#334 - How To Hit The Ground Running In Amazon Japan With Gary Huang

#334 - How To Hit The Ground Running In Amazon Japan With Gary Huang Speaker 1: Welcome to episode 334 of the AM PM podcast. This week we're talking about Japan. You know, Japan's the fourth largest market out there, but hardly anybody is selling in it. So my buddy Gary Huang is on the program this week and we're talking about what you need to know and everything about Japan. I think you're going to find this a little bit fascinating. We've got some good stories to tell and it's a great opportunity for those willing to take the chance. Unknown Speaker: Welcome to the AM-PM Podcast. Welcome to the AM-PM Podcast, where we explore opportunities in e-commerce. We dream big and we discover what's working right now. Plus, this is the podcast where money never sleeps. Working around the clock in the AM and the PM. Are you ready for today's episode? I said, are you ready? Let's do this. Let's do this. Here's your host, Kevin King. Speaker 1: Coming to us all the way from Japan right now, Gary Huang. How are you doing, man? Speaker 2: Excellent. And Konichiwa. Greetings from Tokyo. Great to be with you, Kevin. Super excited. Speaker 1: You know, Japan, I know you just moved. I think you were in Japan and then you moved somewhere else and then you moved back to Japan. Is that correct? Speaker 2: Yes, my family and I ever since COVID, I mean, we've been all over the place. We used to live in Shanghai, you know, I lived and worked there for 11 years. I met my wife there, started selling on Amazon while I was there, but COVID hit and we moved to Okinawa, Japan, and then lived there for two and a half years. They finally They kicked us out. We had to go to Thailand for three months, but then we found a way back into Japan on a business manager's visa. So I'm glad to be back. And yeah, Japan is a very exciting place, especially for Amazon selling. Speaker 1: Yeah, and we'll talk about that. But, you know, Japan is actually one of my favorite countries to visit. I've been there four or five times, you know, everywhere from Tokyo to Kyoto to down to not to Okinawa, but down to Hiroshima and pretty much everything in between. And it's one of my favorite places to eat. And it's not because of sushi. I do not eat sushi. I don't eat anything raw. So you would think, well, Kevin, how do you get by in Japan? That's like everything is that way. I'm like, no, they have Kobe beef. And Kobe beef is the first time I had it. It was I was about 2005 or something. I was in Japan visiting with my brother and I'd heard about this Kobe beef supposed to be like the best steak in the world. And, you know, you see it around other places. You see it in the U.S., you see it in the Western world where it'll be on the menu, a Kobe beef hamburger, a Kobe beef, you know, at the local steakhouse. And most of that is bullshit. It's not Kobe beef. It's actually Kobe beef has to come from a special place in Japan and has to be certifying the cows in a certain way. But what they do is they breed some of those cows and they've brought them over to the West and it's Wagyu beef. But it's not the same. It's like saying Coca-Cola is the same as your local super Supermarkets, non branded soda, you know, they don't taste the same. Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. It's kind of like champagne, right? I mean, I'm not like a wine connoisseur, but I know champagne has to legitimately come from that region. Speaker 1: Exactly. Speaker 2: Everything else, like sparkling wine, you can't call it champagne. Exactly. It's the same with Kobe beef. It has to come from Kobe. Otherwise, you know, there's like crossbreeds and it's definitely not the same. But but yeah, it's just like it melts in your mouth, man. It's just I mean, it's like prime, like prime on a whole nother level. It's, and actually, like, it's funny, because here in Japan, if you go to the supermarket, you can buy us beef, it's actually like the, I don't want to say the cheap stuff, but it's like, you know, middle market, you know, below, like all the Kobe and they have like seven different grades of the beef. So, you know, when you come, you know, we'll, we'll, we'll feed you well over here. Speaker 1: Yeah, but when I went with my brother for the first time back in 2005, that I had heard about it. So I was like, we got to try this. So we go to a restaurant like on the 70th floor of some building and one of the big districts in the middle of Tokyo. And I go in and I'm like, okay, give me one, give him one. And they're like, okay, you know, you realize, you know, give us like eight ounces or something. They're like, you realize this is, I forgot what it was in yen, but it's equivalent of about 250, 300 bucks each, about $30 an ounce, roughly, or something like that. And back then the, the rate of the dollar to the yen was, the yen was much stronger than it is right now. And now it's actually a perfect time to go to Japan. It's, it's weak against the dollar, but we ordered that. I was like, this is so good. Give me seconds. And they were getting it out of like a safe. Or something in the back, you know, the manager had to come out and get this. And I was like, that's the best thing ever. And so ever since then, you know, every chance I get to go to Japan, I eat Kobe beef. And actually one time was in Australia. And I deliberately routed my flight back. I could have flown back from Australia, from Sydney straight to LA, but I deliberately routed the flight to have a stop in Tokyo just for the night. I arrived in Tokyo like at, I don't know, 8.30 at night, took the train in, or took the train into the hotel, got there like at, I don't know, 10 o'clock or something like that, it was late, and headed straight, just dropped my bags and headed straight to the restaurant. Ate Kobe beef, flew out the next morning at 6 a.m. Just, and then I did just to eat the Kobe beef. And one little trick for you, if you see it in the West, and there's a few, there's like, there used to be only eight restaurants in the US that actually had the real thing. They were flying in. Now there's a few more. But if you're ever somewhere and you're like, you want to know, is this the real thing? Ask them for the birth certificate of the cow. If they say if there's Kobe beef on the menu, and it's some crazy price, make them prove it. So I everywhere I go now I make them prove it. I've done this in Vegas at like the Prosper show took a bunch of people to one of the restaurants there. Said look I'm gonna show you this is the real thing and I told the manager, please bring me the the birth certificate account It has like a nose print It shows what when it was born everything and that's that it comes with every order of the stuff And so that way, you know, they can't produce that. It's not real Kobe. So yeah, it was a I have fond memories of Japan Japan is so clean and It's so, you know, it's so clean, you can eat off the, you drop something on the ground, just pick it up and eat it. I mean, it's so modern and clear. It's an amazing place. And we'll talk about a way that you can bundle