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Distribution & Retail Partnerships

A great product opens the door; the right channel is what turns it into a business. We work out how your category actually reaches customers in Japan, then find and qualify the doors that will sell it — department stores, select shops, specialist retailers, or a single importer, depending on what fits.

Channel & distribution model

Direct, distributor-led, or a hybrid — we work through the trade-offs on control, margin and speed, and recommend the structure that suits your volumes and ambitions.

Retail & select-shop introductions

The buyers and boutiques that carry your category, approached with a proposition already shaped for how Japanese retail buys.

Trade shows & buyer meetings

Which shows are worth the cost for your category, what to bring, and the meetings booked around them so the trip pays for itself.

Terms, margin & minimums

What Japanese retail and distribution normally expect on margin, payment terms, returns and minimums — so you negotiate from context rather than guesswork.

Logistics & landed cost

Import, customs, warehousing and the real landed cost per unit, because a channel that looks profitable on paper often is not once duty and freight land.

Ongoing channel management

Partners need managing after signature: sell-through, reorders, merchandising and the awkward conversations when a partner underperforms.

How we work together

Channel work usually runs as a monthly retainer for the sourcing and management we do, with a commission on the distribution and retail sales we develop. Where exclusivity helps both sides we can scope it by category and term. We agree the mix on a call — there is no fixed package.

Tell us what you sell and we will tell you how it reaches customers in Japan.