No export for you! Why not?

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Surely they know how big of a market there is for Pokémon throughout the world, and yet the majority of merch never leaves Japan. Why is that? If it's to cut down on production and licencing costs, why not just sell them online from the Pokémon Center stores? They wouldn't have anything to lose by doing it, and they'd make a ton more sales.

 

[ellie]

well the US pokecenter store actually has gotten a ton of merch that previously was japan or NWS only, so that has definitely been a huge plus. as for why they dont bring EVERYTHING over, i think it's honestly probably just due to lack of interest. i think those of us who are super into merch (myself included) get a lot of confirmation bias because the people we talk to are very into it, but really, most people in the US don't buy that much merch that isn't readily available in stores (and in-store would get into what you already touched on, losing money from production, deals with stores, etc). older fans in the US/europe might buy a single plush, a couple keychains, maybe even a figure here or there, but they probably will not be buying every single mega evolution outfit pikachu, the entire line of christmas plush, etc. i have not seen hard numbers on interest in japan vs US, but i have noticed things will sell out pretty quickly on the amazon jp pokemon store, while the same items will be up for significantly longer on the US pokecenter store when it eventually comes here.

what i would like them to do is do what a lot of japanese companies have done recently for some of the higher-end luxury figures/plush/etc. a few months before the item is scheduled to come out, allow people to preorder the item (with no cancellations allowed). then, produce as many of the item as there are preorders with a few extra for people who didn't know about it or changed their mind. as long as a sizeable number of people preorder, they'll still make money without having a lot of excess stock.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

The American site is disgustingly overpriced though. Only the biggest of diehards would ever pay 20 for a spiral notebook!

If everything was sold from one site, consolidated and shipped worldwide, sure it wouldn't have the impact of a physical store, but it would make things equally accessable. Sure they'd have to translate the site into a few different languages, but even the niche market would be big enough to pay for that quickly. And then you would not only avoid licencing fees, you'd have a larger market for items they already know people want.

 

[ellie]

well actually a lot of it is quite reasonably priced. their stationary and apparel are pretty overpriced, but the plush/keychains/etc really are not so bad. they're cheaper than a straight 100y = $1 that a lot of import companies do (which makes it more expensive for us customers since its closer to 120y = $1 lately), and shipping is pretty cheap plus now they do free shipping for $50.

and im really not so sure the niche market would pay for that super quickly without making it more overpriced. merchandise has to have a lot of tests and such in order to be sold in the US (think those CISPA certs everyone was freaking out over for amiibo), every piece of packaging has to be translated, etc. nintendo has always been pretty stuck in japan in general, and merch is really no exception. they don't have the infrastructure and advertisement power to sell through enough of a lot of those things to make it worthwhile. like i said, i think the best thing for a lot of these would be to take preroders. that way, if they see that they're not gonna sell enough to make sufficient profits, they can change things or push the release date back or something.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Eh, if they're selling it online, packaging doesn't have to be translated. And a lot of it sells very well when it's sold in the US via import, like Kids figures. Those are sold out almost constantly around here.

 

[Electricbluewolf]

I know on sites like eBay there is a lot of business for japanese sellers to do pick ups etc. Prices can be ridiculous (as obviously they mark up) but I've found a few sellers who basically do it at the cost of the item and shipping.
I'm not sure what the regulations are in US but here in the UK we get hit, sometimes very expensively, by customs. Apparently it's to encourage spending in your own country, however if they don't sell it and never will over here, how else are we meant to get it? It's very unlikely we would get a Pokemon Centre due to it, and even though one shop would be popular I don't think we have the market for it over here.
I know it's more popular in America as there's more people, but I've heard from contacts in Japan that it's less popular than Yu-gi-Oh and thinks like that. I would think location in US would be an issue as well.
The US online shop and Nintendo World receive the Japanese Pokedolls but with American labels (Quality can also change).
It be cool to have a cheaper online facility or more shops, though I think one of the reasons they keep the centres in Japan is tourism.