a trip to Japan to experience it for yourself, along with some Amazon stuff. And it's one of the biggest opportunities out there, in fact, but we'll talk about that in just a moment. But so you started selling in Shanghai. And were you selling on the US marketplace? Speaker 2: Yes, well, I mean, selling on Amazon, it was my second foray into e commerce, Kevin, I don't know if I mentioned this before, but back when I was still living in LA, my hometown, I first got started selling online on eBay. This was in 2005. So I first got started selling women's shoes. They weren't fancy shoes, they were basically these kind of Mary Jane, like very affordable shoes, but they were kind of niche, like with like polka dot prints, cherry prints. And you've ever heard of like, you know, rockabilly and like swing, you know, that kind of like subculture. That was my first foray into e-commerce. But anyways, that that's my, that was how I first got started. Speaker 1: How was the return rate on shoes? Anything with sizing? Speaker 2: It's horrible. It was horrible, dude. That was the biggest headache. I mean, profit margin was amazing. But just like if it was half a size off, then they'll come back and then I'm raising returns. And some people order two pairs, they'll ship one back. And that is the big headache. Anybody that sells shoes, clothing, they know it's like the sizing issue. That's, yeah. Speaker 1: So you did that for a while, then what was next after you said enough of these shoes? Speaker 2: Yeah, so I did that from 2005 to 2008. And then the financial crisis, the global financial crisis, as people probably remember, and then I made a move to China, because I've always been fascinated with China, just, I did study abroad, you know, my family is originally from mainland China, I was born in the US, we spoke Chinese at home, and we were like the only people in our block, we live in a Hispanic neighborhood that spoke Chinese. So we were kind of like the weirdos. But you know, I always had that connection. And 2008, some of you guys remember, China was like on the rise, there was the Beijing Olympics, everybody was talking about China, you saw all over the news. I'm like, I want to make a move to Shanghai, Shanghai is a super cosmopolitan city, it's kind of like New York City. So long story short, I found a job in Shanghai, with a consulting company doing sourcing. So I was their point person. Over time, I visited hundreds of factories all over China from like the high end, like, you know, batteries, electronics to like the really low end, you know, with like health code violations, like just exhaust fumes everywhere in the factories. I mean, it's sad, some of the conditions that people work in, but I basically, you know, you know, got my feet wet and learned all the good, the bad, the ugly side of sourcing. In China, so I was doing that for about a long time, like seven, eight years, Kevin. And then I saw the Amazon opportunity in about 2015, 16. We were listening to, you know, a lot of our favorite old school podcasts, like The Amazing Seller, Scott Volker, and a lot of those OGs. And I was just listening to that. Speaker 1: Kevin Reiser and even the AM, PM podcast is about that started at that time with Manny. Speaker 2: Exactly. Yeah. I mean, I, yeah, around that time, even before that time. Right. So, um, that's how I got back and I put two and two together. I mean, it doesn't take, you know, a rocket science, like a scientist to figure it out. I'm on time. I'm in China. I'm on the ground. You know, I can take a train to Yiwu to, to, you know, I can fly to Shenzhen, visit factories very quickly. I speak the language and that's how I, and you know, Western culture commerce as well. Speaker 1: You have an advantage in Western culture. Speaker 2: Yes, yes, I know Western culture. And then one of my first brands in the Amazon space was in Amazon in the Apple Watch category. I don't have my watch. We did Apple Watch bands. So we did like, unique bands, like different designs for materials when watch first launch. So my partner at the time, And I, we built a six figure business out of it and we were featured on one of those Mac websites. We were really, really excited. And then we sold out during Chinese New Year and you know, with all of the sourcing issues. But, but yeah, that's long story short. That's how I, that's my e-commerce story. Speaker 1: Are you still selling e-commerce now or are you doing? Speaker 2: I'm still selling now. I mean, one of the reasons I pivoted to creating conferences and online events, Kevin, is the next chapter I was, I was selling, I quit my job, I went all in to selling, I also created an online site called 8020 sourcing, where I would write articles about China sourcing, you know, best practices, how to save time and money, you know, some of the dirty tricks, So, you know, suppliers may play on you. I mean, at that time, there wasn't a lot of content online. So, you know, it's kind of like a black box. So, you know, the website is still up, there's still a lot of useful content, evergreen there. But my wife and I got pregnant with our son 2018. And I used to fly out to conferences in Hong Kong and my wife was expecting any day. So I was grounded. I didn't want to be left behind. So that's when I had the idea. Why not invite these seven figure sellers to teach me what they're doing and to teach everyone else online. So that was the genesis behind seven figure sellers summit. We created it in 2018 in August, designed to really help sellers, you know, that couldn't travel for one reason or another to learn how to look. You know, scale, how to, um, you know, build, scale and exit their businesses. So that's, that was the next chapter. Speaker 1: Did we're using like 80, 20 sourcing it, uh, having people sign up for an email list or something, or how did you launch that? How did you, did you just partner with affiliates or how did you actually get the audience that it takes to actually put on, uh, an online conference? Speaker 2: That's a really good question. I, you know, I had the audience from 80, 20 sourcing. Um, I partner with, um, You know, I just asked the speakers to promote like, hey, you know, I wish I got you on earlier. I mean, you would have been awesome to be on. We'll get you on the next one, Kevin. But yeah, asking the speakers to promote, there's affiliates. We didn't do too much paid advertising. I've never had a ton of success paid advertising. But I mean, that that's the main thing. I mean, just getting the speakers to, to promote it. Because if they're presenting, if you know, Kevin, you're you're talking somewhere, your your fans probably want to hear you speak, right? So It's like a national incentive to want to promote an event that you're speaking at and to add value first. We were voted favorite Amazon conference two years in a row in seller poll by our audience. We're very grateful because I always try to lead with value first. I want to make sure we're offering the latest strategies and value first. We also have a pre-ticket option. Even if some sellers, they're not at that level for a