Pinkoi, the Taiwan-based ecommerce marketplace that helps designers sell their wares online, has launched a Japan-facing Android app today – marking the company’s official foray into the land of the rising sun.
Pinkoi’s most loyal customer base has always come from Taiwan, where its founders hail from and run the company. But its founding team envisioned Pinkoi as a global company (or at least a pan-Asian Etsy) since it’s inception. 80 percent of its transactions originate from Taiwan, followed by mainland China, Hong Kong, and the US.
So why zero-in on Japan and not the latter three markets? Peter Yen, co-founder and CEO at Pinkoi, tells Tech in Asia that team chose Japan as its first major destination outside of Taiwan because of how Japanese culture values quality design.
“As long as we have the best designers on the platform, it’s easy to attract customers, because customers are always looking for the best stuff. Japan is the country that has the best designers and craftsmanship in Asia,” says Yen. “But Japan is a very specific economic environment – it’s very closed. We want to help designers in Japan cross the border.”
For Pinkoi, a commitment to entering Japan means more than translation and a paint job. The team will open an office in Tokyo next week to house its two-man Japanese team, which will source designers and manage business development. “We can’t do business in Tokyo from Taipei,” says Yen. “For a peer-to-peer marketplace, you need to do face-to-face interactions.” Yen also tells Tech in Asia that it has hired a customer service team that will work from Taiwan, but will focus exclusively on handling customer service for Japanese purchases of Taiwan-made goods.
Taiwan’s ecommerce market is growing at a healthy rate. According to data cited by Focus Taiwan, the island is expected to generate US$33.7 billion in 2015, likely marking a 20 percent increase from the year prior. Pinkoi, meanwhile, brought in US$2.5 million in revenues for the year 2013, up from US$660,000 in 2012. While that number pales in comparison to some of Taiwan’s reigning ecommerce giants (PCHome brought in US$262 million in the first quarter of this year), Pinkoi’s nevertheless has shown strong in its home market, where it faces little competition.
Japan could prove more challenging. The country is home to a number of niche, design-oriented ecommerce sites like Mercari, Creema, Minne, Tetote, and Iichi – all of which are backed by high-profile Japanese investors. There’s also the still-powerful Yahoo Auctions, along with Line’s ecommerce app. Meanwhile, Etsy – the grandaddy of crafty ecommerce – has been eyeing Japan for a long time.
Pinkoi isn’t a local or a first mover in Japan, but it recently received a series A round from Japan’s Infinity Venture Partners, a well-connected local VC firm. That could help level the field a bit.
“They are very good and respectable players,”says Yen of the competition in Japan. “But we believe there are many opportunities for our team to help Japanese designers and bridge the global economy.”
Top image via Facebook
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