The eCommerce industry has been revolutionary for small businesses in Japan for the past decade along with online marketing, and it will grow more in the upcoming years. If you have a strong online-based startup idea in Japan, all you need is to set up an eCommerce shop, enable a payment gateway for your Japanese customers and start selling online. Online ecommerce engines are very mature and you can have a fully functional small business ecommerce site up and online in 1 day. There are many online ecommerce website platforms and the best for your small business in Japan will depend on your needs.
When shortlisting ecommerce platforms what will be the engine of your Japanese online small business in Japan, you will need to look for mobile friendly designs as most visitors are from mobile devices, multiple payment options in Japan, discounting coupon and voucher features, Japanese ecommerce statistics, order management, automated transaction emails and integrated shipping features for people in Japan and the rest of the world.
This post will be all about the important features to look out for before choosing an eCommerce platform for your Japanese small business, and it is designed to make the whole process easy for merchants wishing to get setup quickly online in Japan.
Ecommerce Platforms For Small Business Japan Table of Contents
Lets see how Shopify compare to other ecommerce platforms out there.
Name | Rating | Established | Head Office |
---|---|---|---|
Shopify | 9.9 | 2006 | Ottawa, Canada |
Shopify Plus | 9.8 | 2006 | Ottawa, Canada |
WooCommerce | 9.7 | 2005 | San Francisco, CA |
Volusion | 9.7 | 1999 | Austin, TX |
3dcart | 9.7 | 1997 | Tamarac, FL |
Big Cartel | 9.7 | 2005 | Salt Lake City, UT |
Ecwid | 9.7 | 2009 | Encinitas, CA |
Ecomchain | 9.6 | 2001 | Frisco, TX |
Kooomo | 9.6 | 2000 | Dublin, Ireland |
Contalog | 9.6 | 2008 | Chennai, Tamil Nadu |
PayMotion | 9.6 | 2019 | Victoria, Canada |
Upclick | 9.6 | 2006 | Montreal, Canada |
*please check with the vendors directly for the latest pricing.
Name | Price | Duration |
---|---|---|
Shopify | $29 - $299 | Per month, Per month, Per month, |
Shopify Plus | $29 - $299 | Per month, Per month, Per month, |
WooCommerce | $0 - $99 | Per month, Per month, Per month, Per month, Per year, Per year, Per year, |
Volusion | $RequestPricing - $RequestPricing | |
3dcart | $29 - $299 | Per month, |
Big Cartel | $9.99 - $Free | Per month, Per month, Per month, |
Ecwid | $0 - $99 | Per month, Per month, Per month, Per month, Per year, Per year, Per year, |
Ecomchain | $RequestPricing - $RequestPricing | |
Kooomo | $RequestPricing - $RequestPricing | |
Contalog | $99 - $299 | Per month, Per month, Per month, |
PayMotion | $1.7 - $1.7 | one-time/user, |
Upclick | $36.16 - $36.16 | Per month, |
Name |
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Shopify Features
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Shopify Plus Features
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WooCommerce Features
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Volusion Features
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3dcart Features
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Big Cartel Features
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Ecwid Features
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Ecomchain Features
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Kooomo Features
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Contalog Features
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PayMotion Features
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Upclick Features
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Customer service is very important when using a ecommerce like Shopify.
When investing in and dealing with a ecommerce for your business, timely customer support is essential.
Customer service includes assistance in installation, training, troubleshooting, upgrading, and cancellation of a product or service.
Your ecommerce solution should offer customer support that includes Phone answering services, Live chat support and Email customer service support.
Shopify and Shopify Plus offer support where clients are able to call or contact the helpdesk via email or a chat service.
