HOW IT WORKS

ONE
PARTNER

We take every part of selling in Japan that is tedious, regulated or Japanese-only off your plate, and then we do the marketing properly. Here is exactly what that covers, in what order, and what you should expect.

01 / THE SEQUENCE

Three steps. You decide after each one.

00

Japan Market Fit read

Send us your brand name. Within three business days you get one page: your three closest competitors in Japan, their price points, their organic (unpaid) UGC volume, the channel we would start with, and a realistic range for what a brand like yours does in its first Qoo10 or Amazon.co.jp windows, based on the nine launches we have measured. If Japan is not a fit right now, we say so.

Free
01

Japan Setup

One fee. Everything you need to sell in Japan, built by us. See the full list below. Typically four to six weeks from your product files to live store pages.

¥300,000 · about $3,000
02

Japan Team (monthly)

We run the channels the way Japan buys, build the UGC before each sale window, handle PR and retail introductions, and send you a weekly note in English. Scoped to your channel mix after the read.

Let's talk
02 / JAPAN SETUP

What the setup fee builds. All of it.

This is the part most brands underestimate. In Japan you cannot sell without a licensed marketing-authorization holder, cannot label without Japanese text and a full ingredient list, cannot run your US claims as they are, and cannot list on Qoo10 or Amazon.co.jp with a translated page and expect anything to happen. We do the whole set, once, properly.

Market & plan

Know before you spend

  • Category read: competitors, prices, organic UGC volume (POSBUZZ)
  • Channel order for your brand: Qoo10, Amazon.co.jp, Rakuten, TikTok Shop, retail
  • Which SKUs to lead with and why
  • Realistic range for your first sale windows
  • 90-day plan and Mega Sale calendar
Regulatory

Legal in Japan, without a Japanese company

  • Full-ingredient screening against Japanese standards
  • Cosmetics notification and marketing-authorization holding through our licensed partner manufacturer
  • Japanese labels: text, layout guidance, mandatory items
  • Import paperwork coordination with your forwarder
Claims & copy

Japanese that sells

  • Your claims rewritten for Japan, keeping the ones that work
  • Brand story and product copy in Japanese, written in reviewers' vocabulary
  • Product names and shade names that read well in Japanese
Creative

Everything designed

  • Japanese landing page
  • Banner set for marketplaces and ads
  • Product images with Japanese overlays, A+ content
  • Social templates and creator brief in Japanese
Stores

Ready to sell

  • Qoo10 store and product pages, Mega Sale entry
  • Amazon.co.jp listings, A+ content, brand registry
  • Rakuten store pages where it fits
  • Cleanup of unofficial or parallel-import listings that already sell your brand
Launch plan

The first window, mapped

  • Creator seeding list and UGC plan timed before the sale window
  • Japanese PR plan and press materials
  • Reporting setup: weekly note, monthly Brand Chart
  • Distributor and retail introduction plan for later
03 / JAPAN TEAM

What we run every month.

Marketplaces

Qoo10 · Amazon.co.jp · Rakuten

Store operations, Mega Sale planning four times a year, ads and coupons, Vine and Subscribe & Save, review responses and Q&A in Japanese, inventory and price watch.

UGC & creators

The posts nobody paid for

Creator seeding before each window, TikTok Shop Japan, gifting programs, honest-review formats, and the measurement that tells us which posts actually moved sales.

PR

Japanese press and platforms

Press releases in Japanese, beauty media, @cosme and LIPS presence, awards entries, trade-show support.

Retail bridge

From EC numbers to shelves

Once the e-commerce numbers exist we take them to distributors and buyers: LOFT, PLAZA, @cosme STORE, Cosme Kitchen, drugstore chains. Introductions move when sales move.

Reporting

Weekly in English

A short weekly note, a monthly Brand Chart with posts and sales on one timeline, and calls in US morning hours. You always know what was done, what moved and what is next.

Scope & terms

Scoped after the read

The monthly fee depends on which channels you run and at what volume, so we propose it with the free read. Month to month after setup. USD via Stripe or wire, English contracts. Media spend, marketplace fees, inventory, freight and creator product are separate and shown at cost.

04 / WHAT TO EXPECT

Guidance from data, not promises.

Nobody can guarantee a launch. What we can do is tell you, before you spend, how your category moves in Japan and what brands like yours have done in their first windows. A few of the launches we have measured, from the playbook:

New entrant · 2023

Capsule Serum

200,000 units in six months, 2.5 million to date. Entry through a concrete problem (pores, cleansing), ~6,000 stores from day one.

New entrant · 2025

CHPT.9

Estimated Amazon monthly sales from ¥0.48M to ¥41.7M in eleven months on filmed before-and-after and TikTok Shop Japan.

Mid-size · 2021

Perfect One Focus

Qoo10 as the main channel, buzz synced to Mega Sale. Year-one sales over ¥1B, 60% e-commerce, then the drugstore shelf.

For a foreign brand, we give a range for the first two windows in the free read and adjust it after the first one. More work and analyses →

05 / FOR AGENCIES

The same, under your brand.

Agencies get the identical setup and monthly scope for their clients, white-label or co-branded, with a one-page scope within 48 hours priced for you to mark up. Client protection, account ownership and reporting terms are on the agencies page.

06 / QUESTIONS

Things brands ask before they start.

Do we need a Japanese entity?

No. Notification and marketing-authorization holding go through our partner manufacturer, licensed under Japan's PMD Act. You keep the brand, the trademark and the customer.

What does the setup fee cover, exactly?

Everything in section 02: the market read and plan, regulatory coordination, Japanese labels and claims, copy, landing page, banners and images, store pages, and the launch plan. Produced by us, in four to six weeks.

How much is the monthly Japan Team?

It depends on channels and volume, so we scope it after the free read and send a proposal with it. Month to month after setup.

Do you guarantee results?

No one honestly can. We show you how your category moves before you spend, give a realistic range for your first windows, and then do the work ourselves. Our measured launches are on the Work page.

What is not included?

Media spend, marketplace commissions and FBA fees, product for creators, inventory, freight, customs, label printing, and quasi-drug (医薬部外品) approvals, which we refer to specialists. Everything passed through is shown at cost.

What about distributors and retail?

We introduce you to the right distributor once the e-commerce numbers exist, and we run the marketing alongside them. Retail moves when sales move; we do not push a brand onto shelves before there is UGC to support it.

Start with the free read

CONTACT

Send us your brand name. Within three business days you get the one-page Japan Market Fit read
and a proposal for the setup and the monthly team. No deck, no pitch.