ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter "ITOCHU") announced today that it will launch a support service for Japanese companies making e-commerce sales to Taiwan. The service will be provided via Taiwanese subsidiary ITOCHU Taiwan Corporation (headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan; Manabu Matsui, Chairman and President; hereinafter "ITOCHU Taiwan"), through formation of partnership agreements with cross-border e-commerce service operator PChome Bibian Inc. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Lo Wei-Ling, CEO; hereinafter "Bibian") and influencer marketing service provider iKala Interactive Media Inc. (headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan; Sega Cheng, CEO; hereinafter "iKala").

With the depreciation of the yen in foreign exchange markets in recent years, the desire of Japan companies to sell overseas has been increasing rapidly. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors, the e-commerce (EC) market in Taiwan is also showing a high annual growth rate (24.5% in 2021), with the number of Taiwanese consumers purchasing Japanese products increasing.

Bibian, a member of the PChome Group, is one of Taiwan's largest cross-border EC sites. With an international logistics warehouse in Japan, Bibian provides high-quality services which include some of the industry's lowest international shipping rates, various payment methods and shopping compensation. EC operators in Japan can utilize Bibian's services to cater easily to cross-border e-commerce simply by making deliveries within Japan.
iKala has developed Taiwan's largest influencer platform, with data on over 150,000 influencers and over 100 million units of content data. It is engaged in influencer marketing services, which are growing in Taiwan, and EC sales promotion support business in Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

In addition to partnership agreements with Bibian and iKala, ITOCHU is also collaborating with Taiwan Pelican Express Co., LTD., a major Taiwanese courier business operator in which ITOCHU made a strategic business investment last year, and BELLSYSTEM24, which operates Japan's largest contact center business. Through these partnerships, ITOCHU will launch services to build and support EC sales to Taiwan in a comprehensive, phased manner.
Specifically, in line with the customer needs of Japanese companies, ITOCHU will support customers from initial consideration to execution of EC sales to Taiwan through the provision of (1) a cross-border EC plan (Japan shipping model) and (2) an EC fulfillment plan (Taiwan shipping model).

1. Cross-border EC plan (Japan shipping model)
In this model, inventory is stored in Japan and delivered to Taiwanese consumers according to orders from EC sites. If the customer (Japanese company) already has an EC site in Japan, they can make cross-border EC sales to Taiwan immediately by linking with Bibian's service. In addition, even if the customer does not have an EC site, ITOCHU will provide support according to customer needs, such as site building, responding to inquiries from Taiwanese consumers, and handling customs clearance.

2. EC fulfillment plan (Taiwan shipping model)
In this model, inventory is stored in Taiwan and delivered directly to Taiwanese consumers according to orders from EC sites. It is suitable for immediate delivery of products within Taiwan, or when returns and exchanges are required. ITOCHU and its partners provide comprehensive support for promotion, logistics, contact centers, and other functions necessary for selling in Taiwan.

One of the basic policies of ITOCHU's medium-term management plan is realizing business transformation by shifting to a market-oriented perspective, and this effort is in line with this policy. ITOCHU has been supporting the growth of Inagora Holdings Co., Ltd., which is engaged in cross-border EC business for sales to China, since it entered a capital and business alliance with the company in 2017. Inagora has also opened a store as a Japanese EC business operator on Bibian's cross-border EC site and started to expand its operations into Taiwan. Through this partnership and the provision of services with Bibian and iKala, ITOCHU aims to further accelerate its support for Japanese companies making EC sales to Taiwan and improve the profitability of Taiwan Pelican Express and ITOCHU Group companies.

For inquiries regarding this service

https://form.run/@taiwan-ec-support

PChome Bibian Inc.

Headquarters Minato-ku, Tokyo
Representative Lo Wei-Ling
Business Cross-border EC business (EC sales, export procedures, customs clearance, etc.)
URL https://www.bibian.co.jp/
Headquarters Taipei, Taiwan
Representative Sega Cheng
Business Provision of total DX solutions including AI-based influencer marketing, CDP, and cloud services
URL https://ikala.tv/

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Itochu Corporation published this content on 31 October 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 11 November 2022 01:21:22 UTC.