Name | Support Rating | Support | Languages |
---|---|---|---|
Shopify | 8.4 | Phone, Email | English |
Shopify Plus | 8.5 | Phone, Email, Live Chat | Danish, German, English, Finnish, French, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional) |
WooCommerce | 7.4 | Phone, Email | Afrikaans, Arabic, Danish, German, English, Finnish, French, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Simplified) |
Volusion | 7.3 | Phone, Email, | English |
3dcart | 8.4 | Phone, Email, Live Chat | English |
Big Cartel | 8.1 | Phone, Email | English |
Ecwid | 9.6 | Phone, Email | German, English, French, Indonesian, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish |
Ecomchain | 9.7 | Phone, Email | Arabic, German, English, French, Gujarati, Hindi, Italian, Latin, Malayalam, Nepali, Punjabi, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Urdu, Chinese (Simplified) |
Kooomo | 9.4 | Phone, Email, Live Chat | Xhosa, Tonga (Tonga Islands), Samoan, Maori, Maltese, Fijian, Tibetan, Chinese (Simplified), Vietnamese, Uzbek, Urdu, Ukrainian, Turkish, Thai, Telugu, Tatar, Tamil, Swedish, Swahili, Serbian, Albanian, Spanish, Slovenian, Slovak, Russian, Romanian, Quechua, Portuguese, Polish, Punjabi, Norwegian, Dutch, Nepali, Malay, Mongolian, Macedonian, Marathi, Malayalam, Lithuanian, Latvian, Latin, Korean, Central Khmer, Georgian, Japanese, Italian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Armenian, Hungarian, Croatian, Hindi, Hebrew, Gujarati, Irish, French, Finnish, Persian, Basque, Estonian, English, Greek, German, Danish, Welsh, Czech, Catalan, Bulgarian, Bengali, Arabic, Afrikaans |
Contalog | 10.0 | Phone, Email | English |
PayMotion | 10.0 | Phone, Email | Arabic, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Finnish, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese, Chinese (Simplified) |
Upclick | 4.0 | Phone, Email | English |
Ensure that the ecommerce solution you decide upon provides the exact range of tools your organisation needs. Check ECOMMERCE is a good fit for your business.
The best ecommerce software for Japanese ecommerce business owners is Shopify. Shopify is a ecommerce software company that serves Japan business oweners and customers. Shopify specialises in ecommerce software for small to enterprise level businesses.
Scroll down to read our indepth Ecommerce Platforms For Small Business Japan guide. What you should know, Ecommerce Platforms For Small Business Japan features, price plans and support. Pros and Cons of Ecommerce Platforms For Small Business Japan as a ecommerce, everything is explained below.
An important factor for business owners to consider when looking for a Ecommerce like Shopify is the support and educational resources the Ecommerce platform can offer.
Choose a ecommerce that is considered an industry-leader with a well tested and well known software platform.
If you are thinking of using the Shopify platform you will need to know that Shopify is ecommerce that you can rely on.
Overall rating | 84% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 84% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Basic | $29 | Per month |
Professional | $79 | Per month |
unlimited | $299 | Per month |
Overall rating | 85% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 85% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Mid-Market | $29 | Per month |
Enterprise | $79 | Per month |
$299 | Per month |
Overall rating | 74% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 74% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | $0 | Per month |
Mid-Market | $15 | Per month |
Enterprise | $35 | Per month |
$99 | Per month |
Overall rating | 73% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 73% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Mini | Request Pricing | |
Plus | ||
Pro | unknown | |
Premium | unknown | |
unknown |
Overall rating | 84% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 84% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
3dcart BASIC | $29 | Per month |
3dcart PLUS | $299 | |
3dcart PRO | ||
3dcart Enterprise | unknown | |
unknown |
Overall rating | 81% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 81% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Titanium | Free | Per month |
Diamond | $9.99 | Per month |
Platinum | $19.99 | Per month |
Gold | $29.99 | |
Overall rating | 96% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 96% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Free | $0 | Per month |
VENTURE | $15 | Per month |
BUSINESS | $35 | Per month |
UNLIMITED | $99 | Per month |
$12.50 | Per year |
Overall rating | 97% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 97% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | Request Pricing | |
Mid-Market | ||
unknown |
Overall rating | 94% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 94% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | Request Pricing | |
Mid-Market | ||
Enterprise | unknown | |
unknown |
Overall rating | 100% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 100% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Basic Terms | $99 | Per month |
Small Terms | $199 | Per month |
Growing Terms | $299 | Per month |
Overall rating | 100% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 100% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | 1.7 | one-time/user |
Mid-Market | ||
Enterprise | unknown | |
unknown |
Overall rating | 40% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 40% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | 36.16 | Per month |
Mid-Market | ||
Enterprise | unknown | |
unknown |
Ecommerce in Japan is a great way for small businesses to compete in an increasingly saturated Japanese marketplace. Japanese ecommerce offers small busiess a way to increase sales using the internet to reach local it offers a way to drive sales,global audiences from Japan. Increased competition, cost savings, and changes in sellers' pricing behavior might all contribute to a very competitive selling environment in Japan if online retailing continues to see rapid growth. E-commerce has emerged as a significant driver of the expanding global economy not just in Japan, making it an essential component of Japanese company strategies and a reliable accelerant of economic growth.
