Congrats, you lost again. Enjoy your 104% import fee.
Remember when selling in the U.S. meant shipping a product from China, listing it anywhere online, and just… selling it? Ah, those were the days. The grass is always greener when you're looking at it through rose tinted glasses...
Welp, the reality is that trade wars and tariffs are here, and just like a loud neighbor who recently moved in likes to smoke on the balcony and blast music until 2am --they're here to stay. The American dream is less "entrepreneurial freedom" and more "I really hope I don't have a new headache to deal with tomorrow."
You could keep waiting for the U.S. e-commerce market to stabilize... there's still a bunch of people out there who somehow still think Esperanto is going to be a real language, so you'd be in good company. OR you could shift to Japan. No drama. No trade war. Just a huge market full of customers who actually appreciate fast shipping and good packaging.
Here's why you need to switch from selling in the US, to selling in Japan.
Japan Loves Online Shopping (And Not Just for Weird Stuff)
Not pictured: 500 five-star reviews because everything arrived exactly as expected.
Japan has the 4th largest e-commerce market in the world. Yes, world. Not “in Asia.” The actual world (as in the one we're living in, right now. The one where we pee in the kiddy pool sometimes and write barely funny internet blog posts for fulfillment centers).
Believe it or not, while Japan's population curve is looking a lot like a graphical representation of the effect of gravity, that '4th largest e-commerce market' is still growing. Japanese consumers are loyal, tech-savvy, and obsessed with well-packed, high-quality products. Basically, if your brand isn’t a chaotic mess, you’ll do fine.
And no, you don’t have to know Japanese. Amazon Japan is foreign-seller-friendly, and services like ours can help make local fulfillment super easy (we’ll get to that in a bit).
Geographically Speaking, Japan Is NOT a Logistic Nightmare
Shipping to Japan is dangerously efficient and suspiciously logical.
Here’s a fun little geography fact: Japan is way closer to China than the U.S. is. Like, way closer. That means you can get your inventory from your manufacturer to Japan faster, cheaper, and with fewer “surprise port delays.”
Less distance = less shipping cost = more margin. (Math!)
The Market Is Structured for Sellers Who Have Their Act Together (Like You, Probably)
Pictured: You, still selling to the U.S. for some reason.
Selling in Japan isn’t as scary as it sounds.
Yes, the language is different. No, that doesn’t mean you need to be fluent, or shell-out to hire a wise old logistics master that only speaks in single-syllabic grunts (as 80's karate movies would have us believe). Platforms like Amazon Japan and Rakuten are structured, reliable, and come with built-in customer trust.
And this is where Mix-Mix Mail comes in: We store your products in Japan, pack them up beautifully (yes, we're absolute FIENDS for presentation), and ship them fast to your customers. You don’t have to live in Japan, speak Japanese, or fight a Japanese post office. We’ve got it all covered.
Why Now Is the Time to Try Japan (Before Everyone Else Figures It Out)
"Open your eyes, man! The answer is right in front of you!."
Most sellers are still stuck wrestling with U.S. regulations and praying tariffs don’t annihilate whatever is left of their tattered margins. But the smart ones? They’re testing Japan. Smaller upfront risk. Faster delivery. More stable customers. And a market that still rewards effort.
You don’t need to make a full jump. Just test some inventory. Our Tokyo warehouse is set up for this exact thing --low-risk, beginner-friendly fulfillment for sellers trying something new.
Mix-Mix Mail makes it ridiculously easy to sell in Japan.
You send your stuff to our Tokyo warehouse. We store, pack, and ship it. You sell and make money. That’s it. No complicated onboarding, no BS.
Try something different. The U.S. market won’t miss you. And Japan might just love you.