paid ticket, you can still watch for a limited time. That's kind of the ethos that we have behind the event. Speaker 1: So your conference is like, I think I've been to several of them. It's like over four or five days and there's like three or four speakers a day and you can come for free. It's called the seven figure summit, right? And so there's three or four speakers per day. And if you can show up to when those when their times are, you can watch it for free. Or if you can't make it or you want to see a replay, it's a small, small charge to get the whole replays of everything. Correct. Speaker 2: Yeah, so we have a 24 hour free viewing period. So once you register every day, you know, day one is all about fundamentals, mindset, product selection, sourcing, and you can catch the sessions you want for free. That's great, right? But afterwards, they're locked and available for purchase. We do have an all access pass and you get more bonuses from speakers, you know, discount offers, etc. So yeah, you can watch for free. I mean, that's totally fine. Speaker 1: So that's, that's a lot of work. I mean, I've seen you have like 30 sometime, I don't know, 30 some odd speakers. And, you know, I know like Augustus does these type of events to a few other people, but going in and just coordinating that and actually getting the people and recording everything in advance, prepping everything. It's a tremendous amount of work. Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm very thankful. We do have a small team. Um, you know, my, my assistant and we do have video editors and web Web developers. So obviously it's not a one man show. There's a lot of work behind the scenes. So I'm just thankful for our team, but yeah, you're right. I mean, during that season, I'm just insane. Speaker 1: And, uh, you know, Kevin, you put on these events, chasing speakers and everything, making sure they show up when you're doing a live Q and a and all that. Yep, exactly. Speaker 2: Exactly. Speaker 1: So, so you do one of these a year or two a year. How often does, uh, does it come around? Speaker 2: So we've run seven events already. We started one a year, we did two a year this year because I'm pivoting to an in-person event in Japan. So this year we're going to have one in-person event in Japan called the Seven Figure Seller Japan Mastermind. It's all about selling in Japan. This will be in Tokyo in April, April 4th to the 5th. And then we're going to have the online Seven Figure Seller Summit later this year. Speaker 1: Cool. So how are you finding it now with these conferences, whether it be an online event, a virtual event like you do, or now you're, uh, you're taking your first step into in-person events. What I'm seeing out there is it's, it's a very saturated market and what was once easy to get people in, whether it's free or not free or expensive, like, like my events, a billion dollar seller summit, it's, it's, uh, the market is changing and, uh, it's like, it's like a turnover right now. Are you seeing that as well? Speaker 2: Yes, during the pandemic, it was like e-commerce, you know, got like a shot of growth serum in the arm, right? It was just like a beast. It was just running wild, right? There were so many people because everybody was confined at home and they had nowhere to go and everyone was coming online, right? Afterwards, I think there was fatigue, right? Because people were sick of being, you know, stuck in front of their computers. They wanted to meet up in person, but at the same time, There's, you know, other factors, right? Like, you know, plane tickets are high right now, you know, gas prices are high. You know, Just flights, there's fewer flights now. I mean, even if you do want to come to Japan, there's fewer flights available. So it's simple supply and demand, right? So, you know, the costs are higher. So I do think that we, ultimately, we have to have some point of differentiation, Kevin. I mean, we can't just have like the same event we had before. So that's why I'm pivoting to Japan. I feel that, you know, for example, Japan is almost like an untapped marketplace. I mean, It's the fourth biggest marketplace for Amazon and almost, I mean, how many people have you had talking about Japan versus like. Speaker 1: I think Nick Katz has come on the Helium 10 Elite and I think Nick Katz has come on the Helium 10 Elite and I think Danny McMillan did something one time on Helium 10 Elite. I think he was dabbling with one of his product lines in Japan. I don't think he's doing it anymore, but he presented something there. But yeah, it's, you know, it's kind of odd that It's the fourth biggest market, like you said, and so many people just shy away from it. They go to, I mean, it makes sense to go to Canada first for American seller, but then they get, they go to Europe and they just skip over Japan, which it may be, maybe it's a language issue. Maybe it's a misunderstanding or a cultural issue. With a lot of people, but there's so many reasons that you should be looking at Japan. And I think though, but one of the hardest things you select the Chinese sellers based in, you know, Shanghai or Shenzhen or whatever, say it's we don't understand the Western culture, what they want. You know, we sometimes we're guessing, I think for as a Western person, It's similar. You can pretty much know what the Germans or British, you know, slight variations, but they're pretty similar in culture. I mean, because American culture originated from there. And so, and there's a mix of that in the U.S. is kind of a melting pot. But when you go to Japan, It's a totally different thing. I mean, the way they live is completely different. And you know, their houses are smaller, they're much more efficient. You know, the appliances are smaller, the thing is just a total different mindset. And I think that's hard for a lot of Westerners to understand. Do you agree with that? Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think one of the biggest challenges is not just a language issue, but cultural, you know, like what you said, like, for example, just this wild example just popped in my head. In Japan, we have to separate our trash into, like, not just like recyclables, but if you have any boxes, like, you know, the Amazon boxes, you can't just dump them in the trash, you would have to like tear them down. And then you would have to bundle them with like, String and then put it in the trash. If you don't do that properly, like your neighbors will complain and they're going to like peer pressure you. And if you don't clean up your front yard, like literally, like I didn't know this when we were living in Okinawa, like the neighbors will literally complain because you're making like the neighborhood look ugly, right? It's just like this social pressure. There's like a lot of these, you know, reading between the lines, you know, cultural things. Speaker 1: Like the laundry machine is in the kitchen, you know that to do your laundry It's like a small little thing like next to the sink or something like that. It's just it's so different So you if you're