JAPAN. Japanese beauty, health and wellbeing products wholesaler and retailer Yoshitsu has entered the domestic tax free ecommerce market that serves foreign travellers.
The NASDAQ-listed company described the move as a “key milestone” amid a surge in inbound tourism. The company offers foreign tourists a convenient tax free shopping experience via its physical and online stores.
The Japanese government is targeting 60 million foreign visitors by 2030 after reopening its borders last year. Yoshitsu cited a report by Kyodo News Agency noting the government aims for annual tourist spending to reach ¥5 trillion(US$34 billion) as soon as possible. That figure would eclipse pre-pandemic 2019 tourist spending by approximately ¥4.8 trillion.
Tokyo-based Yoshitsu offers a range of Japanese goods including beauty, health, wellness, food, alchohol, home and sundry products online and in brick-and-mortar stores in Japan, China, US, UK, and Canada.
The company currently offers tax free shopping in its Tokyo Lifestyle retail store and it also has pick-up locations for online orders in selected Japanese cities.
Yoshitsu has introduced pick-up services at its stores in Urawa and Koshigaya, Ryutsudanchi in Saitama, and its Hakuba store in Nagano. It claims to have become the first company to offer pick-up services at pharmacies in Tokyo and the first to offer a tax free shopping service on TaxFreeOnline.jp in Nagano. Foreign visitors can now shop on the ecommerce site and pick up orders at designated places.
To establish its presence in the tax free shopping market, Yoshitsu last year partnered with iEnt Co, a digital transformation service company that provides Online-Merge-Offline solutions and operates a tax free shopping website.
Yoshitsu also revealed plans to launch promotional events by offering discounts for tax free products and lucky draws at its retail stores to meet the demands of increasing foreign visitors.
Yoshitsu Principal Executive Officer Mei Kanayama commented: “We are excited to see that the Japanese government opened its borders to foreign visitors, which should prompt the inbound tourism recovery in Japan.
“We strive to attract foreign visitors by providing TFO and pick-up services at our stores, which offer them a convenient shopping experience during their stay in Japan. Looking forward, we will remain focused on providing unparalleled services and a diversified selection of products at our stores.
“We are confident that our improved customer experience and promotion activities will attract foreign visitors to our stores and TFO website, and our expanded capacity will meet the anticipated increased needs of foreign visitors.”
