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Ignited Nepal builds Shopify stores and standalone EC sites for brands entering or growing in Japan. We build for the conventions that drive conversion here: detailed product descriptions, real reviews with names and photos, konbini payment, bank transfer, and a checkout that reflects how Japanese customers expect to shop. We also consult on whether a standalone Shopify store, Rakuten, or Yahoo Shopping is the right channel mix for your category.
You have a successful store in your home market and you want to reach Japanese customers. You know Japan is different but you are not sure how different. Your current Shopify theme was built for Western conversion conventions and will not perform in Japan without significant rethinking. You need someone who understands both the platform and the market.
You sell on Rakuten or Yahoo Shopping and you want to build your own EC channel to reduce platform fees and own your customer relationship. You need a standalone Shopify store that meets Japanese customer expectations for presentation, trust signals, and payment options while working alongside your marketplace presence.
Your EC site was built several years ago and has not kept up. Your product pages are thin, your checkout does not offer konbini payment, and your review system is anonymous and underused. Customers are converting at a lower rate than they should be for your category. You need a rebuild, not a refresh.
In Western e-commerce, brevity is often a design virtue. In Japan, a short product description reads as a lack of care or a product that has something to hide. Japanese shoppers expect detailed material information, usage instructions, origin, dimensions, and the thinking behind the product. Thin descriptions reduce trust and reduce conversion.
Anonymous star ratings do not carry significant weight with Japanese shoppers. Reviews that include the reviewer's full name, a photo, purchase details, and a substantive written comment convert meaningfully better. If your review system is an imported Western widget showing only first names and stars, it is not doing the work it could be.
Credit card coverage in Japan is lower than in many Western markets, and a significant portion of Japanese online shoppers expect to pay at a convenience store or via bank transfer. If your checkout only offers credit card and PayPal, you are excluding a meaningful segment of your potential customers before they reach the payment screen.
Running a standalone Shopify store and a Rakuten store and a Yahoo Shopping store simultaneously is expensive and operationally complex. Not being on Rakuten or Yahoo Shopping in a category where those platforms dominate is a missed opportunity. Most brands entering Japan have not made a deliberate channel decision. They are either on too many platforms or the wrong one.
We set up your Shopify store for Japan and advise on whether Rakuten, Yahoo Shopping, or both should sit alongside it. The right channel mix depends on your category, your price point, and your operational capacity. We make a recommendation based on data, not platform preference.
We build or customise your theme to reflect Japanese e-commerce conventions: denser information presentation, trust badges prominently placed, clear shipping and return policies in the product page layout, and a mobile experience that matches how Japanese shoppers browse.
We design a product page template built around detailed content: material specifications, manufacturing origin, usage instructions, size charts with Japanese sizing equivalents, and a structured description format that gives customers what they need to make a confident purchase. Detail is a conversion feature here.
We structure your collections for Japanese browsing behaviour: clear category navigation, seasonal collections, and gift-oriented collection logic where relevant. Japan has strong gifting culture across categories and a well-structured gift guide or occasion-based collection can meaningfully increase average order value.
We integrate konbini payment (Family Mart, Lawson, 7-Eleven), bank transfer (振込), and credit card options through compatible Shopify payment gateways. We configure the checkout flow for Japanese language and format expectations, including postal code lookups, address format, and phone number fields.
We configure a review system that captures full name, photo, purchase date, and detailed written comment. We set up review request emails timed for after the customer has had time to use the product. Review quality is a conversion lever and it is configurable.
We build your core email flows for Japan: abandoned checkout, post-purchase, and review request, written in Japanese. We connect Google Analytics 4 and configure conversion tracking. If you are running paid media on Google or Meta in Japan, we ensure your attribution is set up correctly.
We audit your current store or brief, review your category on Rakuten and Yahoo Shopping, and identify the gaps between your current presentation and Japanese customer expectations. We make a channel recommendation. This takes one week.
We map your collection structure, design your product page template, and draft the detailed description format for your product type. We also plan your review system configuration and your checkout payment flow. You approve before development begins.
We build the theme, configure konbini and bank transfer payment options, set up the review system, build your Klaviyo flows in Japanese, and connect analytics. We work in a development environment so your live store is unaffected.
We test the checkout across all payment methods, check the Japanese language presentation on mobile and desktop, and verify that your analytics and attribution are working. We launch, monitor the first week, and provide documentation in both English and Japanese where required.
The answer depends on your category and price point. Rakuten dominates in electronics, books, and some food categories. Standalone stores perform better for fashion, beauty, and premium lifestyle brands where the brand experience matters as much as the product. Many brands in Japan run both, with the standalone store acting as the brand anchor and Rakuten driving volume. We advise on the right mix for your specific situation.
Detailed product descriptions are a primary trust signal in Japanese e-commerce. A short description that would be considered clean and modern in a Western context reads as incomplete and untrustworthy in Japan. The more technically specific your product is, the more detail is expected. We build description templates that systematically cover the information Japanese shoppers look for.
Several gateways support Japanese alternative payment methods on Shopify, including Komoju, PAY.JP, and Stripe (with Japanese payment methods enabled). The right choice depends on your transaction volume, your settlement currency preference, and whether you need marketplace integration. We evaluate the options during the diagnostic.
We build stores in Japanese, English, or bilingual depending on your target audience. For brands selling primarily to Japanese consumers, Japanese is the primary language. For international brands entering Japan, we often build bilingual stores with Japanese as the primary language for product pages and checkout, and English available for brand and about content.
Japanese shoppers place significantly more weight on reviews that include a full name, a photo, and a detailed purchase account than on anonymous star ratings. The format of the review matters as much as the sentiment. We configure review systems that prompt for this level of detail and time the request for when the customer has had sufficient time to use the product and form a genuine opinion.
Not a black box. Real specialists you can call, with their names on the work.
Japanese shoppers have high expectations for product information, payment options, and checkout experience. A store built for Western conventions will underperform here. We build EC sites that meet Japanese customers where they are. Start with a diagnostic.
We review your current store or your plans, identify where the revenue is leaking, and tell you exactly what needs to change.
Ignited Nepal
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