 

[ellie]

Eh, if they're selling it online, packaging doesn't have to be translated. And a lot of it sells very well when it's sold in the US via import, like Kids figures. Those are sold out almost constantly around here.

are you sure it doesn't have to be? i think there are laws about packaging having specific things on it (think choking hazards etc), so if you have to translate some it makes sense to translate it all. and i'm not denying that things that are imported can sell out, but the difference is an importer can only bring a small number of units over here. if they were being produced for US markets, they'd have to produce a lot more, and i don't know if those numbers would sell.

I know on sites like eBay there is a lot of business for japanese sellers to do pick ups etc. Prices can be ridiculous (as obviously they mark up) but I've found a few sellers who basically do it at the cost of the item and shipping.
I'm not sure what the regulations are in US but here in the UK we get hit, sometimes very expensively, by customs. Apparently it's to encourage spending in your own country, however if they don't sell it and never will over here, how else are we meant to get it? It's very unlikely we would get a Pokemon Centre due to it, and even though one shop would be popular I don't think we have the market for it over here.
I know it's more popular in America as there's more people, but I've heard from contacts in Japan that it's less popular than Yu-gi-Oh and thinks like that. I would think location in US would be an issue as well.
The US online shop and Nintendo World receive the Japanese Pokedolls but with American labels (Quality can also change).
It be cool to have a cheaper online facility or more shops, though I think one of the reasons they keep the centres in Japan is tourism.

europe is a whole different ballgame for sure. i've had european friends talk about customs charges and it seems really annoying and i feel for you guys for that. we don't have to worry about that at all.. i think if you ordered a LOT or were reselling as a business you may have to worry about it, but i've imported quite a lot of stuff and never had to worry about customs charges.

you guys did have that pop-up center in france that was really popular right? so there is at least a market there. it would be nice if europe could at least have an online store like we have that sells a good selection but not necessarily EVERYTHING.

 

[Electricbluewolf]

europe is a whole different ballgame for sure. i've had european friends talk about customs charges and it seems really annoying and i feel for you guys for that. we don't have to worry about that at all.. i think if you ordered a LOT or were reselling as a business you may have to worry about it, but i've imported quite a lot of stuff and never had to worry about customs charges.

you guys did have that pop-up center in france that was really popular right? so there is at least a market there. it would be nice if europe could at least have an online store like we have that sells a good selection but not necessarily EVERYTHING.

Apparently if the seller marks anything as sales/goods not gift etc and the value is over !15 there is a 1 in 3 chance of getting hit by customs. For a £15 pound item it is around £12-luckily I've never been hit by them (I thought I had when I ordered my sleeping ditto plush, as it took ages to arrive and they hard marked on how much it was worth). My friend runs a business and orders in goods from a Japanese middleman and doesn't get by them, but it reflects in the price.

Yeah, believe it was in Paris, Europe's first Pokemon Centre as it were. It was really good, even if there was a little it'd still be better than nothing. There is some nice Goomy stuff on the American website, I'll have to wait for resalers on eBay for it.

 

[KingMinun]

I discovered a website last night called Pokemon Center loot, which imports stuff from japan but at a British price, it has a large variety of items on there from the centers, but still does not have every item.

 

[Rio!]

That does make sense Ellie. I rather like the pre-order idea, especially since it gives a chance for those
For instance, I decided around this time last year I was going to gradually collect the Mega-evolved Dragon plush, and almost got there only to find out certain ones like Sceptile sell out, and have yet to make a comeback since late October (at least since when I started checking back consistently). I've noticed that others have also been steadily disappearing as well, so the likes of Swampert, Diancie, shiny Ray, and Charizard have gradually disappeared as well. And don't even get me started on those plush Primals, argh. I'm still trying to be patient and wait it out and see if there's a store re-stock instead of having to import plush from Japan at more than double what it sells for stateside. Even if some of them have US tags, they still end up expensive. Another example are these individual charms that were recently sold there have an MSRRP of 2.99 usd suddenly jacks up to 11+ elsewhere. For a SINGLE charm.

