One way to unlock Japan’s broken e-commerce

Disrupting Japan: Startups and Innovation in Japan

Sometimes it seems like Japan is almost invisible in global e-commerce. Despite a dynamic domestic e-commerce market and a long tradition of global exports, Japan just doesn't seem that interested in selling to the outside world. But things are changing, and Kazuyoshi Nakazato of Zig Zag is working to make sure they change even faster. We talk about why Japan is unrepresented in global e-commerce, why that's changing, some things you should never try to sell online. It's a great conversation, and I think you'll enjoy it. Show Notes Why even small e-commerce is global The bowling ball export experiment What are Japan's biggest export markets for e-commerce How acquire overseas e-commerce customers How to select overseas markets to target How fast are Japanese e-commerce exports growing? How to grow and thrive as a small e-commerce site How to get Japanese founders to think more globally Links from the Founder Everything you ever wanted to know about Zig Zag and their World Shopping international or domestic in Japanese Check out a good video intro to World Shopping Shop in Japan from the rest of the world Follow Kazuyoshi on Twitter @nakazaty Friend him on Facebook Connect on LinkedIn Transcript Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight Talk from Japan's most successful entrepreneurs. I'm Tim Romero and thanks for joining me. Japan is missing out on the global e-commerce boom. Well, there is plenty of e-commerce going on in Japan, but it's almost all domestic and Japan is really missing out on the growing global market. However, Kazu Nakazato, founder of Zig Zag is changing that. Japan's e-commerce exports are still relatively small, but growing at 140% a year. And Kazu is looking to increase that even more. But as you'll hear, that's not easy. Kazu and the team at Zigzag are up against strong entrenched interests, language barriers, and one particularly frustrating aspect of Japanese business culture that we'll talk about in a few minutes. Kazu and I also discuss what COVID taught us about the resilience of global e-commerce. Some things you should never try to sell online. And Kazu also shares some really great advice about how to survive and grow as an independent e-commerce site. But you know, Kashi tells that story much better than I can. So, let's get right to the interview. Interview Tim: So, we're sitting here with Kazu Nakazato of Zig Zag. Kazu: Yeah, Zig Zag. Tim: Who's helping Japanese e-commerce sites sell globally. So, thanks for sitting down with us. So, I explain really simply what you do, but I think you can explain Zig Zag much better than I can. So, what does Zig Zag do? Kazu: We offer a service called global base. Our eCommerce site can quickly transform into share site. It's very simple. All it takes is a single line JavaScript tag. It's provide marketing input forms, marketing our customer support and payments support. Tim: That's a lot for one line of JavaScript to do. So, it covers the translation, payments, logistics? Kazu: Yes. Shipping. Tim: Okay. Wow. And do you handle like returns? Kazu: Returns, yes. And there are 200 countries. Tim: So, tell me about your customers. Who's using Zig Zag? What kind of e-commerce sites? Kazu: Fashion, cosmetics, Anime and entertainment type. For example, Japanese apparel is Beams and Tower records about 2,500 website. Tim: So, that's quite a range. So, is it mostly the bigger sites like Tower Records and Beams or small independent sites also using it? Kazu: Yeah, for example in Fukuoka, very, very small apparel shop. And in Chiba, bowling maker site. Tim: Like bowling ball maker? Kazu: Yeah, bowling ball. Very, very heavy. Tim: I was going to say that’s really expensive to ship. Kazu: Yeah. FedEx or DHL, air or by ship. Tim: Exporting bowling balls. Are like Japanese bowling balls, like really high quality or something?