China seems to be on everyone’s radar this year, including Japan. But it isn’t an easy market to start a business. Its laws, culture, and language differences are some of the biggest barriers for firms to enter the Chinese market.
To tackle these challenges, Alibaba.com recently launched a service that helps Japanese consumer goods makers cut through red tape. The service allows Japanese companies to quickly establish online stores on Taobao, China’s largest e-commerce site with over 370 million users. Both Alibaba.com and Taobao.com are under the Alibaba Group.
The support from Alibaba is awesome. According to AFP, it will take charge of the complicated procedures for obtaining trade permission from Chinese authorities which reduces the usual two years waiting time by two-thirds. Alibaba will also offer warehouses and help localize the service by handling website management and customer support to meet the specific needs of Chinese consumers.
“High-quality Japanese products are popular on the Taobao site, so we have been receiving requests from users to directly buy the products from Japanese firms,” said Jonathan Lu, CEO of Taobao.
My Japanese friend and I made a check but couldn’t find the service mentioned on Alibaba.com’s Japan website. Perhaps the service has not opened to all companies yet. We have sent an email to Alibaba to clarify this matter. Stay tuned.
Stay updated on the go with our mobile app.
Get latest insights with smoother, more personalized experience through TIA mobile app.