I really feel for those in Europe trying to import though, sounds like a major pain. =/
I also have a friend who lives in a little-known country that doesn't have access to the site as well, and also gets hit hard with customs, even with smaller items.

 

[ellie]

Apparently if the seller marks anything as sales/goods not gift etc and the value is over !15 there is a 1 in 3 chance of getting hit by customs. For a £15 pound item it is around £12-luckily I've never been hit by them (I thought I had when I ordered my sleeping ditto plush, as it took ages to arrive and they hard marked on how much it was worth). My friend runs a business and orders in goods from a Japanese middleman and doesn't get by them, but it reflects in the price.

Yeah, believe it was in Paris, Europe's first Pokemon Centre as it were. It was really good, even if there was a little it'd still be better than nothing. There is some nice Goomy stuff on the American website, I'll have to wait for resalers on eBay for it.

ah ok i am not from europe so i was just going off what i've heard. marking it as a gift when it's not or as lower than its actual value could get people in huge trouble tho so it's not really worth it imo.

yeah, it seems a little strange to me that they couldn't start selling a few things online there. even if it was a little pricier than the jp/us ones, removing that extra markup from small importers would probably still make it worthwhile.

I discovered a website last night called Pokemon Center loot, which imports stuff from japan but at a British price, it has a large variety of items on there from the centers, but still does not have every item.

...there are lots of small time importers that bring items to different countries in their own currency. but we are talking abotu official exports by nintendo.

That does make sense Ellie. I rather like the pre-order idea, especially since it gives a chance for those
For instance, I decided around this time last year I was going to gradually collect the Mega-evolved Dragon plush, and almost got there only to find out certain ones like Sceptile sell out, and have yet to make a comeback since late October (at least since when I started checking back consistently). I've noticed that others have also been steadily disappearing as well, so the likes of Swampert, Diancie, shiny Ray, and Charizard have gradually disappeared as well. And don't even get me started on those plush Primals, argh. I'm still trying to be patient and wait it out and see if there's a store re-stock instead of having to import plush from Japan at more than double what it sells for stateside. Even if some of them have US tags, they still end up expensive. Another example are these individual charms that were recently sold there have an MSRRP of 2.99 usd suddenly jacks up to 11+ elsewhere. For a SINGLE charm.

I really feel for those in Europe trying to import though, sounds like a major pain. =/
I also have a friend who lives in a little-known country that doesn't have access to the site as well, and also gets hit hard with customs, even with smaller items.

yeah pokemon stuff very rarely gets a re-run once it is released, so unfortunately even if more items do come to more countries that probably won't change. you have to be on top of stuff in order to secure everything you want. but it would help because a. that means more of the item will be created in the first place b. people who don't speak the language or visit foreign sites will get at least some chance rather than relying on resellers from the get-go.

the preorder thing was more to help them gauge interest so that if something wouldn't be profitable to bring over it could be canceled.

 

[Rio!]

yeah pokemon stuff very rarely gets a re-run once it is released, so unfortunately even if more items do come to more countries that probably won't change. you have to be on top of stuff in order to secure everything you want. but it would help because a. that means more of the item will be created in the first place b. people who don't speak the language or visit foreign sites will get at least some chance rather than relying on resellers from the get-go.

the preorder thing was more to help them gauge interest so that if something wouldn't be profitable to bring over it could be canceled.

Pffft of course as soon as I say that the online store turns around as re-stocks Mega Diancie and Swampert at least, still no Sceptile. Or Mega-Zard for that matter, which is at least understandable since that pair's been out the longest, I think. :V
Finding reliable re-sellers is probably what takes the longest tbh. The mark-up can get ridiculous depending on the seller as well. ;o

 

[ellie]

i guess the us pokecenter store actually does sometimes restock, i forgot about that. but very old things definitely don't tend to come back. if it was a rare/popular item sold more than a year or 2 ago good luck ever finding one from a verifiably legit seller for less than 500% markup..