Travel Tech Tokyo:
A Popular App to Support Foreign Visitors' Shopping Experience in Japan

Providing Detailed Product Information in Seven Languages

Payke has been downloaded a total of 4.5 million times (as of January 2024, including API provision), and 99% are international users. The product information that it provides includes the product's characteristics and raw materials as well as reviews posted by users. The app is offered in Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Korean, English, Vietnamese, Thai and Japanese, allowing users to choose their preferred language. When visiting a supermarket or drugstore, they can scan the barcode of a product that they are interested in to find out what sort of product it is on the spot, even if they are not proficient in Japanese. This supports and enhances the shopping experience.

Furuta Keisuke, Representative Director and CEO of Payke, Inc., said an experience from his previous job working in the trade and international promotion of Japan's specialty products inspired him to design this app.

"When we were promoting Okinawa mozuku (edible seaweed), there wasn't much of a reaction when we simply provided a product sample. But orders went up when we also gave users information on the product in their languages."

It was not the product itself, but information, that spurred sales. This realization led Furuta to launch a company in 2014. A year later, he released Payke as an app for foreign visitors in Japan to support their shopping experience. It covers an extensive 500,000 products, mainly consumer goods, from over 1,300 companies. In 2020, Payke received an award for excellence in the app category of the Diversity Tokyo App Award held by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG).

Social Media Posts by Users Spread the App's Popularity

Inbound tourism has been recovering steadily since COVID-19 border restrictions were relaxed in October 2022. According to a survey by the Japan Tourism Agency on foreign visitor consumer behavior, spending in Japan by foreign visitors between July and September of 2023 was 1.3801 trillion yen, up 17% from the same period in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of international Payke users also rose 20% by October 2023 compared to the number in October 2019.

Reactions to Payke are also increasing on social media.

According to Furuta, "People who used the app when visiting Japan are introducing it on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok in their languages, spreading the word that it's a useful app when traveling in Japan. When I search for 'Japan travel' in the language of whichever country I'm researching, I'm starting to see Payke being introduced more often in top posts."

Extensive Information Providing Services for Businesses

Payke also offers extensive information providing services to its corporate members. Businesses can instantaneously see which of their products are popular among travelers of which language in stores across Japan, allowing them to build sales promotion strategies for inbound tourists.

Furuta said, "For example, if you discover that a certain product in the Don Quijote store in Roppongi is popular among users of a certain language, you can create POP displays in that language. You can also compare your products' data against those of your competitors or sales data from other stores."

It is also easy to see which products are popular among users of each language.

"Travelers from Taiwan love gummies, and travelers from Hong Kong often buy cold medicines. These days, milk pudding is popular among South Korean visitors."

Going forward, Payke is planning to expand functions for users. It is also considering other features such as halal certification marks for Muslim users, a service that will allow users to buy products they liked after returning home, and functions that Japanese users can use when traveling abroad.

Payke is likely to become an increasingly indispensable app for foreign travelers trying to find products they want in Japan, as well as for Japanese businesses striving to expand demand in the field of inbound tourism.