E-commerce Japan
Even if you move to other place within Korea, the initial cost is so high. If you are going abroad, the initial cost will be higher than that. So, you are looking for a way to get the necessary supplies as cheaply as possible, and Japanese e-commerce can be one of those ways. Out of Japan, I found the lowest price through sites such as slickdeals, but what should I do in Japan? Among them, there is also an option to ship to your country, so please refer to those who are considering overseas direct purchase. There are various e-commerce sites in Japan as well. Let’s take a look at the most representative Japanese e-commerce sites, Amazon and Rakuten, and Kakaku, a price comparison site.
Amazon – www.amazon.co.jp
Amazon is a site that everyone has probably heard of. It started in the United States and has become the world’s most famous shopping mall site based on fast delivery and low prices. It is also a place that has achieved great success with Apple in Japan, where foreign companies do not succeed well.
You can trust Amazon because it is a globally known site. There are many cases where you can’t tell if a site is reliable overseas.. Amazon doesn’t have to worry about that. The biggest feature is that shipping is fast if you sign up for Prime. If you order in the morning, it may arrive the same evening. There are many international shipping options and fast. Amazon is a system that delivers directly from Amazon warehouses, so returns/cancellations are flexible and easy to adjust.
On the other hand, if you don’t sign up for Prime, you can’t fully enjoy Amazon’s fast shipping. Free shipping is also limited. Amazon has big sales twice a year, in July and November. July is Prime Day, and November is Black Friday.
About Amazon Prime
If you sign up for Amazon Prime, you can use Amazon’s Prime Shipping and other services below. You can choose Amazon Prime for 500 yen per month or 4900 yen per year.
Prime Video (Partially)
Amazon Music Prime(Partially)
Prime Reading(Partially)
Amazon net super
Prime try before you buy
FYI I am a Prime member. I also have an Amazon credit card. There is no annual fee and you can accumulate points by +1.5% (2.0% Prime) of your Amazon spending.
Rakuten – www.rakuten.co.jp
Rakuten (Rakuten Ichiba) is one of the most famous shopping mall sites in Japan along with Amazon. The biggest feature of Rakuten is Rakuten points. In Japan, you can use it almost like cash if you use Rakuten Pay. If you use Rakuten Bank, Securities, Mobile, Cards, etc., you can collect quite a lot of points.
However, there are many cases where free shipping is not attached.. There are cases where only a certain amount or more is free. Since Rakuten often relays each vendor/company, cancellation and return are very limited.
Four times a year, there are big sales in March, June, September, and December. Sometimes there is a half-price sale, and above all, it gives a lot of points.
First of all, Rakuten is also a diamond member, but I don’t use Rakuten Ichiba much, but I tend to use related services a lot. What services are you currently using?
- Rakuten Card
- Rakuten Bank
- Rakuten Shoken
- Rakuten Mobile
In particular, the Rakuten card is easy to make even for beginners… I use Rakuten Bank because the transfer fee is free if the conditions are met.
kakaku.com – www.kakaku.com
Kakaku.com is a site with a slightly different personality from the Amazon/Rakuten introduced above. It is the lowest price comparison site close to Danawa and Naver shopping, and compares/provides prices from many sites other than Amazon and Rakuten.
I think I used it a lot when I first came to Japan. However, in the end, there are many cases where the lowest price is Amazon or Rakuten, so I ended up using Amazon or Rakuten.
I use Kakaku.com to check reviews. For example, before buying a vacuum cleaner, I use it to check which vacuum cleaners are selling well and popular, and what comparison groups exist. In addition, it is possible to compare prices not only for goods but also for various services (credit card/insurance/internet, etc.). What I’m comparing
- Provider(Internet)
- Car Insurance
- Moving
- Elec./Gas
- Credit Card
The comparison was especially helpful. Kakaku.com also receives advertisements, so there is no guarantee that the link here is the best condition.. But it is a good site for comparison.
Summary
All three sites have their own characteristics. In my case, I usually look back slowly and buy it, but i Use
- Emergency – Amazon
- Furusato nozei – Rakuten
- Sale period – each site
- Price comparsion – kakaku.com
Next time I have a chance, I will post details about each site and Furusatonoze.