Benefits of ecommerce for small businesses in Japan include:
Moving your Japanese business online can help you save some money when you are starting out. And you won't have to pay for things like rent, sales equipment, staff, and other expenses you have to take care of when you rent a physical store for your small business in Japan.
although start up costs are low Japanese business owners, will have to take care of some costs like advertising and also pay for some software you need to set up your website and other things that will help you to market your product to your audience in Japan.
On the other hand, you have to consider the features your will need for your Japanese business and in some cases you might not need all the advanced features some off the shelf ecommerce platforms available to you in Japan offer. Advanced ecommerce tools that small businesses in Japan benefit from include Tools for sales report generation, integrated blogs that target your Japanese audience, shopping cart retrieval after being left, options for more advanced searching and filtering your Japanese ecommerce site, sales checkout that is suited for mobile devices and integrated social media and SEO.
Your Japanese business will always be open for business 24/7, and customers can come from different parts of the world not just Japan. So, it makes sense to start your Japanese business online.
More importantly, your customers in Japan spend most of their time online and even at night. Hence you won't have any limits on time windows where you can process sales with your Japanese business. With a properly setup online store in Japan you will be able to process orders while sleeping. So, this is a great option for Japanese business owners who want to grow their business and take it to another level.
Most times, it is very difficult to have a global reach for your physical shop in the Japanese and other parts of the world, but with your Japanese eCommerce shop, you can get customers from any part of the world and make more sales with your range of products of offer in Japan.
With your Japanese eCommerce shop, you can reach your audience in different parts of the world, and your customers can access your Japanese shop from anywhere once they have their device and internet connection. So, if you want to supercharge your Japanese eCommerce business, just take it online and start marketing to gain traffic through Facebook, Google Ads, Google search and the many other sales channels in Japan.
Having an online store in Japan for your small business gives you the opportunity to showcase the products digitally the way you want your Japanese audience to see to them, like your best-selling products and related products. This is not the same with your physical shop in Japan where you'll have everything in the open in your Japanese store where there is less chance for detailed personal ecommerce recommendations.
Having products on show in your physical shop can cause wear and tear for some items due to some factors, but when you have your Japanese store online, you won't have any challenges like that; instead, your product will be stored in a warehouse and shipped to the customer directly in Japan when they place an order. A more controlled environment allows Japanese business owners to scale and automate their processes as well as save money.
Another reason what you have to consider while taking your Japanese shop online is due to affordable staff costs. You can outsource most of your tasks to remote workers who will help you to provide excellent work at an affordable price. The best thing of all is that if you small business is online your staff or virtual assistants do not have to be in Japan. You can hire a offshore assistant for the fraction of the cost you would pay someone in Japan.
So, if you want to supercharge your business in the Japanese and beyond, it is advisable to take your shop online. Another benefit of using prebuilt off the self ecommerce platforms in Japan is that they will have ready made templates that have product lists, recommended lists and people also brought that are designed in a way that already convert well for your Japanese consumers.
With an eCommerce shop for your Japanese business, you can easily interact with your customers via livechat, email, social media platforms, and other messaging platforms in Japan. This will help you to close more deals and make more sales for your Japanese business. On the contrary, if you only have a physical shop, you won't be able to interact with most of your Japanese customers this way.
