Advice
Selling Products in Asia – Interview with Unlock APAC
How shopper habits, rules and online channels differ across Asian markets, and the entry path that works for a smaller product brand.
Yohan Jacob
12 min read
Taking your product brand abroad can open up massive growth. The fast-growing Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is a prime example. At Retailbound, we help product brands launch with big chains across North America. For brands that want to expand into Asia, we strongly suggest you partner with Unlock APAC. It is one of the region’s top market-entry and sales agencies. Selling products in Asian retail is what they do. For Europe, see our companion piece on selling products in European retail.
This month we spoke with Aurelien Joly, Founder and Managing Director of Unlock APAC. He shared expert tips on selling products in Asia: how shoppers differ, how to handle the rules, and how to pick the best plan for entering this fast-moving retail market.
Key takeaways
- APAC is not one retail market. Channels, rules, packaging and buyer ties are national. A plan written for the whole region belongs to nobody in particular.
- Shopper habits are not a soft factor. They change the pack, the price point and the channel before they change the marketing.
- Rules and trade policy have to be cleared country by country. Clearing them gets you the right to sell, not a buyer.
- Online is most often an entry route, not the end point. Sales inside a market are the proof a store buyer wants to see.
- For a smaller brand, one market done well beats several started at once. The common failure is entering many markets with nobody in charge of any of them.
- Retailbound helps product brands launch and scale in more than 150 retailers across North America. Where the market is outside that, we work with regional experts.
1. Tell Us More About Unlock APAC. What Is Your Role at the Company?
Unlock APAC is a market-entry consulting firm. It helps new brands launch and grow across the Asia-Pacific region. The agency works across many sectors, including consumer electronics, smart home and lifestyle products. It gives brands tailored plans for both offline retail and online sales.
As Managing Director, Aurelien runs the regional team, key partners and market-entry planning. He works directly with distributors, retailers and local experts. The aim is a launch that is smooth, meets the rules and is set up to last in APAC.
Why APAC is a set of markets, not a region
Almost everything written about APAC treats it as a single growth story. That is because consulting reports and go-to-market models are written from that height. For a product brand, that framing does not help. There is no Asian retail market. There are national markets that happen to sit near each other. Almost nothing that matters travels between them.
What does not travel:
- Retail structure. Who the big retailers are. Whether department stores, niche chains, convenience stores or online markets lead the category. How few buyers hold the power.
- Dominant channels. The platform that matters in one market means nothing in the next. The split between stores and online differs hugely.
- Language and packaging. Local language labels are required in several markets, and the rules are specific. Packaging is not a design change. It is a per-market production decision.
- Import and certification rules. Customs steps, required approvals, testing and paperwork are national. The examples in this interview make that plain. China has strict customs and approval rules. Japan and South Korea require local language labels and detailed product disclosures. Australia and New Zealand enforce strict health and safety rules. Southeast Asia has varying import taxes, duties and testing rules.
- Pricing expectations. What a category is worth to a shopper, and so what margin your product has to survive.
- Who holds the buyer relationship. A distributor with strong ties in one market often has none in the next.
The practical result is a better question. A brand asking “how do we enter Asia” is asking something that cannot be answered. A brand asking “which single market should we enter first, and who represents us there” is asking something that can. The rest of this interview answers the second question.
Are you selling into Asia, or sourcing from it?
This article is about taking a product brand into Asian retail markets. That means picking which country to enter, finding a distributor to represent you, meeting local rules on labels and approvals, and reaching buyers across the region. It is not about sourcing or importing products from Asia. That is a factory and supply chain question with a different set of problems. Our sourcing content, starting with outsourced versus domestic manufacturing, is the right place for that.
2. What Key Cultural and Consumer Behavior Differences Should Brands Consider When Selling Products in Asia?
The APAC region is hugely varied. That variety is the first big difference from Western markets. No single plan works across all countries. What shoppers expect varies a lot between markets like Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore and Southeast Asia.
