Japan continues to be one of the most difficult and challenging locations to enter the market
for Western firms. For many businesses, the culture and way of doing business in Japan seems
mysterious and often difficult to understand.
The challenges faced by the company are well documented regarding the entry of the Japanese
market. Japanese market entry: "why is business in Japan so difficult?", Explaining some of
these challenges ranging from the obvious ones like language to the exact demands made by
Japanese consumers.
Instead of spending a lot of time in the trap of entering the Japanese market, let’s consider five
tips for successfully bringing your business to Japan.
5 Tips to successfully enter the Japanese market.
1. Conduct Japanese market research.
There are no obstacles when entering the Japanese market. It is very important to be slow to
go fast. Doing significant market research in Japan before launching your product or service is
key to creating a market entry strategy. You need to know who your customers are and what
their competition is. This may seem obvious but failing in proper research can be very costly
in the long run.
2. Create a Japanese digital presence.
Creating a digital strategy and a well thought out web presence will show that you are serious
about succeeding in Japan as well as creating legitimacy. Three important things to do with
your Japanese website, always use a Japanese original copy and secondly make sure that the
business owner or CEO is on the website. Lastly, the FAQ page will help build trust with
curious Japanese users.
3. Get yourself a local partner or consultant.
Expertise comes at a price. Lack of expertise is even more expensive. The real reason for using
experts in the Japanese market is because it is too easy to misinterpret your qualitative data.
There is nothing in Japan that seems to be, and Japanese culture that tends to be very polite
will cause you to hear a lot of “yes” even if they answer is “no”. Working with consultants who
already have relationships in Japan will make a significant difference to success.
4. Think long term.
Japan is not a wild west, so you need to be prepared to show that you are entering the Japanese
market for a long time. Long-term relationships are key and if you seem to want to make some
quick money and then run, you will be hard pressed to succeed. This does not mean that some
Japanese friends will not cooperate with you, they will but do not expect them to be continuous
friends. If you are seriously entering the Japanese market, you definitely want to have a
relationship strategy. One where you identify your key partner and start building a mutually
beneficial relationship.
5. Visit Japan and stay for a while.
Visiting Japan is obvious. I am always surprised how many people do not visit Japan when
they want to enter the market. You not only have to visit Japan but you must also visit regularly.
Spending time in Japan not only allows you to build relationships but also to meet customers
and learn about Japanese culture and how Japanese people do business.