Some of the ways to interact with your Japanese customers is by using automated transactional email; you can create a sales funnel for your small business in Japan and work them down from interested to buyers or even use email for registration to create a mailing list. Having a ready and interested audience in Japan is very essential for small businesses in Japan.
One of the benefits of taking your Japanese business online is that most eCommerce platforms in the Japanese allow you to keep track of your inventory automatically. With this, you'll know when you need to get new products for your online business in Japan. Inventory management is essential when knowing the health of your Japanese business and you will need to know how much investory you have when scaling up your business.
If you want your prospective customers to trust your Japanese business, it is important to have testimonials and reviews on your ecommerce website; that way, your Japanese prospects will trust you more and would want to buy from you. Testimonials and reviews act as social proof when selling online in Japan. Its allot easier to add social proof if you have your Japanese business online, than it would if you had someone in your physical store. So, it makes sense to move your Japanese business online and also use modern social, review and customer feedback features that are built into most ecommerce platforms in Japan. This will help you to tap the full potential of taking your Japanese small business online.
When you have your Japanese ecommerce business online, you can easily advertise and market your products to the whole world and Japan with just a click. You can choose to advertise your Japanese products on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
Apart from social media, you also advertise your Japanese ecommerce business to the whole world with Google Ads, Facebook Ads and Google Search and other search engines when you have an eCommerce shop for your brand in Japan.
Ecommerce platforms in Japan can be confusing for Japanese small business owners. Which features are most useful and import for you will depend on your budget and needs. When planning your ecommerce store in Japan you should aim to have a solution that provides your business with faster purchase procedures for your Japanese audience, online product list creation in Japan, Japanese business costs reduction, marketing plugins, flexibility for Japanese and international consumers, no reach constraints, product comparisons in Japan and multiple payment method integrations in Japan.
When you are looking for the best eCommerce platform for small business Japan, look for a tool that has lots of templates.
As a business owner in Japan, well designed templates can help you to create and personalize your website. And you can do that even if you are not tech-savvy or a designer. And probably, you are an entrepreneur in Japan and not a website designer, so you have to focus your energy and resources on the business side of things instead of running website building. Well designed pre made ecommerce templates can help your Japanese small business.
So, it is important to choose a Japanese eCommerce platform that has lots of templates that fit your business. With a Japanese eCommerce platform that has numerous templates, you can choose and easily customize any template to suit your brand in Japan.
Although it is important to have lots of templates for your Japanese online shop, the ability to customize your template is also important as this helps you to give your website a personalized look and also structure it to suit your Japanese brand. So, the best eCommerce platforms for any small business in Japan should be customisable.
Your Japanese customers will spend most of the time navigating your website, and that's why their user experience is important for your Japanese businesses success. Hence, you should have this in mind when looking for eCommerce platforms for your small business in the Japanese.
Always choose a tool that will help you to design a website so that your Japanese audience can move around your site and see what they are looking for, with the fewest clicks on web and mobile in Japan.
Marketing is crucial for your Japanese online business, and you can't go far with your Japanese business without marketing your product to your Japanese and global audience; Useful marketing features for Japanese business owners include Send out personalized emails as appropriate, Utilize user reviews and Other user generated content to market your Japanese brand, detailed analytics that provide insights into your Japanese audience, tools for optimising the conversion rate of interested Japanese consumers, coupon Codes that generate more sales for you in Japan, intergrations with Google Ads and Facebook Ads.
This resource will help you to market and advertise your Japanese product to your customers from different parts of the world. So, make sure a tool you want to choose to run your online business in the Japanese has this feature.
Since you want to take your Japanese business global understanding SEO and search engines is important for any online Japanese business.
The acronym SEO stands for "search engine optimization," and it is a potent technique that may assist your Japanese ecommerce website in achieving a higher ranking in search engines in Japan. Because of the large number of Japanese people who use Google to gather information before making purchases, your website and product pages need to be optimized for them in Japan.
If you want to achieve great results with your Japanese eCommerce shop and make more sales, SEO is extremely important. It allows you to rank high on Google and other search engines in Japan.