Key differences include:
- Brand trust and reputation count for a lot
Trusted influencers, online reviews and word of mouth often matter more than classic ads. - Demand for local products and marketing
Tailoring your message, packaging and positioning to each country is a must. - A taste for personal, locally relevant shopping
Local language content and region-specific product versions can lift sales a lot.
Knowing these nuances helps brands build stronger bonds with shoppers and avoid costly missteps. The same thinking applies in the US, as our guide to navigating cultural differences with US retailers shows.
Note
Most published market entry advice for APAC is written for B2B and tech companies, and it shows up first in search for consumer queries too. The frameworks are not wrong. But they assume a sales cycle with a named buyer and a contract, not a shelf, a distributor and a planogram. Read them with that in mind.
3. How Do Local Regulations and Trade Policies Impact Foreign Brands Entering the APAC Retail Market?
Every major APAC country has its own set of rules. This is one of the biggest challenges for foreign product brands.
Pro tip
Check the label and language rules for your first target country before you quote anyone a landed cost. Local language packs, required statements and import paperwork usually mean a new print run, not a sticker. Brands that find this out after agreeing on a price with a distributor end up paying the difference themselves.
Examples include:
- China: strict customs rules, import rules and required approvals
- Japan & South Korea: required local language labels and detailed product disclosures
- Australia & New Zealand: strict health, safety and compliance standards
- Southeast Asia: varying import taxes, duties and testing rules
Getting these rules right is critical to avoid delays, fines or rejected shipments. This is why working with an expert on the ground, such as a regional distributor or a firm like Unlock APAC, makes market entry far smoother and more predictable.
4. What Role Does E-Commerce Play in Entering the Retail Market in Asia?
Online is one of the most powerful retail channels in Asia. In many APAC countries, online shopping is more common than in the West.
Pro tip
Sell online inside the market, not into it from outside. A local listing builds the local reviews, local demand data and local delivery record that a retail buyer will look at. A cross-border listing proves you can ship a parcel. That is not the same claim.
Key platforms include:
- China: Tmall, JD.com and WeChat
- Southeast Asia: Shopee and Lazada
- Japan & South Korea: Rakuten, Amazon Japan, Coupang
- Australia: Amazon and major local retailers
However, the ideal balance between online and offline varies by country:
- Japan & South Korea: brick-and-mortar retail still carries a lot of weight
- Southeast Asia: online is often an easier, low-cost entry point
- Australia: a strong omnichannel retail market
A hybrid plan is often the most effective. Start online to build brand awareness, then expand into retail.
Where e-commerce fits and where it does not
Half the published advice on selling in Asia treats online as the answer. That blurs three very different things together. Separate them, because they prove different things and cost different amounts.
Selling on a global marketplace from outside the region. Cross-border listings, shipped from abroad. This is the cheapest way to start and asks the least of you. It gives you a first read on whether anyone in that market wants your product. What it does not give you is a local presence, local reviews in the local language, fast delivery, or proof a store buyer believes.
Selling on a domestic platform inside the market. This means listing on the platforms that market’s shoppers use, with local language content, local shipping and local customer service. More work, more cost, more rules, and worth far more. It produces real demand data from real local shoppers. This is where the regional examples above matter. The platforms that carry a category in China are not the ones that carry it in Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea or Australia.
Physical retail distribution. A distributor or agent, a retailer’s buyer, shelf space and a sell-through record. This is the slowest and most demanding route. In several of these markets it is also where the category is won. Stores still carry a lot of weight in Japan and South Korea. Australia runs a strong omnichannel market. Southeast Asia is where online most often serves as the practical entry point.
Now the order of events, which is the part the search results get wrong. These are not options you choose between once. Online sales inside a market are often the proof a store buyer wants to see. They are demand data about their own shopper, not a story about another country. A brand that sells well on a local platform arrives at a retail talk with something to show.
So the useful order for most smaller brands is this. Test demand online in one market. Build local reviews and content. Then take that record to a distributor or a retail buyer in the same market. Online is a step toward retail, not a way around it. Treating it as the end point is how brands end up with a listing and no channel. Our guide to expanding beyond e-commerce into retail covers that move in detail.