selling a an appliance in the US and you just try to take that same appliance over to Japan It's not gonna work. Speaker 2: Yeah, the kitchens are a lot smaller a lot more compact I mean you and you know, some people they're selling like, you know patio furniture. I mean if you live in Tokyo forget about that It's you know, it's a very different Environment, but I'm not saying that you shouldn't sell in Japan. I mean there's ways that you can do and You know, product market fit analysis, there's tools out there like helium 10, you know, where you can do keyword research, you can look at the competition. And there's other ways as well, if you want to get into that. But, but I look at it this way, Kevin, I mean, it's like, there's all of these barriers that you have to go over, right? So A successful entrepreneur is going to find a way to go over them, right? So once you go over these barriers, what used to be barriers are now a moat. It's like a moat against your competition. So everyone else that didn't want to go through with that, those barriers, they're out and you're on the inside so you can have the market. So it's kind of like a blue ocean opportunity. There's a lot fewer sellers in Japan, maybe because of these reasons. Speaker 1: And for example, like one of those barriers I think scares a lot of people is importing. You can't just hire like a 3PL or just an importer like you can in the US or in Europe. You actually have to have someone that basically signs on your behalf and takes all responsibility or something to that effect. That's, that's, that's a barrier for a lot of people. And you have to find that person, you got to trust them, they got to trust you, that can be, that can be a barrier. And then Japanese standards for products are way higher than most places in the world, even probably higher than the US. There's a lot of high tech involved in almost everything that's sold there. I mean, you go into Shingbu or some of the electronic stores or something over and it's just amazing stuff. You know, that's, Actually, after I went to Japan, it's the first time I've experienced the toilets, the little bidet toilets, you know, that they're everywhere. You don't need to use toilet paper. And ever since then, I don't use toilet paper. That's right. Kevin King does not use toilet paper. When everybody during the pandemic is rushing to get toilet paper, I'm like smiling. I'm good. As long as I'm and I hate it now when I'm when I'm not in my house and I'm traveling and I have to use toilet paper. I'm like, man, because I went all my toilets in my house here in Austin have those electronic remote control bidets and it's just the cleanest feeling. It's just the way to do it, man. Speaker 2: Yeah, there you go. Speaker 1: I remember I had, I did a party. I put these in about 10 years ago or so and I did like a, I think it was a Christmas party and I had a lot of people over and there was a line outside. I had a two story house at the time and there was a line outside one of the bathrooms. Everybody, there's another bathroom upstairs. You don't have to wait here. Six deep in line is women. Six deep in line. They're like, no, no, we're going to stay right here. I'm like, okay. And I didn't quite get it. I'm like, all right, your choice. And then afterwards I found out one of the women came out and they're like, that is the best toilet I've ever had. It's like, it was warm when I, this was December. It was warm when I sat down on it. So everybody was waiting in line to try the toilet. It's but that's Japan. And you've got to understand some of those those idiosyncrasies on on how they think and what and how clean they are. And that that's a problem for some people. So what are some some tips? I mean, if you if you were going to recommend someone go to Japan, they had some hesitations. What are some things that you would recommend they watch out for or they do to actually increase their chances of success in that market? Speaker 2: Definitely, I would say number one, I mean, going back to the product market fit analysis, definitely use tools like Helium 10, brand analytics, or even just searching on Amazon itself. Speaker 1: Wait, if I'm using Helium 10 to actually check, am I having to search in Japanese characters or can I search in English and it translates or how does that work? Speaker 2: The beauty of Amazon Japan is you can search in English. So if you go to amazon.co.jp, go into the Japanese website, there's a language toggle, go select English, and then you can type in, let's say, Apple Watch strap or watch band, and you'll get the search results. So they're going to be automatically translated into English, right? Then you can grab the ASIN, do a reverse ASIN search in Helium, and then you can get all the keyword research, right? And then you can plug in some of those Japanese terms to further deep dive as you know, Kevin, as you know, you're like the expert on this, right? So you that's, that's the first step, right? Does that make sense? Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes sense. Speaker 2: Yeah, and then all you can always use, you know, I have Google Translate on a side window. So any word you're not sure about, you know, you can Google Translate that and you can do Google Sheets, there's like a little formula hack that you can just like, you know, copy and paste all those English and you want to copy and paste all those Japanese terms in one column, the Google Translate formula on the next column, and then just drag them down. Speaker 1: You look for everything that says JP, it'll translate everything. Yeah. Speaker 2: Exactly. Exactly. Okay. So you can kind of get smart. I don't think we have time to deep dive into like a masterclass on like the, the, you know, how to use helium, but you know, use helium to get started. I think a lot of people know what we're talking about. Also one good tip also coming from Nick Katz. is you can go to Google image search or YouTube image search and see how people use your product in Japanese. I mean, basically, can you find someone like a Japanese person using this product? If you can, that's a good sign. If you can't, maybe that's not the right fit. Okay, so that I would say is the first step. How to start selling on Japan, the product market fit. Let's say if you have this cup, this plastic cup I have in my hand. I know everyone's listening, but you can't see it, but imagine a plastic cup. Most times, you don't need to get it compliance tested, let's say in the States or in Europe, but in Japan, any plastic product that comes into contact with, even if it's like a storage, maybe like a food storage or pill storage box, et cetera, you need that to be compliance tested. Okay, if it's not one of those four categories, you may be okay, but definitely talk to an importer, a Japanese importer of record, you need a Japanese registered company, you cannot just import using a US LLC into Japan, you cannot use your foreign entity, because the Japanese government wants to have a registered company in Japan or registered person in Japan. So for accountability, if something happens, they