Cross-Border E-Commerce Fills Gap in Overseas Anime Market
The shift toward cross-border e-commerce signals that Japan's domestic anime merchandise market may be approaching saturation, pushing sellers to treat overseas fans as a primary revenue source rather than a secondary one.
Reporting from 1 sources: Animenomics.
Japanese anime merchandise sellers are increasingly turning to cross-border e-commerce to offset a shrinking domestic market, according to a feature from Animenomics. Domestic anime merchandise sales have risen 50 percent since 2018 and now account for up to half of the entire domestic anime market, per data from the Association of Japanese Animations. However, retailers like Parco see Japan's declining population as a growing threat to continued growth. Parco general manager of digital promotion Masahiro Arita told Animenomics that market contraction driven by population decline has become a material challenge. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Parco reevaluated its e-commerce business and launched an online store in 2022 that sells products internationally. The company turned to e-commerce service provider Beenos, which was acquired by LINE Yahoo last year, to facilitate cross-border sales. Arita said Japan remains Parco's primary base, but the company believes the appeal and cultural value it generates should be accessible to audiences worldwide.
Anime figurines are the most popular category of anime merchandise purchased by overseas customers through cross-border e-commerce services, according to the Animenomics feature. Parco, a Tokyo-based department store chain that frequently collaborates with anime licensors on pop-up exhibits and limited-edition merchandise, launched its international online store in 2022 after pandemic-era store closures forced a reassessment of its e-commerce strategy. The company partnered with Beenos, a cross-border e-commerce platform that was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange until its acquisition by LINE Yahoo last year. Arita said the declining population in Japan has made overseas expansion a necessity for sustaining growth in the merchandising segment, which now represents a significant portion of the domestic anime market. The Association of Japanese Animations data cited in the piece shows domestic anime merchandise sales have grown 50 percent since 2018, but retailers worry that trend cannot continue without tapping international demand.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.