Creating your own online store in Japan definitely has its appeal, but it also comes with its own set of challenges. You have to understand the local system and local preference.
Especially when it comes to shipping, understanding what’s needed and making sure to get those details from your customers is vital in order to avoid jumping through a lot of hoops along your process.
In this article, we will guide you through a basic understanding of what information required by Japanese carriers and how to set up the Shopify checkout page and make sure to get essential shipping details from your customers.
Let’s start!
Delivery address required by Japanese carriers
First of all, let us explain each element from the Japanese address and what is required to ship in Japan.
Here is a breakdown of Japanese address:
- Country (国/地域)
- Family name, Name (姓・名)
- Postal code (郵便番号)
- Prefecture (都道府県)
- City, Town, Village, Ward (市区町村)
- District, Block, and Building numbers (丁目・番・号)
- Building name, room number (ビル名・室号)
It is best to get all the above information, plus the email address and telephone number.
Telephone number is required by Yamato Transport and Sagawa Express in order to create a shipping label through a system. However, if you are using the Yu-pack or the Yu-packet service of Japan National Post, inputting the telephone number is optional.
Still, we highly recommend you get a telephone number from your customer since carriers can directly contact them when there is a delay or any problems along the way.
Note: At Ship&co, we take a telephone number as mandatory shipping information when creating a manual order.
How to set up the Shopify checkout page
1. Set a phone number as required
If you want to set a phone number as required, you can simply do it by going to the Settings > Checkout and accounts > Customer contact method & Customer information.
From there, set the shipping address phone number as ‘Required’.
2. Get a proper shipping address
Next, in most cases when selling your products to foreigners in Japan, you probably offer a Shopify checkout in multiple languages. It is a fantastic way to make the checkout process maximum clear for customers.
But getting the Japanese address in Romaji will not be a pleasant experience when managing work in the back office since the romaji address is not accepted by the carrier system. The address must be written/input in Japanese.
In cases like these, here are the steps you’ll want to follow:
- From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes > Current theme.
- Click Actions > Edit languages > Checkout & System
- In Checkout contact menu, add a remark in Shipping address title
For example, here is an example of message you can add: Please add your Shipping address in Japanese if that’s possible for you!
So what do you do when the address is in Romaji?
You don’t need to bother your customer for this. You can check the correct address in Japanese based on the zip code from Japan Post website.
Then, editing shipping addresses in Shopify admin is an easy task.
Go to the Order page > Customer > Edit shipping address.
What’s good about this is that when editing a shipping address, in the customers admin of the Shopify store, it will be saved and can be easily used the next time by your customers.
As simple as that!
Start your online business in Japan !
If you’ve been thinking about starting your own business here in Japan, right now is always the right time!
We understand starting a business isn’t easy and that’s why we created Ship&co to help you ship easier. Ship&co helps sync orders, track shipments, and generate labels and invoices in a matter of minutes. Start automating Shopify shipping flow today with the easiest integration ever from Ship&co.
About Ship&co
Ship&co is a global shipping platform designed by and for e-commerce sellers. Created by the team behind Bento&co, who have been selling on Shopify since 2008, Ship&co provides a simple and easy-to-use web dashboard and shipping API. Ship&co helps online sellers ship packages faster by automatically syncing orders and creating shipping labels and invoices in minutes. With Ship&co, you can create shipping labels for FedEx, UPS, DHL, NinjaVan, Yamato, Sagawa, and more, with just two clicks to complete the process and mark your orders as shipped. For more information on Ship&co, visit shipandco.com or reach out to us via hello@shipandco.com !