need to be able to reach someone. Okay, but you can't use a Japanese IOR import of record for that. So those are a couple of quick tips. Speaker 1: No, it sounds good. What else? So do your Helium 10 research on the keywords, then set up your importing, find your importer that's local there in Japan. And then what are some other things that you need to look out for or be aware of? Speaker 2: Yeah, when it comes to the compliance and testing, be careful about the cost because in Japan, it's a little bit different because the cost and the requirement of the testing, it depends not only on the size of the product, but also how many different parts there are. If it's just a plastic water bottle, it's just one piece of injected molded plastic. That would be cheaper than if there's like a separate seal and then there's a separate lid and a separate additional tab and whatnot. You'll have to test because each one of those needs to be tested. So that could be a pain in the butt. Speaker 1: So what the testing has to be by a Japanese testing company or I could have this tested in China by someone that they recognize or how does that work? Speaker 2: And they have their own accredited testing agencies. So you cannot just use this is something that I didn't know at first, because I thought, okay, I had my product, my kitchen product tested by my laboratory, you know, in China, but I checked with an IR, IR, they said, No, it has to be this specific laboratory, or this list of laboratories. So they will not just accept any laboratory, It has to be that specific laboratory. So that's one, um, common misconception. Another common mistake that some sellers make is if you see another seller selling the same product, that doesn't mean that you don't have to test it because for Japan, the actual testing requirement is per seller. So even if someone else is selling the exact same product in Japan, it doesn't matter. You got to have the license to import it. I mean, you have to, you have to have your own product tested. Speaker 1: So basically before I ship my thousand water bottles, plastic water bottles in Japan, I've got to take a couple of sample, a couple of samples or whatever the requirement is, send those to the Japanese authorized laboratory, let them do their testing. How long does that usually take? Does that delay everything like a few days? And do I have to do that for every shipment or just the first shipment? Speaker 2: No, you just have to do it for the first shipment. You have to get it done. You have to have that test done. It takes time. I mean, it depends on the complexity of the product. I can't just give you a ballpark, but I mean, talk to your importer of record. I mean, they'll be familiar with the different compliance tests required. They could give you the advice, but once you clear that, then you'll be okay to import it. Speaker 1: Well, I would I would think you could the factory in China could make a sample that would pass with flying colors and then make some changes to the product on the big shipment so that they come back and check spot check from time to time when your shipments come in. Are they that strict on it? Or that could get, even if you're not trying to do that, you don't, you're not aware, you know, with your, you're the seller and you do everything right in the beginning. And then your factory says, Hey, you know, he doesn't have to know we can change this plastic over here. I'll never know the difference. And then they ship it in. And then you and your importer record are on the hook. Right. Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean, I'm, I cannot say, you know, how frequent they do check. I mean, I know, if we use the US as an example, they do sometimes do random spot checks, right. So I would encourage you guys to work with your suppliers to try to, you know, keep things honest and not try to like, let these, these, these things slide, because you will be reliable if that is the case. Speaker 1: All right, so now as far as selling in Japan, there's a lot, the PPC costs are a fraction of what they are like in the US just because there's not so many competitors, right? Speaker 2: Yeah. PPC costs will be lower. Uh, so that's one big advantage. Um, there's also lower levels of competition. Um, I believe there were only about 170,000 sellers in Japan. I mean, compared to Europe, there's, I mean, uh, UK, Germany, there's like 300,000, 400,000 us. There's one point, I don't know, over 1.2 million. Speaker 1: Yeah. They're active. There's like three or 4 million registered, but that are actually have actually sold something in the last year. Yeah. Speaker 2: Yeah, so I mean, the competition also will be weaker because you know, many of them are Chinese sellers and I don't mean to I don't want to stereotype anyone, but many of those listings are not very well made. So we can talk about that as well, but the level of competition will be lower. And one of the cool parts is if you're already selling in the US or already selling in Europe, and let's say your product has 500, 1,000 reviews, you can move those reviews into Japan. You can instantly, you know, you can move all of them. So even from day one with zero sales history, you can get off to, you know, like a head start with like 500 reviews, right? And that will lower your, your PPC costs because you have social proof. Right, you already have five reviews because I find that in Japan, the people that buy on the shoppers, they're more sensitive to the number of reviews, not just the review score, right? So if you have a lot of reviews, and also the review threshold in Japan is a lot lower than the US than in Europe. So if you bring those over into Japan, and you could be the seller with like more reviews than the top 10 competitors combined, right? I mean, depending on how successful you are. Speaker 1: How gracious are the Japanese and actually even reviews, like, you know, Germans, they'll leave a review of the product sucks, but to get them to leave a positive review is fairly difficult, just culturally, what about Japan? Are they like, very willing to leave reviews and help other people out? Or is it kind of like pulling teeth to get them to leave a review? Speaker 2: In my experience, I did get reviews for my new product that I launched a year ago. Back then we had the buying program. So we use buying to get the initial reviews. But in general, I mean, they will leave reviews and you We also have the follow up like the reminder, you know, that that option, I believe helium offers that as well. So you will get reviews. There are other marketing strategies as well. There, there is a, like the number one app, In Japan is an app called LINE. So we do have, you know, there's ways you can use LINE for like, you know, product inserts to get more reviews as well. Obviously in white hat ways, you know, I'm not advocating, you know, incentivized reviews. You can do, you know, like coupons, you know, build an audience, build a list. Speaker 1: Rakuten is one of the big platforms. I mean, they're a small player in the US, but in Japan, they're huge. How