Looking for a distributor in Japan? Three ways in, and five questions to ask before you sign

"Can you introduce us to a distributor in Japan?" is the message we receive most often from overseas brands. It sounds like the natural first step. In practice, it is often where a year of polite meetings begins and ends.

A distributor is one way into Japan. It is not the only one, and for many brands it is not the right one yet. A Japanese company that takes on your brand is taking a risk on a product its customers have never seen. If there is no evidence that Japanese customers want it, that risk shows up somewhere: in tougher terms, in a small trial order that never grows, or in a polite "let us think about it".

The better first question is: what can we show a Japanese partner today?

1. Exclusive distribution

One partner takes Japan for your brand and invests in building it. This works when your product is proven, your margins survive a channel margin, and you are ready to let someone else run the market.

The catch: you are betting the whole country on one relationship. If demand is still unproven, the partner either prices that risk into your terms or slows down. That is why the questions further down this page matter.

2. Introductions to companies that already own the channels

Some Japanese companies already sell to the electronics chains, lifestyle shops and online marketplaces you want to be in. They don't need exclusivity to move your product. They need a product that fits a shelf they already own.

This works when you want reach without giving up the whole market, or when you want real Japanese sales data before you sign anything long term.

3. Selling it yourself, with local support

Crowdfunding, Amazon Japan, Rakuten, your own Shopify store. You keep the margin, the customer data and the control. What you need is Japanese copy that doesn't read like translated English, a product page rebuilt for how Japanese buyers decide, and support that answers in Japanese.

This works when your product needs its story told properly before any partner will believe in it.

Where Eifer fits

Eifer works as a Japan partner that buys at wholesale and pays for the launch itself: Japanese localization, certifications such as PSE, crowdfunding, Amazon and Rakuten, ads and retail partners. A typical start is a small first order and a crowdfunding campaign, so both sides can see real Japanese demand before deciding how far to go.

Japan has a cheap and fast way to find out whether people want your product: pre-order style crowdfunding on platforms such as Makuake and GREEN FUNDING. Japanese backers treat these campaigns as a place to discover and buy new products, and a campaign gives you real orders, real prices and real feedback in a few weeks.

Here is one example with public numbers. COFFEEJACK, a portable espresso maker from the UK, had raised about USD 799K from 3,793 backers on Kickstarter. A Japanese client company we supported secured the exclusive Japan rights and ran its first Japanese campaign on GREEN FUNDING. It closed at ¥11,046,630 from 244 backers.

Three things from that campaign are useful for any brand planning a Japanese launch:

• Japanese backers bought the full kit. 154 of 244 backers (63%) chose the most complete, most expensive set. The 100 early-bird slots of that set at ¥48,230 alone made up 44% of the total. Don't assume Japan wants the cheapest option.
• The middle is slow, and that is normal. The first ¥5M came in 8 days, the next ¥5M took 53 days, and the last ¥1M or so came in the final 4 days. The team posted 23 updates in 64 days, about one every three days, to keep the campaign alive.
• Higher prices mean fewer buyers needed. At an average of about ¥45,000 per backer, ¥11M took 244 people. At ¥12,000 it would have taken more than 900.

A result like this changes the conversation with any Japanese retailer or distributor. You are no longer asking them to believe in a product. You are showing them what Japanese customers already did.

When a Japanese company asks for exclusivity, they are asking you to bet your Japanese market on one relationship. That deserves more than "let's try and see". These are the questions we would want a brand to ask us, and the ones we answer before we ask for anything.

1. What happens in the first 90 days, before you ask me for volume? A partner who opens with a large purchase order is buying inventory. A partner who opens with a demand test is building a market.
2. Who exactly is the Japanese customer? "Japanese consumers" is not an answer. Who buys this, in what situation, and what are they using instead today?
3. How will you prove demand, and what result would make you stop? A localized landing page, small paid tests, crowdfunding, pre-orders. Ask which one they will run and what they will do with the result.
4. What happens if you miss the minimum? Exclusive rights with no performance clause can mean your brand simply disappears from Japan. Territory, channels, term, minimums, renewal and termination should all be in writing.
5. Who owns after-sales and compliance? Returns, warranty, Japanese-language support and certifications such as PSE for electrical products. In Japan, this is what decides whether your second year is bigger than your first.

And one more: ask for their record. Which brands, which channels, which numbers, and where can you check them? Serious brands ask us this in their first reply, and they are right to.

For every 100 overseas manufacturers we shortlist, we end up signing with two or three. That is not because the other 97 are bad products. It is because a Japanese launch only works when the product, the price and the partner fit at the same time.

The same logic applies from your side. The right partner is not the first company that replies. It is the one that can explain how your product will be tested, who will buy it, and what happens in year two.