Best ecommerce platform in Japan – a comparison by cost, features and scale

Four types of ecommerce platform in Japan

Before comparing individual names, it helps to know which type each platform belongs to. Platforms of the same type share similar pricing and strengths, so this is the fastest way to narrow the field.

• Free to start (BASE, STORES): plans with no setup or monthly fee; you pay fees when you sell. Good for starting small
• Japanese subscription carts (Color Me Shop, MakeShop, futureshop): features built around Japanese buying habits and support in Japanese. Common for mid-size shops and up
• Global SaaS (Shopify): add features with apps; strong for multiple languages, currencies and cross-border sales, with plenty of design freedom
• Open source (WooCommerce): a plugin for WordPress. The most flexible option, but you arrange hosting and maintenance yourself

Write down your current sales level and where you want to be in three years. That alone usually brings the list down to two or three candidates.

The seven platforms side by side

Here is what each platform does well and which kind of shop it suits. Pricing and plans change often, so always check the latest terms on the official site before you sign up.

• Shopify: monthly plans, a large theme and app ecosystem, and room to grow into subscriptions, multiple languages, international sales and in-store POS. App fees can add up
• BASE: a free plan and a very simple admin panel. As sales grow you can switch to a monthly plan with lower transaction fees
• STORES: free and paid plans, and it pairs well with the company's booking and cashless payment tools for physical stores
• Color Me Shop: a long-running Japanese cart with free and paid plans; HTML and CSS editing lets you fine-tune the design
• MakeShop: a monthly cart with many built-in features for membership and promotions, plus a B2B edition for companies that also sell wholesale
• futureshop: a SaaS popular with D2C and fashion brands, strong at expressing a brand's world on the page, priced at the higher end
• WooCommerce: a free WordPress plugin that runs your shop and content together. You extend it with plugins, and Japanese payments and shipping need extra setup

The two match-ups people ask about most are covered in Shopify vs BASE and Shopify vs WordPress.

How to compare the real cost

Monthly fees alone hide most of the picture. To compare platforms fairly, add up these four items for a full year:

• Fixed costs: monthly or yearly plan fees; for WooCommerce, hosting, domain and SSL
• Sales-based costs: payment and service fees, which matter more the more you sell
• Extensions: apps, plugins and paid themes – many Shopify apps are billed monthly
• Build and running costs: design, product setup, and maintenance if you outsource it

Run the numbers twice – once at 300,000 yen in monthly sales and once at 3 million yen – and you will see where a free plan stops being the cheaper choice. If you hire an agency, building on a SaaS cart in Japan typically starts in the hundreds of thousands of yen, and heavily customized shops often reach several million.

A checklist for features and scale

In the end, the deciding factor is whether a platform has the features your business cannot do without. Mark each item below as must-have, nice-to-have or not needed, then compare:

• How many products you sell and how many size or color variations
• Whether you need subscriptions or recurring orders
• Whether you plan to sell in English or ship abroad
• Whether stock and sales should sync with a physical store
• Whether you need wholesale or members-only pricing
• How far you want to customize the design to your brand
• Who on your side will add products and update the shop
• Whether you might move to another platform later

Choosing a platform that covers your must-haves out of the box keeps app and development costs down. Also check that product and customer data can be exported as CSV – it makes any future move much easier.

Common mistakes when choosing a platform

Switching platforms later takes real effort. Most of these mistakes can be avoided with a little checking up front:

• Starting on a free plan, then facing high fees as sales grow and a painful migration
• Adding app after app until the monthly total is far above the original budget
• Picking a stylish theme whose mobile checkout is confusing, so more carts are abandoned
• Not confirming that the payment methods and delivery services you need are supported
• Deciding without trying the admin panel, then finding nobody on your side can update the shop

All of these come from deciding before trying the real screens. Once you have two candidates, use the free trials and run through the whole flow, from adding a product to completing a test order.

How UNANOBO builds your shop: a free demo on the platform you choose

UNANOBO builds online shops on Shopify, BASE and WordPress with WooCommerce. We look at your products and brand together, recommend a platform, and then build a free demo shop that actually runs on it. You check the home page and product pages on your computer and phone, and decide whether to go ahead after that.

The process is free demo, feedback, launch, growth. The founder handles every project personally, from the demo to marketing after launch, and everything runs by message in Japanese or English. Payments, shipping setup and product loading are covered on our ecommerce site development page.