However, a common mistake among catalogers new to marketing to Japan through the Internet is that their back-end operations haven’t been adapted to the Japanese market. Japanese customers still expect timely delivery, good customer service and a high degree of professionalism.
The good news about marketing to Japan is that many catalogers already have their marketing pieces in place. U.S. catalogs work well in Japan—with only a few minor changes. First, the English copy should be replaced with Japanese copy and the order form needs to accommodate Japanese addresses (there are no states and zip codes in Japan—just prefectures and postal codes!). Most catalogers with Japanese versions design the catalog so that only a black-plate change on press is needed to switch to the Japanese copy.