Clock has been fortunate this year to be given an opportunity to launch a brand into Japan. To be in a position to offer this market to our clients took many months of research and many more months of hard work. We have a number of like-minded expert partners based in Japan who all form part of the team and who allow us to understand the unique culture, business landscape, legalities and market opportunities in Japan. I thought I would share with you some of the interesting things we have learnt about consumers and their attitude to International brands and products.
Focus groups have shown us the Japanese consumer loves to shop, they love to be experts in their chosen hobby or considered purchase and will often study their potential purchase in great detail before parting with cash. This presents great opportunities for a company with a technical or complex product to sell. The packaging design and marketing of products needs to provide much more detail than we would show in the UK or Europe. It allows a company to explain why their product is better / different / more expensive than competing products. In our client’s case, it has allowed us an opportunity to use a brand leader strategy and launch a new category in an established market and one which the Japanese consumer is embracing enthusiastically.
Japanese consumers, much like Western consumers, are marketing savvy and will research blogs and forums seeking recommendations and ensuring a company provides good customer service. The minimum warranty required in Japan is 1 year, however companies that offer longer warranties are seen as being better and having better quality, more reliable products so this can give an advantage.
Typically, Japanese design is very colourful, busy and ‘fun’ (the Japanese call it ‘cute’) however in research we discovered they perceive British design that has a more serious clean and structured look suggests a higher quality product. Using English language (selectively) as well as Japanese is considered ‘International’ and therefore has more ‘cudos’. At the same time Japanese people can be very suspicious of International brands entering Japan and everyone tells us a long-term approach to doing business in Japan is required. A company or brand needs to be established many years in Japan to ‘earn the trust’ of the Japanese consumer – they want to see a brand is committed to Japan and not just in it for a quick sale. Companies including Boots and H&M have learnt this lesson the hard way (Boots had to withdraw from Japan before entering again using a different approach).
Distribution is also hugely complex in Japan with many tiers and any business needs to be prepared for this. Trying to cut out tiers is not accepted. Selling online is a huge opportunity and again design is critical to getting it right. A website needs to be created using a Japanese writer to get the right tone of voice and represent the brand correctly. Japan has a fantastic home delivery network that allows customers to pay in cash at a local shop for a product before it is delivered to their home.
Just like us the Japanese love to shop. It is their number one pastime and hobby – there is no doubt if you have the right product and market it in the right way, Japan offers enormous growth potential.