5. What Is the Best Market-Entry Path for Smaller Brands Entering Asia?
Smaller brands should start with one or two “easier” high-potential markets before they expand widely.
Pro tip
Pick your first market on category fit, not on how many people live there. The biggest market has the most rivals for shelf space and the least patience for an unknown brand. A smaller market where your category is underserved gives you the sales proof that makes the bigger talk possible later.
Aurelien suggests:
- Japan: ideal for new, high-quality products and tech-savvy shoppers
- Australia: a Westernized retail scene that serves as a strong gateway into the APAC region
More tips for smaller brands:
- Learn local shopper tastes and who you compete with
- Understand the rules before you launch
- Start online (Amazon Japan or Amazon Australia) to test demand
- Partner with proven local distributors or agencies with people on the ground
- Invest in local marketing and customer service to build trust
Build success in one or two core markets first. Then smaller brands can scale into Southeast Asia, China and beyond with more confidence and less waste.
What a first step into Asia actually looks like
For a smaller brand, a first step into Asia is a sequence. The order matters more than the speed.
1. Choose one market on fit, not on size. The biggest market is rarely the easiest. Pick on category fit. Pick on how closely the retail scene looks like one you already know. Pick on whether your product needs changes to be sold there, and on whether you can ship to it. The picks in this interview follow that logic rather than a market size ranking: Japan for new, high-quality products aimed at tech-savvy shoppers, and Australia as a Westernized retail scene that serves as a gateway.
2. Confirm the rules on labels and approvals for that country before anything else. Not after you have a distributor interested, and certainly not after you have shipped. Approvals, testing, local language labels and product disclosure rules are national and specific. Find them out late and you face new packs, new tests or rejected shipments.
3. Decide who represents you. A distributor who buys and resells, or an agency that represents you to distributors and retailers. One of them has to be in charge of that market by name. Our guide to selecting the right distributor covers how to choose. A market with no named person in charge of it is a market that will not move, however good the plan looked.
4. Prove demand in one channel. Usually a local online platform. It is the fastest route to real local demand data, local language reviews and a sense of how your product lands. Give it enough time and enough support to produce a signal worth showing someone.
5. Take that proof to the next talk. Local sell-through, local reviews, local shopper feedback, in that market’s language. That is what turns a cold approach into a credible one. It works whether the next talk is with a distributor, a retail buyer or a second market.
6. Only then add a market. And add one, with the same discipline.
The most common and most costly mistake is the opposite of all this. Brands enter several markets at once, with no one in charge of any of them. They spread a small budget so thin that nothing reaches the point where it would have worked. How long this takes and what it costs depends on the market you choose, your category, whether your packaging and approvals need changing, and whether you go through a distributor or an agency. Work those out for your own product before you set a budget.
6. What Do You Like About Retailbound? How Are We Different From Other Agencies?
Aurelien points to Retailbound’s deep skill in launching new products with major North American retailers such as Walmart, Best Buy, and Target. If the US is on your map, start with our guide to working with US retailers as a foreign product brand.
What makes Retailbound different?
- A full-service, hands-on approach
- Support across the whole retail journey, from pitch prep to in-store growth
- A long-term partner mindset
- A real commitment to client success
Retailbound’s hands-on help gets brands onto shelves, keeps them there and helps them grow.
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Frequently asked questions
For physical stores, go through someone already in the market. A distributor or a sales agency holds the buyer ties that a foreign brand cannot build from afar. Selling online in that market first is often what makes the intro worth making.
Prove demand somewhere the buyer knows. Get pricing that survives local distribution. Then reach the buyer through someone they already deal with. In Asia the first of those is most often done on a local online platform, not in your home market.
The one where your category is underserved and the rules are workable. Not the one with the most people. Category fit and the chance to get a distributor’s real attention matter more at entry than market size does.
It is usually a step, not the end point. A local online presence produces the local sales data, reviews and pricing proof a store buyer wants. That is why the two come in order, not as a choice between them.
It is a handy label for a set of very different retail markets, not a single one. Using it as a planning unit is where most entry plans go wrong. Channels, rules and buyer ties do not cross borders within it.
