Exporting Japanese drinks

[nickl]

Does anyone have experience of exporting Japanese drinks? I have tried contacting manufacturers directly but without any success at this point, I get replies such as 'due to qc policy we do not export... sorry'. Are there ways around this such as buying from wholesalers? Any info would be much appreciate, tq

[muna]

Does anyone have experience of exporting Japanese drinks? I have tried contacting manufacturers directly but without any success at this point, I get replies such as 'due to qc policy we do not export... sorry'. Are there ways around this such as buying from wholesalers? Any info would be much appreciate, tq

What kind of drink, volume, destination and where in Japan are you buying this from.
If you are looking at small volume - you can pruchase from the wholeseller but if you are looking at larger volume you may want to discuss this with the "Shoko Kai-jo" local chamber of commerce and if it's in the big city especially in Kobe area they do provide help to promote export of local products.

Rule #1 - do not just walk in and shove your business card to this guy. It japan you need introductions and it carries a long way if you can get the local business or local governemnt people to introduce you.

If you give me specifics I may be in better place to help.

[nickl]

Thanks for the info, muna.

What I want to do initially is buy a small quantity to send to the UK - i.e. a couple of hundred bottles/cans. I know I could just go to a supermarket for such a small quantity but since it's a prospective idea at this point I need to know where I can buy the product and how much it is going to cost.

I am looking at sports drinks - Pocari, Dakara, Amino Supli etc., and I would look to buy probably from Tokyo / Yokohama area. From what you've said it looks like wholesalers will be my best starting point. Information which would be useful for me now is a wholesale contact I can approach next time I am in Tokyo. In fact, since I do not live in Japan, it would be useful to know how much a 500ml bottle of Supli, for example, costs in wholesale. Once I have that the other costs are a lot easier to look at and I can calculate how much it is going to cost by the time it arrives in the UK.

Tks

[muna]

Nickl

I am in Kansai myself - I am not very familiar with wholesellers in Kanto area; but I am assuming that they work in similar manner. I believe these are the three best ways to do this (in no particular orders):

1. Purchase from DIY store such as "Konnan" - they do sell bulk - relatively much cheaper than other suppermarkets and in some casses smaller distributors.

2. Go to the local "rice and dirnks" wholesellers - they are not as cheap as the main distributor and you will probably have to pay the standard price for the first 2-3 pruchases until you can work out constant demand chain. It's a worthy investment if you are planning to do this on long term basis. IF you can establish your self for a year they may even be willing to deliver directly to you oversea. ** Make sure you bring a Japanese speaker and make sure you're dress properly when visiting them and bring a business card with you **

3. Purchase by mail from someone already in Japan and deliver to you in UK(?). They also have most of the drinks in powder package - mixed your own water - this may be something that you may want to consider. They can deliver to you whatever is on sale that is in your list.

Just out of curiosity - how often would you put in an order and what kind of volume are you looking at for the first year? Feel free to ask more I am always open to help fellow gaijins and nihonjin.

muna

[muna]

Send me you email address and I can send you excel worksheet for some of the price etc...

I will check the price and get back you -- remember I doing this voluntarily so it will take some time. This is my temporary email address I will response and give you my primary email address.

muna_jp{@}hotmail.com

[sleep]

Why is it that u can t get it directly from the manufacturer? Too small quantities or because they already have a distributor in uK?

Numa, how do u find a local wholesaler?

[muna]

Why is it that u can t get it directly from the manufacturer? Too small quantities or because they already have a distributor in uK?

Numa, how do u find a local wholesaler?

1) He is looking for too small of a purchase and can't make long term commitment for future purchase.

2) I have some contacts to local suppliers that sell to local restaurants. But since he cannot or don't want to make future commitment the best way to do is to just walk in at DIY or drugs store and have whatever they have special at that particular time. I do understand his concern on making longterm commitment - but then you won't get good price. I figure you can get the bottles they are selling at vending machine for 150 yen for about 100-105 yen. If you purchase it for local wholeseller you can get it for about 80-85 a bottle. Larger order will bring it down to about 75-78 yen.

Good idea but I would just purchase the powder one and add water in UK why screw around with delivery cost. I am assuming that bottle natural water is not very expensive in UK.

[ShadyOne]

I'm not sure about the UK, but I know in the US there are many asian grocers that already carry many Japanese drinks. Again I'm sure you have a better idea than I do if they have the same thing in the UK, just a little something to think about before you go spending alot of money.

[Unicorn]

Are you sure you can get it out of Japan and into the UK?

[muna]

Are you sure you can get it out of Japan and into the UK?

I don't see why not. Put in the box and mail them out. expensive may be that's why I suggested getting the powdre instead of the bottle products.

[Unicorn]

Muna If you want to "officially" export there are various procedures that you might have to go through with the manufacturer and government. If you are sending for "personal" use there is no problem (expect depending on the country food inspection and quarantine).

[muna]

Muna If you want to "officially" export there are various procedures that you might have to go through with the manufacturer and government. If you are sending for "personal" use there is no problem (expect depending on the country food inspection and quarantine).

You are right!!

However, he is looking for about 100 bottles delivery. You can send different boxes as personal use going through trading companies will be pain-in-you-know-where for such small volume so a drop shipment would be the best way to go in this case.

Alternatively, you can also send this as product samples with no monetary value they do allow for this but you can't do it forever. Technically, that's what he is interested in samples to see if the product can be successful --- sure we are bending the rule here -- but we are not breaking it both in legal and business term or even ethical term.

LOL - hey .... I manage to use the word "business" and "ethic" in the same sentence without using the "but" or "not"!! My English is improving!!

[nickl]

Hi Muna,

I am going to be in Japan at the end of March and will buy samples then to send back to the UK. The information you've given me has been on the burner for a while - the last few months have been somewhat hectic so I have had to drop other projects such as this.

I tried some powder-form Aquarius the other day and it was very good, just like the bottle form which was to be expected I suppose. It would indeed be much easier to deal in this form in terms of bulk, weight etc. but I think selling it like this would be more challenging.

The motivation to carry this market research through comes from someone I met in Japan who started importing European drinks and has an established business going now. Anyway we'll see what happens, it's not so easy when I am not in Japan and have a full-time job for the time being..

Cheers - nic

[muna]

Hi Nick,

If you come to Kansai area we can hook up!

I know a Malaysian restaurant in Osaka - well you might prefer to have Japanese I guess after traveling half the world to get to Japan.


I still think getting the powder is the best way. More cost and space efficient. Hell you can put a few hundred in your suitcase, however; you may have a hard time to explain to the custom in London. Being powder and all they may want to taste the stuffs you barought in with you. I guess mailing it to yourself would be the best solution regardless which way you go.


Muna
ps. end of much is the best time to be in Japan!!

[kurogane]

How much for a caseload of Root Beer? Preferably Stewart's Natural. Any discount for a fellow Potter?

[franck]

Last year, I was planning to export from Japan a product (food) that exists only in Japan but after some research, I found out that I had to get the authorization from the Health Ministry of my country (France) to import such a product. I was told that analyses of samples had to be made in order to get the approval from the government. Not doing so is illegal, I was told.

This is just a guess but I assume it would be the same in UK?