does Amazon compare to Rakuten? Speaker 2: So, historically, Rakuten was the biggest e-commerce market, but Amazon overtook them recently. So they're about neck and neck and Amazon is a little bit further ahead right now. Rakuten, I believe it's more strong in electronics and their interface is very Japanese. It's like there's details and numbers and images everywhere. It's very different. But from my perspective, in Japan, I've seen Amazon is a lot more prevalent, you know, we'll see like the Amazon delivery boxes, there's like those lockers, and you know, they put them in front of like, you know, Japanese pharmacies, like next to the metro station, even In convenience stores like 7-Elevens, Family Mart, there's like the, you know, the Amazon, the drop off area. So it's, it's very prevalent. And even in Tokyo here, we have same day delivery, you know, I can order in the morning, I'll get my stuff shipped in the evening there. It's very, very prevalent. So Yeah, I mean, I was I was buying a new TV when I moved into my apartment a couple weeks ago, right? So I went to the biggest electronics shop, big camera, and then they were sold out of the model that I wanted. I'm like, So I just pulled up my phone. I found it on Amazon Japan. I showed the sales guy and he kind of just said, you know, if you were me, if I were you, I would just order it off of Amazon. And this is coming from the competitor, right? So because Amazon, I mean, it's just their whole logistics and, you know, the delivery, the warehousing, you know, I believe they have a couple of dozen warehouses across Japan. I mean, Japan, Geographically, obviously, it's not as big as the States, right? I think it's about the same size of UK. But you know, the population is a lot more concentrated than UK. So they're able to have very fast deliveries in Japan. Speaker 1: Tokyo is I think the biggest city in the world 30 some odd million people I think in the metro area. Speaker 2: Yeah, but Tokyo has like I think 40 different prefectures. So think of different districts and you know, I commute like 30 minutes downtown. So but yeah, I mean, the reaches is everywhere. I mean, Amazon, they deliver all the way to the southern islands to Okinawa, you know, I could order, you know, like a, like a, like a projector and like a big TV screen for movie night, you know, when I live down in Okinawa, you can get everything on Amazon. Speaker 1: And in Japan, there's about what about 100? It's like twice the size of the UK. I think the UK is somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 million. And Japan's what about 120? I believe 126, 126 million ish. Speaker 2: And it's the third biggest economy in the world. A lot of people forget that. I mean, it's, I mean, there's, it's huge. And yeah. Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's definitely huge and crowded, but super efficient. Speaker 2: I mean, just super, super efficient to get anywhere and to trains run like really like minutes, like everything's on the minute, right? And people. Speaker 1: And they're on time. I mean, there's a guy, a conductor there, like, you know, blowing his whistle or whatever, like, get on, get on, like, get this train moving. We're leaving in 10 seconds or whatever. And there's like a countdown, like, get your butt on. And there's like vending machines, like, everywhere. I mean, you can get a hot soup out of a vending machine that actually tastes good. It's a different world, that's for sure, but a very modern place, but also a lot of old traditions, a lot of old school traditions and everything. When I was in Japan, I'd see people on the subway, you know, texting. And I'm like, how the heck are they, you know, as to whatever the number is, 2000 characters or whatever it is in Japanese language, like, how the heck are they like pulling from a database of 200,000 characters? And it would amaze me like the safety there, you know, people would fall asleep on the train on the subways with their phone on their lap, you know, and not worry about it. If you did that in New York City, that phone would be gone in a New York minute. As I say, I mean, it's so understanding these kinds of things is part of its importance. With that in mind, you know, if you're going to try to sell in Japan, I would not just do it from afar. I would get your butt on a plane and actually get to Japan and experience it firsthand for yourself, because it's just going to open your eyes to so many things. And a great way to do that is what you're creating right now is the Japanese in-person summit in Tokyo. So walk me through what that's going to be like. I know you've got some Western people coming over to do some talks. You've got Amazon participating. You've got Jeff Cohen. Cohen from Amazon's flying over from Seattle. You know, there's some big wigs coming to your event. So what are you guys going to be doing at this event? Can you kind of paint the picture for me of how the event's going to unfold? Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. So this is going to be the first ever Amazon conference held in Japan. I mean, ever. Even in there hasn't been a Japanese language one either. So this is really the first time ever, we're going to have an event in Japan, it's going to be a two day conference for Amazon sellers, let's say you're already selling in US or EU, if you want to enter the Japanese marketplace, you know, we've had some case studies sellers selling up to $965,000 in revenue in about one year time, like a US brand entering Japan. So that's our main goal in this two-day event. It's going to be filled with masterclasses, masterminds. Amazon is speaking at the event. We talked with Amazon. They're interested in pushing Japan as an important marketplace this year. So that's why we're super fortunate that they're coming. They'll be speaking to you guys. We also have a number of eight-figure Amazon Japan sellers, seven-figure Amazon Japan sellers. Sharing what's working right now, their strategies, because it's very different for Japan, you know. You know, culturally, and also, you know, strategically, right. And also would have a number of service providers. So I'm not being like service providers are going to try to be like spammy and sell and sell you stuff. Because I've handpicked, you know, based on my own experience, you know, all the different pieces of the puzzles you need to sell in Japan. So we'll have if you have a question about, you know, the import of record, you know, talk to that guy over there. If you have a question about compliance testing, talk to that lady right here. If you have a question about Japan PPC, talk to Ritu. Ritu is going to be here. So basically, in this two-day event, you're going to be able to Accelerate into, you know, jumpstart your Japan sales. That's the main goal for the event. And then, you know, beyond that, you know, cultural things like, you know, Kevin loves Kobe beef, right? I wish Kevin could make it this year. That would have been awesome. Hopefully you'll join us next time. We're going to have a social in a Japanese Izakaya bar restaurant. So we'll get a