Private: Conquering Your Japanese Doppelgänger

It’s fabled that every person has a doppelgänger, or “double,” in this world, but what about companies and brands? Copyrights, trademarks, and other licenses keep us safe from plagiarism, impostors, and doppelgängers in the United States, but what about abroad? What you don’t know can hurt you; let’s explore a little more in-depth the phenomena of “doppelgäning” business in Japan and what you can do about it.

If you’ve never been to Tokyo, please don’t call yourself a fashionista. Rooted in ancient lore and mythology, Japan’s inhabitants have always had a keen eye and a special attention for their appearance.

Not surprising, Tokyo is also one of the quickest places to refashion the trends from New York and Paris fashion week; already in Shinjuku and Shibuya you’ll find what may look like an ocean of people drowning in a colorful Monet painting.

This year sheer, floral, sporty, and any color invoking springtime is in. Asia, especially Japan, is consistently ahead of the curve on fashion and technology because of their cultural affinity to quickly adapt to change, and it is no surprise that Japan is already poised to have new trends explode in April 2014.

To San Franciscans nestled in the silicon valley, the e commerce boom in Japan and good taste in fashion may seem commonplace; however as an Ohio-born midwesterner, my experiences in Japan were eye-opening. Cellphones had options 5 years ago that the iPhone today would be jealous of. Every day at University was runway. Anywhere I traveled in Tokyo there was always a place to get an automated, hot beverage.

「ここマジで天国だ」

”This is seriously heaven,” I thought.

Confusing, however, was the lack of credit card accessibility. Almost every where I went in 2008-2009 was “cash only.” How could I be living in a place where video games, umbrellas, and hot tea were available at one of the thousands of Vending Machines on my way to school, but nowhere accepted a bank card? Maybe this wasn’t heaven after all.

It wasn’t until recently when I saw my company work on a project for Square that I realized it wasn’t that this culture was unable to accept that product or service, it was simply that it wasn’t marketed or presented in the most advantageous way for Japanese lifestyle.

It would be like going up to the counter at a Sushi-ya in Tokyo and saying “Hello. I’d would like 2 pieces of Tuna over rice style, please,” instead of saying 「マグロ握りを二つお願いします！」

English is not culturally relevant in Japan; neither is your non-Japanese brand.

There’s good news for you, though. Just as one can learn to understand and translate the dialect for a foreign audience, the same can be done with marketing, branding, and user-experience design for your products and services. Asia, especially Japan, is a market with vast opportunities for foreign companies to grow their business.

Women’s fashion alone makes up about 60% of the consumer market. Successful foreign fashion brands launched in Asia include Gap, Old Navy, H&M as well as a slew of high-fashion names such as Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, and Marc Jacobs.

The way I see it, there is a simple formula for extra growth for B2C companies today:

Technology + Innovative / Trendy Product = Success

Technology allows companies to reach their customers in ways never possible before, but there is still an important factor missing from this equation when taking your business abroad:

Technology + Innovative / Trendy Product + Branding Localization Strategy = Success in a Foreign market.

Apart from the opportunity, there is already a threat to your business in not taking proper foothold abroad. Resellers are already buying many brands, who do not officially sell their products in Japan, and selling them online for a marked-up price. These resellers are profiting off of your great idea, and – more alarmingly – are misrepresenting your brand in uncharted territory! First impressions are always important.

You already know how to present your brand to your audience here, and are doing fabulously. How do you take your first stroll through Japanese e commerce while kicking out the impostors?

1. Rakuten

Rakuten is the most popular e commerce platform in Japan. Having your store on here is like having an ad placed in the Shibuya Scramble:

Setting up a virtual store on Rakuten is less of an investment than opening a physical, retail location and you are guaranteed traffic.

Hiring experts to help you establish and maintain your Rakuten account will build your brand awareness in Japan and open up new channels of revenue at the same time. Additionally, by becoming a legal entity in Japan, Rakuten will eliminate non-authorized resellers from their system. If you’re going for “two birds with one stone” why not hit a third one while you’re at it?

As Japan is often seen at the “gateway” to other Asian markets, Rakuten is the perfect door to pass through into Japanese e commerce; small, personally owned companies like Knotty, Co. (a bow tie a fashion company), medium sized companies such as ModCloth (women’s vintage apparel e commerce exclusive company), and even large sized companies such as Forever 21 (an internationally popular young women’s and men’s store) can benefit from joining Japan’s largest e commerce platform. Forever 21 currently sells their products on Rakuten and simultaneously has their own e commerce website as well as several store locations in Tokyo.

2. Everyone’s doing it, and people are already doing it for you.

Don’t let others profit from your hard work and ambition without your say! They have done the groundwork by testing the waters to see if your product has a demand through plagiarism and  the hundreds of dollars they profit from their markups says that it’s time for you to put your foot down and make sure your brand is accurately represented. Finally, you don’t want to pass up the opportunity to step ahead of the competitors.

3. We can help

There’s already a team of experts waiting for your call! btrax has been helping clients bridge the gap between nations for nearly ten years. We strive to custom-fit our services to match each client’s unique needs while offering creative and innovative solutions to cross-cultural marketing and branding strategy.

We have extensive experience in the Japanese market, and recently opened our office in Roppongi. When introducing a new fashion brand to Japanese e commerce, it is crucial to realize that brand recognition and customer patronage in the Japanese market is actually built through more traditional channels of marketing print advertising, having a physical storefront, and Japanese celebrity endorsements.

When you go sightseeing, you hire a tour guide; when you venture into a new market, you hire btrax.

I encourage and wish you all well in building your business in Asian markets, and am always available to take a telephone call for a consultation. Whether you are a start-up, forutne-500 company, or a small LLC, there is without a doubt opportunity for you in Asia. Won’t you try using Japan as the doorway to something greater?

Photos by: Alexander Dimmick, goMainstream, MJ Kim Photography, Hipnos,  [cipher], d’n’c