Selling to Japan Online -- One Rakuten Merchant's Experience

Originally from Vietnam, Minh Cong Tran (25) launched a startup in June called Asian Project Ltd. to facilitate both business and cultural exchange between Vietnam and Japan. No stranger to technology, the final-year Computer Science student at Toyo University took advantage of Rakuten's online shopping mall services to jumpstart his business (www.rakuten.co.jp/vietnam).

What do you sell on Rakuten Ichiba?
We sell Vietnam-made goods, such as aodai (traditional Vietnamese dresses), women's clothing, ceramics, handbags, textile cloth, and war memorabilia like refurbished Zippo lighters. We used to sell foodstuffs, but have discontinued that due to lack of interest.

What are the most popular items?
The most popular are Vietnamese sandals called myuru, and one-piece dresses.

Why did you choose Rakuten?
We chose Rakuten because of the traffic it could bring us. When Japanese think online shopping, they think Rakuten. We didn't want to invest the time and technology at this point to set up and market our own ecommerce site. When our sales activity increases, we'll consider setting up our own online shop. Rakuten is a good way for us to test the market with little investment and find out which products are popular.

What is the investment required?
For the basic ¥50,000 a month we can sell up to 500 types of products. We just applied for Rakuten's credit card payment services, but up until now payment has been made directly from the customer, roughly half by bank transfer (furikomi) and half by convenience store payments.

Rakuten also offers something called Rakuten Daigaku (university), which is a ¥30,000 one-day course at their headquarters for up to 30 students, to teach merchants ways to improve their sites and marketing techniques. I attended once, and it was worth it.

Are you profitable?
Yes, because of the low cost of goods in Vietnam, we can sell them in Japan at quite a high margin even after shipping. We order from Vietnam only after orders in Japan are confirmed, although we'll start stocking inventory of popular items to improve delivery time for our customers.

According to Rakuten, the average tenant has monthly revenue of ¥20,000 in the first year, but our revenue was several times that the first month.

We also donate 30 percent of our profits to orphanages in Vietnam.

Who are your customers?
Eighty-seven percent are female, mainly in their twenties and thirties.

Are you happy with Rakuten?
I'm generally satisfied. I know there are security trade-offs, but it would be nice if there were a bit more freedom in being able to use CGI scripts, audio, and video. I would like to install a chat application, for example, which I can't do now.

What about ecommerce in Vietnam?
In Vietnam, credit card use and computer penetration are still very low, and telephone time is expensive. Vietnam is still in "analog" mode. When it comes to shopping, people still like to touch and haggle. Ecommerce in Vietnam won't take off for at least another five years.

On our Rakuten site, we offer free information about studying abroad, housing, office space, and doing business in Vietnam.