GPT-6 Luna at Max, asked 8 Oct 2026

Recommended shortlist

I’d treat these as 10 practical channels to shortlist, not a market-share ranking. The first eight sell to consumers; the last two are wholesale channels for business buyers.

For an overseas food provider, the key first step is whether you already have a Japan-based importer or seller. Qoo10 explicitly accepts overseas sellers, with a surcharge in some cross-border setups; Amazon also has an international seller route. Rakuten and Yahoo have more demanding local business requirements. university.qoo10.jp

Cost model

The consumer-channel estimates assume one channel operated for 6 or 12 months: three shelf-stable products, ¥600,000 monthly sales, ¥3,000 average order value, ¥150,000/month in ads, and ¥500,000 for launch creatives and Japanese copy. That sales assumption means 200 orders per month and ¥3.6m/¥7.2m in gross sales over 6/12 months. These are planning assumptions, not a sales forecast.

The ¥500,000 creative budget is an estimate: for reference, one Japanese service lists product-page image creation from ¥11,000 per image, and another lists a product photography package at ¥50,000. I’ve allowed the remaining ¥219,000 for Japanese copy, localization, and layout. k-point.org

The totals below include the assumed ads, creative, platform fees, and sales commissions. They exclude inventory, import duties, delivery and warehousing, returns, customer service, and staff time. Food imported for sale requires an import notification, and Japanese food labeling requirements apply; those compliance and labeling costs are product-specific and are not included here. mhlw.go.jp

Ten channels and estimated project cost

Amounts are in ¥ millions. The table assumes the sales above; sales-based fees fall if sales are lower. Fees are shown at listed rates and may need tax adjustments depending on seller status.

B2B totals are not directly comparable with consumer-channel totals: the sales figure is wholesale value, and the model does not include trade discounts or the cost of supporting wholesale accounts.

What I’d prioritize

• No Japan company or importer yet: Start by checking Qoo10 and Amazon eligibility. Qoo10 has low fixed cost, but the cross-border surcharge can raise its fee; Amazon’s FBA charge can also add materially to the budget. university.qoo10.jp
• Japan-side seller/importer in place: Amazon and Yahoo are the lower-cost consumer options in this scenario. Rakuten may be worthwhile for a committed year, but its 12-month charge makes a 6-month launch more expensive. Pricing for Selling on Amazon
• A product suited to video demos: Consider TikTok if you can sustain content production. Under this model it costs about ¥2.55m for six months, including an assumed ¥120,000/month for content and creator commissions. The content and commission allowances are planning assumptions, not platform-set fees. seller-jp.tiktok.com
• Selling ingredients or case packs to restaurants and hotels: Compare SUPER DELIVERY and M-mart. Their modeled costs are lower because this scenario assumes no consumer advertising; confirm that your products and seller setup qualify before relying on those estimates. chikapa.smrj.go.jp

For “more than testing,” I’d budget roughly ¥1.7–2.5m for six months on one consumer channel, before fulfillment and import costs, or ¥2.9–3.8m for a year on most of the modeled routes. TikTok is higher under the content assumption. If you outsource ad management, one published Japanese service charges 20% of media spend with a ¥30,000/month minimum—add about ¥180,000 for six months or ¥360,000 for a year at the modeled ad budget. gmo-pg.com

Amazon fulfillment is a separate cost: its official example shows ¥358 for one FBA shipping fee. At 200 orders/month, that example would add about ¥71,600/month, or ¥429,600 over six months. Actual fulfillment varies by package size and weight. Pricing for Selling on Amazon