purchases.

"The user profile of Rakuten Market highly matches the core users of our products. Since we settled in, the overall development speed has been quite fast," revealed Fia, the operation manager of Ulike's Japanese Rakuten business in the overseas department. Ulike settled on the Rakuten platform in 2022 and started to focus on operations in 2023. In less than two years, it achieved a breakthrough from zero to becoming the top brand in its category.

Fia, Operation Manager of Ulike's Japanese Rakuten business in the overseas department

For Rakuten Market, Chinese cross - border merchants are upgrading from product - going - global to brand - going - global. The competitiveness of their products in terms of quality and price also provides Rakuten with a more diverse supply of high - cost - performance products. Mayuri Takama said, "Last year was my first time in China. After communicating with many merchants, I was very surprised by the quality and affordable prices of their products. I hope more excellent Chinese merchants will expand their business on Rakuten."

2. Super - point ecosystem and local endorsement

In Mayuri Takama's view, the advantage of Rakuten Japan lies in that it is not just an e - commerce platform but can also mobilize the ecological resources of the entire "Rakuten Economic Circle." The Rakuten Economic Circle is centered around "ID + points." By integrating the underlying databases of different businesses, users can use more than 70 types of Rakuten services with the same ID account, covering e - commerce shopping, tourism, finance, communications, and other businesses. The general "Rakuten points" obtained by users during the use of any service can also be used in other businesses.

This system can not only effectively improve user stickiness and loyalty but also enable Rakuten to better understand user behavior and consumption preferences through the analysis of member data, thereby promoting synergy and traffic circulation among different businesses. For example, users often enter the Rakuten Economic Circle through the e - commerce platform, complete payments with a Rakuten credit card, and accumulate a certain amount of points according to the payment amount. The point system also runs through both online and offline consumption scenarios, meeting the consumption habits of Japanese users in offline scenarios.

In addition to the Rakuten Economic Circle service ecosystem, Mayuri Takama said, "As one of the largest local e - commerce platforms in Japan, Rakuten has a natural sense of familiarity and trust among Japanese consumers, which can provide local endorsement for Chinese brands."

In the actual operation process, after sellers activate their Rakuten Japan Market accounts, the official Rakuten team will assign an operation consulting manager. Based on the dynamic sales volume and trends of categories, the manager will provide sellers with store optimization and product sales strategies, assist merchants in store data analysis, and help Chinese merchants better adapt to the Japanese market environment.

Mayuri Takama introduced that the positioning of the Rakuten platform is an "online shopping mall" that requires merchants to operate in a refined manner, which is more similar to Tmall or JD.com in China, focusing on recommending products to consumers from a brand perspective. Compared with cross - border merchants who rely on explosive products for short - term sales, the operation model of Rakuten Market is more friendly to brand - type sellers who value long - term user perception building.

Therefore, for brand - type sellers, it is crucial to build a personalized brand store on the Rakuten platform to showcase brand characteristics. Rakuten also has stricter standards for seller settlement and product quality control. Mayuri Takama especially reminded, "Japanese customers care a lot about product reviews when shopping. Higher reviews can win more user trust, which is very important for successful local penetration in the Japanese market."

3. How Chinese sellers can quickly adapt to the Japanese market

The demand of consumers on Rakuten Japan Market for Chinese products is mainly concentrated in categories such as household and living goods, outdoor and gardening, fashion and beauty, and health care. "Judging from this year's trends, Chinese sellers in these categories have great growth potential," Mayuri Takama introduced. Rakuten provides full - chain support from logistics to marketing for merchants and applies the latest AI technology in the store operation system to help Chinese merchants quickly adapt to the Japanese market.

For example, in the marketing aspect, Rakuten launched a "Super Point Rebate" activity. During the promotion period, consumers can enjoy up to 47 times the point rebate incentive, which not only strengthens user stickiness but also improves the sales conversion rate of merchants. During the annual Super Sale promotion, the platform traffic will explode several times compared to normal times. Mayuri Takama suggested that sellers should prepare a good inventory strategy and advertising investment in advance to double their sales.

Take the "STEP" strategy adopted by Ulike on the Rakuten platform as an example. During the promotion stage, Ulike, with the help of Rakuten's local support, translated its product advantages into language that meets the needs of Japanese consumers. Then, combined with activities such as live - streaming and point cash - back on the Rakuten platform, it quickly increased brand awareness. At the same time, Ulike used data tools such as competitor analysis and trend prediction in the RMS store management background to concentrate resources to boost sales at key nodes, and finally achieved a breakthrough from zero to becoming the top brand in its category.

In the logistics aspect, currently, Rakuten Super Logistics (RSL), a logistics service brand operated by the Rakuten Group for store - opening sellers, can provide sellers with one - stop logistics services from inventory management to delivery.

In addition, to achieve the "Triple 20" goal - a 20% improvement in marketing, operation, and customer efficiency, Rakuten Japan introduced AI technology into the Rakuten Market to promote the convenience of user experience and the efficiency of store operation.

According to Mayuri Takama, the search function of traditional e - commerce platforms is keyword - centered, while the AI technology of Rakuten Market supports semantic search. Users can describe their needs in a specific scenario in natural language, which significantly reduces the search no - result rate by 98.5%. Semantic search has driven a maximum increase of 5.3% in product sales.

In addition to the optimization of the search function, the AI intelligent recommendation system can guide users to find satisfactory products, increasing the user click - to - purchase rate by 59%. The dynamic advertising optimization uses AI to precisely match highly relevant advertisements, driving a 4% increase in advertising revenue on the homepage of Rakuten Market. Rakuten has also built an AI assistant into the store management background (RMS) to improve merchant operation efficiency.

It can be said that through the construction of the "Rakuten Economic Circle," the strengthening of AI technology application, and characteristic marketing activities, Rakuten Japan is not only a bridge for brands to enter the Japanese market but also provides a high - quality path for the global layout of Chinese brands. Chinese brands can also build their own sustainable competitiveness in mature markets through continuous product and technology innovation and local operation with the help of the Rakuten Japan platform.