Grow in Japan. Then run it without me.
Zelkova Advisory helps consumer brands build a real e-commerce business in Japan — whether you're entering for the first time or fixing an operation that hasn't found its footing.
Japan punishes the unprepared.
It's the market every brand wants and few get right. The playbook that built your US business doesn't port over. The marketplaces are different, the payment habits are different, the trust threshold is higher, and the rules around what you can and can't say about your product are stricter than most teams realize until an ad gets rejected — or an account gets suspended.
Most brands respond by spending more: a bigger agency, a longer study, a local hire who needs a year to ramp. The spend goes up. The clarity doesn't.
I've actually run this.
For most of the last decade I built and ran the Japan business for a global wellness e-commerce company — from a market with almost no local foundation to one of its most developed. Marketplace strategy on Rakuten and Amazon Japan. Payment infrastructure with PayPay and the rest. Paid media across Yahoo Japan, LINE, and Google. Brand campaigns made for Japan, not translated into it. Pharmaceutical advertising compliance across tens of thousands of products.That's the difference between someone who has studied Japan and someone who has carried a P&L there. I'm not bringing you a framework I read about. I'm bringing you the version of events that only shows up after you've made the mistakes yourself.Three ways to work together.
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A clear, honest read on whether Japan is worth it for you — and exactly how to enter if it is. A focused engagement that ends in a decision, not a doorstop.
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Your Japan operation, led by someone who's done it before. Embedded in your team, accountable to your numbers, without the cost or lag of a senior full-time hire.
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Senior judgment on call for the moments that matter — a channel decision, a partner negotiation, a quarter that isn't tracking. For brands that have built the muscle and want a steady hand nearby.