Cross-border e-commerce fills gap in overseas anime market
Japan's top proxy purchasing service provider helps small and medium anime merchandise sellers reach overseas customers
This is a feature story from Animenomics, covering the business of anime and manga.
A surging ‘oshikatsu’ economy has Japanese consumers spending hundreds of billions of yen on products featuring their favorite anime characters, helping push domestic anime merchandise sales up by 50 percent since 2018, according to data compiled by the Association of Japanese Animations, an anime industry trade group.
Merchandising today accounts for up to half of the entire domestic anime market, but many sellers and makers of anime merchandise don’t think that trend can continue for long.
“In recent years, market contraction driven by Japan’s declining population has become an increasingly material challenge,” Masahiro Arita, general manager of digital promotion at Tokyo-based retailer Parco, told Animenomics.
Parco operates a chain of department stores and shopping malls in Japan, often collaborating with anime licensors and creators to host exhibits featuring art from their works. The company also sells limited-edition merchandise licensed from rightsholders in pop-up stores and online.
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced Parco to close stores or reduce operating hours, the company decided to reevaluate its e-commerce business. It launched a new online store in 2022 that would allow them to sell products outside the country.
“Japan remains our primary base; however, we believe the appeal and cultural value generated by Parco should be accessible to audiences worldwide,” Arita said.
For help facilitating cross-border sales, Parco turned to e-commerce service provider Beenos, which had been listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange until last year, when it was acquired by Internet giant LINE Yahoo.
