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What an inbound visitor buys is largely settled before they walk in. We run RED (Xiaohongshu) and Japanese-language Instagram with the same team, and count all the way to visits, store by store.
Xiaohongshu (RED)
Instagram
TikTok
YouTube
Numbers
88.1%
Nine in ten inbound visitors go shopping
Shopping, as something done during this trip to Japan. It is also named by 54.2% as something to do next time
Japan Tourism Agency, Consumption Trend Survey for Foreigners Visiting Japan, 2025 annual report27.0%
Inbound shopping is nearly three tenths of spending
Shopping as a share of inbound travel spending. Accommodation is 36.6% and food and drink 21.9%
Japan Tourism Agency, Consumption Trend Survey for Foreigners Visiting Japan, 2025 annual report93.2%
Of those who shopped, over nine in ten are satisfied
Share of inbound visitors who went shopping and said they were satisfied
Japan Tourism Agency, Consumption Trend Survey for Foreigners Visiting Japan, 2025 annual report43.3%
Before departure, they check social media
Share naming social media as a useful source before departure. Video sites come in at 39.6% and personal blogs at 23.9%
Japan Tourism Agency, Consumption Trend Survey for Foreigners Visiting Japan, 2025 annual report33.8%
During the trip too, they look for places to shop
Places to shop, as useful information during a stay in Japan. Behind restaurants at 56.0% and attractions at 39.1%
Japan Tourism Agency, Consumption Trend Survey for Foreigners Visiting Japan, 2025 annual report−12.7%
More people came, and department store duty-free sales fell
Year-on-year change in the 566.7bn yen of duty-free sales across Japanese department stores. Inbound shoppers topped 6.21 million, a record
Japan Department Stores Association, published January 2026 (2025 figures)Issues
01
They come in and leave without deciding what to buy or how much to spend. Shelf tags and point-of-sale material don't have the time to explain.
The fixWe produce video carrying the price, the location and whether duty-free applies, in Japanese, simplified Chinese and English.
02
When each store runs its own account, head office can track neither the quality of the posts nor the numbers. All that is left is views.
The fixPer-store coupon codes and tracking links let head office count store by store.
03
Posting weighted to Chinese-speaking markets moves with politics and exchange rates. The awkward part is that it swings for reasons unrelated to anything the store does.
The fixRED for mainland China, YouTube and TikTok for Taiwan, Hong Kong and the West: a mix that doesn't lean on one country.
Solution
01
RED (Xiaohongshu) for mainland China, YouTube and TikTok for Taiwan, Hong Kong and the West. A mix that doesn't lean on one country.
02
One shoot produces posts in Japanese, simplified Chinese and English. The price, the location and whether duty-free applies always go into the post. That's the rule.
03
We cast creators who fit the product and the clientele. Labelling follows both RED's advertising disclosure and Japan's stealth marketing rules.
04
The destination page, per-store coupon codes and tracking links come first. Only the videos that got a response go into advertising, and only in the target countries.
What we watchViews from search, saves, profile visits
What we watchSaves, profile visits, link clicks
What we watchViews, average watch time, taps from the description
What we watchArrivals at the store page, coupons claimed
What we watchCoupon redemptions, duty-free transactions, average spend
These are examples. Your products and the number of stores change the order.
Process
From agreeing the objective through multilingual operations and repurposing into ads, handled as one continuous piece
Phase01
It starts with which products, delivered to customers from which country.
The share and nationality mix of your inbound customers, average spend per store, and duty-free transaction volume. We ask about those, then decide what to go after.
Phase02
We identify who, from which country, decides where to shop, and where.
In China the leading source is social media; in Taiwan, Hong Kong, the US and Australia it is video sites (Japan Tourism Agency, 2025). The platforms follow from that difference.
Phase03
Before any posting, we settle the receiving side and how it gets counted.
We set each platform's role and open the RED business account. Per-store coupon codes, tracking links and multilingual store information get prepared at the same time.
Phase04
Filmed without stopping the shop floor, then rebuilt per market.
We film before opening or when it quietens down, covering the route from the shop floor to the duty-free counter, then add translation, voiceover and subtitles.
Phase05
Videos that produced numbers get widened through advertising and PR.
Multilingual operations run in parallel with Japan-based and local KOC/KOL campaigns. The monthly numbers are coupons claimed, visits and duty-free transactions.
FAQ
Dealing with the regulation comes first. What we often see at this stage is starting with translating the guidance documents and turning the process into video for people to watch before they visit.
It can. It is treated as an overseas company, though, so notarised translations of the company register are required, along with a 600 yuan annual review fee and a one-year validity period.
Honestly, we would recommend not leaning on one country. Keep RED running, and hold Instagram, TikTok and YouTube alongside it for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Western markets.
It can. Run the official account from head office and issue separate coupon codes and tracking links per store, and neither the management nor the measurement strains.
That's no obstacle. Translation, voiceover, subtitles and comment handling sit with our native-speaker team. For the questions you get asked in store, we build the multilingual standard answers with you.
The counting comes first. The destination page, per-store coupon codes, and, where you have your own shop, measurement through to purchase, all before any posting. Monthly reporting leads with the numbers closest to visits and purchases.
Services
End-to-end support from account strategy through filming, editing, posting and analytics
First-person short-form video. No cast, fast turnaround, low cost — and the experience comes through
Cast the right creators for your goal from a network of over 20 million combined followers
Small tests identify the winners first, so budget goes only where it drives traffic and revenue
Multilingual social marketing that maximizes the inbound visitors you attract
Awareness, conversion tracking and nurturing in one pipeline, powered by our playbooks and AI
Recruitment marketing that reaches the 94% job boards never touch, through short-form video ads made for you
End-to-end Japan market entry for overseas brands: localization strategy, official social accounts, POV video, PR and on-site activation
Shopify and BASE store operations, plus channel manager, LINE and Meta ads integration with your booking system, so your marketing has somewhere to land
Free consultations and quotes available
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