SEO tools will help search engines understand your website in Japan and what it is all about. However, some top Japanese eCommerce platforms don't come with any SEO tools of intergrations. Hence, the reason why you need to do your own research before choosing any Japanese platform for your small business in Japan.
Content is one of the most powerful resources for growing your business to your captive audience in Japan, and it will also help you to build your Japanese brand. Informational articles that help sell your products are one of the top factors that can help your Japanese eCommerce shop to rank on Google and other search engines. And to create content on your ecommerce website, you will need a blog section.
Note that without regular posted articles your Japanese ecommerce business site won't rank highly on search engines. So, if you to regularly add content that educates, informs, and entertains your customers in Japan, it is advisable to choose a Japanese eCommerce platform with a built-in blog section.
Undoubtedly, an email marketing tool is essential for communication and dissemination of information to your Japanese and global audience. The best eCommerce platform for small business Japan should be able to support informational emails, lead nurturing emails and promotional emails to help and generate more revenue for your Japanese audience. With effective ecommerce email marketing in Japan, you can reach your Japanese and global customers with interesting and engaging messages about your Japanese business; you can as well use it to send transactional emails to your Japanese audience.
Note that some Japanese eCommerce service providers don't have integrated email functionality. however, if you choose an ecommerce platform in Japan without this feature, you'll have to get an additional email service with another platform which will cost you more money and time.
According to the most recent poll on e-commerce in Japan, the major cause for Japanese customers to abandon their shopping carts is a lack of preferred payment options when buying online in Japan. If a Japanese customer has access to a number of different payment choices in Japan, there is a greater chance that they will pay faster and sooner.
It is also important to choose a Japanese eCommerce platform that has numerous payment methods for your customers in Japan and the rest of the world. Such a platform will help you to present numerous payment methods to your audience in the Japanese and other parts of the world. Popular Japanese ecommerce payment methods include bank transfers, debit cards, credit cards, Klarna, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay.
Cybercriminals will never stop focusing their attention on e-commerce websites in Japan as prime targets. Japanese ecommerce sites are a thief's dream come true since they include a wealth of personal and financial information on their Japanese customer bases. The cost of a breach to a small business in Japan may be extremely detrimental, both in terms of the loss of data and the erosion of their Japanese customers faith in them as a trust worthy business.
Ecommerce security is a must for any Japanese eCommerce platform you want to choose for your business. With a great Japanese eCommerce platform that has a great security system, you'll protect your Japanese customers and your business from online fraudsters.
Important security measures for ecommerce businesses in Japan includes;
If you want your Japanese customers to buy your products immediately, you have to create a sense of urgency and scarcity for your Japanese eCommerce business and its products in Japan, count down deals and vouchers are great for this. With this tool, you can give your Japanese and international audience a limited-time deal or discount on your ecommerce website in Japan. This will enable your Japanese customers to benefit from store discounts if they take action very fast, and this means more sales for your small business Japan.
When looking for the best eCommerce platforms for your Japanese business, it is crucial to write down what you need in any ecommerce platform on the market and how it will help your Japanese business in the long run.
Also, consider the security and customer support as these two will have a great impact on your Japanese eCommerce small business in Japan.
The truth is that you are a business owner in Japan, and you don't have the luxury of time to design and handle all the complex parts of your ecommerce website in Japan. So, you have to choose the an eCommerce platform that will streamline and add great value to the day to day running and growth of you business and customer base in Japan.
Shopify is the best Ecommerce solution by overall rating based on price, support and feature set.
Shopify is the cheapest Ecommerce Ecommerce solution, price plans start at $29 and goes all the way up too $299 depending on the plan.
Some Ecommerce Ecommerce providers offer free plans, but its best to go with a provider that 100% is able to fulfill your needs rather than go cheap. Especially for your business.
The most popular Ecommerce solutions are Shopify, Shopify Plus, WooCommerce, Volusion. This is measured by number of active users and overall rating.
Read our detailed ecommerce reviews below.
If you feel some of the above ecommerce solutions are not quiet what you are looking for or perhaps you would just like to see some alternatives. See our highly rated list of ecommerce below.
You can read some of our Ecommerce side by side vs page comparisons.
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