flavor, you know, very hip neighborhood in Nihonbashi, like the center of Tokyo. So, you know, being in the middle of all the action, getting a flavor of that and the pre-event reception. The first night after the full day conference, the mastermind, It's going to be cherry blossom season. So to be honest, the plane tickets are a little bit pricey. One of the reasons why is because everybody wants to come to visit Japan right now in April, because that's when the cherry blossoms will be in full bloom. So we're going to deliver an experience about cherry blossom, networking, social, like out in a Tokyo park in the evening, we're going to lay down spreads with Japanese sake, whiskeys. Good food, good company, talking to the other sellers, talking to the speakers. I mean, you can't get this experience anywhere else in the world besides Japan and you're going to learn and build connections. And then the last night after day two conference, we're going to have karaoke. You can't leave Japan without doing karaoke. The Japanese invented karaoke so you can channel your own like Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation moment. So end this this thing on a high note. And yeah, that's the that's the Japan mastermind that we're doing this time in figure seller Japan mastermind in Tokyo. Speaker 1: And it's not expensive either to come. I mean, you have a pretty fair, I mean, pretty fair price, you got a good hotel, I think, that's really close to where you're holding the event. So if someone was interested, I know it's last minute for a lot of people. But if you have some miles to burn, or you're close, maybe you're listening to this and you're close by, or even if you're not close by, it may be it's probably worth a flight over to actually check check this event out. Because like he said, it's the first of any type of this kind of Do you have Japanese speakers sellers coming as well that maybe they speak Japanese and English do that are based in Japan? Or is it just all Western? Speaker 2: It's mostly English speaking sellers, so we have sellers coming from the US, from Australia, from Europe, we have some Korean sellers coming up. You know, we're promoting to the Korean FBA community as well. And we have fellows coming from like Thailand, you know, digital nomads from Bali. So it will be a very unique mix. It's not like the same crowd that you may see at some of the other events, and also the speakers and many of them are speakers you probably have never seen before. And, you know, we also were very privileged. Bradley Sutton is coming, you know, our friend Bradley. Speaker 1: And the old sumo wrestler, Japanese sumo wrestler, Bradley Sutton. Speaker 2: We'll see if he can demonstrate some moves maybe at the after party. And it's going to be great. And yeah, hopefully you guys can join us. Speaker 1: We have Ritu coming too. And Ritu actually won the Billion Dollar Seller Summit. She did an amazing presentation On chat GPT tied to Google Sheets tied to PPC, it just blew everybody's mind. And she lived in Japan for like and speaks the language like for 16 years or something like that. So to have someone like that coming is pretty good. So you're not playing around with any any speakers or anything. If I if I want to come to the event, it's not too late, right? There's still a few spots left. And how would I go about finding out more and getting a ticket? Speaker 2: Yes, we still have some spots left where you can get your ticket at seven figure seller Japan mastermind seven figure seller Japan mastermind.com and then you can get your ticket and I think the pricing you know we've done everything we can to make it as affordable as possible for our first event so you'll be getting two days of master classes there's gonna be two masterminds and Amazon is going to be speaking. You'll get also coffee breakout sessions. You'll get two lunches and where this actually includes the pre-event reception, which will include dinner and drinks for three hours. I think for some people, they will get the value from that. Just what? Speaker 1: So there's going to be bento box lunches. Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be bento box lunches. There'll be, you know, there'll be meat, there'll be seafood and vegetarian. So we're trying to make sure this will be good for everybody. And then, yeah, I hope I hope you guys can join us. You guys will be part of the first movers because nobody has done an Amazon conference in Japan before. Very few people are selling in Japan. I polled our audience of about 133 sellers that filled out the survey. Only one person was selling in Japan. More people were selling in like like even like Poland or you know, those obscure countries. So come on guys. This is it's kind of ridiculous. Nobody is selling in Japan. So I think this is a perfect opportunity for the right seller to where do you think it's this Japan Amazon Japan is going to go? Speaker 1: Do you think it's going to have a big growth spurt or just slowly keep growing? But where do you where do you see it? Do you think it'll overtake the UK as far as sales go and move up to third place in the next couple years? Or what do you see it going? Speaker 2: I think it's pretty close to UK. And you know, we mentioned earlier, the Japanese yen is very weak right now. I think it's at a historic 30 or 40 year low. So that means that, you know, things are cheaper here in Japan. So if you come to Japan right now, You might be pleasantly surprised because it's, you know, it's not as expensive as people think. So, I mean, but back to your question, Kevin, if the yen does rebound and we see the continued Amazon growth in Japan, I do think it will reclaim the number three spot. So, yeah, I mean, and people in Japan, they're on their phones all the time and people are shopping. Yeah, and you know, it's coming out of COVID, you know, it's pretty back to normal. You know, people still wear masks. I think it's just culturally people wear masks just because of like, you know, pollen allergies, you know, here with the flower season, etc. Speaker 1: Well, the Japanese are very courteous, courteous anyway. If someone's got a sneeze or before COVID, forget this years before COVID, if you, if you had a sneeze, whether it's allergy or maybe anything, the Japanese as a courtesy to their other fellow Japanese would wear a mask. And that was so odd to, you know, when Americans were forced to wear masks, they were fighting it tooth and nail when the Japanese voluntarily do it to protect their fellow man. Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. If you have a cold or if you have like a cough, it was, you know, people just mask up. And, you know, that's like the social norm here. Speaker 1: Yeah. It's such a polite culture as well. I mean, everything is, you know, when you do something, it's two hands to give you back your credit card. You know, if you go to China and, you know, there's if you got a lineup in a queue, forget it. You know, if a new airline desk opens, you know, everybody's waiting in line to check in or something at the airline. And new, you know, they open up a second desk to alleviate some of the line in Russia and Japan. I mean, sorry, in China, you'll get people pushing each other to get out of the way to get to the front of the line. And in Japan, that's not the case. Everybody will politely say you're next. You go over there, you go over there and you go over here and slowly walk over and there's no problems. It's that it's that kind of culture. Yes, the anime the what's what's that area Harajuku, where every weekend people do cosplay and stuff. There's just cool just to go and and see that it's a fascinating place and there's some day trips. So if you make it over for your event, the seven figure Japanese summit, if you make it over for that, Add some extra time so that you can actually take some of the day tours out of Tokyo. There's some really cool stuff you can do on a train that'll get you there in no time. There's some really cool temple complexes up in the mountains. Yeah, the geishas, you can go to Kyoto's on the bullet train. It's a couple hours or something. Experience Kyoto. There's on scenes, which are like outdoor baths. I mean, it is hot springs. Speaker 2: They have like the natural, the natural hot springs. It's like a phenomenon. It's yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, I mean, Kevin knows all about it. I really wish you were coming this year, Kevin. Speaker 1: I mean, it would have been awesome to but yeah, it's I'm just trying to tell people don't be afraid to go to Japan, you know, and this is a perfect opportunity to put two things together and have a total write off on your trip just by going to an event like this. And like you said, you'll be in on the On the ground floor. And I do think it's going to continue to to get better. And like you said, Amazon, you know, they have brand managers specializes specializing and bringing you to Japan. So I get emails all the time on one of my accounts saying, hey, this is Bob Smith or whatever at Amazon. We'd love to have you help you take your products to Japan. We'll give you a bunch of PPC credits. We'll do this. We'll do that. So there's people Amazon willing to help you as well along the way. Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. Because Amazon is going to be here. So Jeff Cohen is going to be here. We're also talking with Amazon Japan, we're trying to get some of their staff to be here. So maybe that relationship can open a door to get, you know, like a brand manager to help you with, you know, additional promotions, you know, maybe with those, like, you know, additional sales, I think that that's an additional benefit. And you can do on the ground market research here in Japan, right? So you can go to like, if you're in toys, you can go to a Japanese toy store, you can find exactly what people are buying, you can look in touch and see what the competition is, the price points, you know, what's hot, what's not, you know, just that market research opportunity, right? I mean, that's like a whole nother level than trying to do everything remotely. I mean, no disrespect to helium 10. But you know, being here live, you know, in the flesh, that's, That's totally different, right? And the other thing is, you know, you can write this off as a business expense, because it is a legitimate business conference. And you'll be attending the event, you'll be doing market research. I mean, I'm not, obviously, I'm not a tax accountant, don't consider this as tax advice. But I mean, it is a business trip, right? So. Speaker 1: Even if you decide in the end that, hey, I'm not going to go, I'm not going to sell in Japan at this moment, you're going to get a ton of ideas of products that you may be able to take as is and bring them to the US or slightly modify for US or European taste. That nobody else is going to see. You're not going to see a lot of this stuff at the trade fairs in China or anything else. You're going to see it just in Japan because Japan still manufactures quite a bit of their own stuff as well. It's not all coming from China. So there's a lot of innovation happening in Japan. Speaker 2: Yeah, they do have made in Japan type products. I mean, I just not like super prevalent, but the Japanese really, I mean, they see made in Japan, they tend to favor that because it is, you know, it's homegrown. Right. And yeah, you're totally on point. You're totally on point. Speaker 1: Awesome. Gary, this has been very informative and we could sit here and talk about Japan probably and tell stories for quite some time, but I hope, you know, I know it's a short window here, but I hope a few of you maybe can make it over there. So I think it'd be worth the trip. If not, hopefully Gary will be doing another one of these. Like he said, he's trying to do one a year and try to put that on your calendar for next year or be looking out for that. And also be sure to check out, you know, a second seven figure seller summit when that comes around probably what like August or September or something like that. Speaker 2: Yeah, we're planning for August, August. Yeah. Speaker 1: Make sure you check that out because that's always a great event brings together a lot of really good speakers. So Gary, if people want to find out more, reach out to you or ask you a few questions or something about anything that you're up to, how would they do that? Speaker 2: Yeah, they can email me at Gary at 8020 sourcing.com. So that's my name G A R Y at 8020 sourcing.com. Speaker 1: Awesome. Well, appreciate you joining us on the AM PM podcast and look forward to talking to you again sometime soon. Speaker 2: Awesome. Thanks so much, Kevin, for having us and hope to see you in Japan soon. And yeah, it's been amazing here today. Speaker 1: Thanks, man. I really wish I was able to make Gary's event. It looks like a fascinating event, but I have a schedule conflict. I'm not able to make it over there. But if you're able to do it, I know it's last minute. That would be a great investment, especially if you're serious about exploring the Japanese market or just to experience another culture. That's really, really cool. I know he's given away a discount. It's like a $400 discount on the on the ticket, the code to get that 400 bucks off if you're able to make it over there. Is 7FS, the number 7, then FS, J like a jewel, M-H10, like helium 10. So 7FSJM-H10 will get you 400 bucks off the $1,500 ticket and help you out. But Japan is an awesome place to go somewhere that I'm looking actually into taking our sustainable brand. I think it'll go over really well. We're actually creating some specific products for that marketplace. So I think it's an untapped market and a great opportunity for those of you looking to expand. I know some of you might be uncomfortable with going into Japan or it may be a little daunting or scary for you, but that kind of goes in with this week's final words of advice. It can often be to your advantage to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. That's right. It's time to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and see what happens. We'll see you again next week. Speaker 2: Hi.