Have you seen the latest e-commerce market survey released by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)? For those of you who are busy, here’s a 2-minute summary of the key takeaways. Japan's B2C e-commerce market has grown to a 26 trillion yen scale. So, where are the opportunities we should be watching?
❚ 1. The Market is Growing Steadily and Surely
In 2024, Japan's domestic B2C (Business-to-Consumer) e-commerce market reached ¥26.1 trillion, marking a 5.1% growth from the previous year. What’s particularly noteworthy is that the "EC conversion rate" (the percentage of e-commerce transactions in all commercial transactions) for the overall merchandise sector has risen to 9.8%.
This signifies that online shopping is no longer a special way to buy, but has become fully established as a routine purchasing channel. If you're still hesitating to move online, there's no reason to delay any longer.
❚ 2. Spotlight on the Potential of 'Food' and 'Household Goods' Categories
In this survey, the category with the largest market size was 'Food, Beverages, and Alcohol' (¥3.1163 trillion). This was followed by 'Apparel & Fashion Accessories' (¥2.7980 trillion), 'Home Appliances, AV Equipment, & PCs' (¥2.7443 trillion), and 'Household Goods, Furniture, & Interior' (¥2.5616 trillion).
While categories like 'Books, Video & Music Software' (56.45%) and 'Home Appliances' (43.03%) have very high EC conversion rates and can be considered mature markets, the 'Food' category, despite its massive market size, still has a relatively low EC conversion rate, suggesting immense potential for future growth.
Furthermore, the high EC conversion rate for 'Household Goods, Furniture, & Interior' (32.58%) is a positive sign that psychological barriers for consumers to purchase high-involvement products online have lowered.
❚ 3. The Major Opportunity of Cross-Border E-commerce
With competition intensifying in the domestic market, why not look overseas? Notably, cross-border e-commerce purchases from Japan by Chinese consumers reached ¥2.6372 trillion, showing steady growth.
This is built on the high trust in the quality and brand of Japanese products. Cross-border e-commerce is no longer a strategy just for large corporations but has become a vital growth engine for all EC businesses to consider.
In conclusion, against a backdrop of stable growth, Japan's e-commerce market is seeing the rise of new leading categories like 'Food,' and the door to a new opportunity in 'Cross-Border EC' is wide open.
Finally, at BOTTLESHIP, we have accumulated a wealth of knowledge across diverse product categories through collaborations with various clients. Through our partnership with Amazon US, we also support the expansion of Japanese products into the American market. If you are interested, please feel free to contact us anytime!
