1 Expansion planning
We draft an expansion plan covering country, approach and timing from your application, and review it with the brand.
Brand · Choose the target country, expansion approach and timing, and review the plan.
Led by Brandport
Services
From drafting the expansion plan to drawing people to the store, each stage sets out what is done and what the brand decides.
- 1 Expansion planningBrandport
- 2 Local spaceOHOI
- 3 ContractOHOI
- 4 Interior contractor selectionOHOI + brand design firm
- 5 Marketing operationsLOPI
2 Local space
OHOI, our main partner, finds store locations that fit your conditions and visits them.
Brand · Review the candidate spaces and choose where to open.
Led by OHOI
View details
What we handle
Search criteria and location strategy
- Understand the brand concept and target customers
- Select priority cities and areas to review
- Research customer base, foot traffic and major brands by trade area
- Research competing stores, similar businesses and traffic-drawing facilities
- Set desired floor area, floor level, frontage, ceiling height and rent budget
- Compare suitability of a permanent store and a pop-up space
- Organize facility requirements for store operations
- Review appropriate rent and initial costs against the sales plan
Securing properties and site visits
- Search for properties by communicating and negotiating with local brokers
- Review conditions such as vacancy, move-in date and lease terms
- Obtain photos, floor plans and building documents
- Arrange the site visit schedule and route
- Accompany on site and in meetings, with interpretation and briefing
- Check delivery access, unloading, parking, and property features and condition
Checking technical and usage conditions
- Confirm landlord consent for the planned business type
- Review required business permits and space conditions
- Check electrical capacity, water supply and drainage, gas, exhaust, and heating and cooling
- Check whether internet and telecom can be installed
- Pass fire safety, evacuation and construction review items to specialists and coordinate
- Check construction hours, noise and building management rules
- Check ownership and usability of existing facilities and responsibility for breakdowns
- Check restoration standards and scope of demolition
What the brand prepares
- Brand concept and target customers
- Priority cities and areas to review
- Desired floor area, floor level, frontage, ceiling height and rent budget
- Facility requirements for store operations
- Sales plan
3 Contract
OHOI carries out lease negotiations and the contract process.
Brand · Review the terms and decide on the contract.
Led by OHOI
View details
What we handle
Negotiation and contract
- Prepare the brand introduction and leasing proposal materials
- Confirm requirements for the tenant entity, guarantor company and guarantor
- Prepare and submit lease application materials
- Negotiate rent, management fees, deposit and other initial costs
- Negotiate rent-free period, construction period and handover terms
- Review lease term, renewal and early termination conditions
- Confirm deposit return and amortization terms
- Confirm brokerage fees and related costs
- Coordinate translation and explanation of the contract and review by specialists
- Obtain the client's final approval
- Confirm signing, sealing, remittance and receipts
- Record the handover of the space, receipt of keys and handover condition
- Support communication with the landlord and management company after opening
What the brand prepares
- Tenant entity, guarantor company and guarantor
- Decisions on rent, management fees, deposit and other initial costs
- Final approval of the contract
- Signing, sealing and remittance
4 Interior contractor selection
Design stays with the Korean design firm the brand chooses, and OHOI matches a local contractor to your conditions. Construction supervision is available if you want it.
Brand · Decide whether to keep your current design firm, then compare contractor candidates and quotes and choose one.
Led by OHOI + brand design firm
View details
What we handle
Construction: contractor selection and contract
- Identify local contractor candidates (Japan/Korea)
- Check track record on similar businesses and ability to respond
- Check required qualifications, insurance and construction system
- Site briefing and quotation request
- Compare quotes by trade and excluded items
- Finalize construction scope, specifications and construction cost
- Negotiate start, completion and payment schedules
- Organize terms on delay, changes, defects and contract termination
- Support signing of a separate construction contract
Construction: pre-start preparation and work in progress
- Obtain approval from the landlord and the building management body
- Coordinate required notifications, applications and inspection schedules
- Finalize the construction schedule and work sequence
- Coordinate work hours, deliveries and elevator use
- Protect existing facilities and common areas
- Carry out demolition, waste and removal work
- Electrical, water supply and drainage, air conditioning and telecom work
- Wall, floor, ceiling and finishing work
- Install furniture, fixtures, signage and equipment
- Order materials and manage delivery dates
- Manage change requests and approval of additional construction costs
- Respond to safety, noise and neighborhood complaints during construction
- Manage construction photos and progress reports
Construction: completion and after-care
- Cleaning, test run and function check
- Coordinate related inspections and landlord confirmation
- Handle outstanding and corrective items
- Hand over as-built drawings, warranties and equipment documents
- Hand over keys, credentials and equipment
- Training for clients and staff
- Settle the final payment
- Receive defect reports and manage the repair schedule
- Secure a contractor for emergency breakdown response
Supervision and process quality control (optional) · Setting up the management system
- Decide the required scope of supervision and process management
- Select a local supervisor or technical verification specialist
- Define the roles of the designer, contractor and manager
- Set the number of site visits and the reporting cycle
- Set inspection items and approval procedures
- Set up client reporting and contact channels for when problems occur
Supervision: site checks
- Check that actual construction matches the approved drawings
- Check whether materials, products or specifications have changed
- Check finishing quality and dimensions
- Manage processes that need checking before finishing, such as wiring and piping
- Coordinate tests and inspections of electrical, water supply and drainage, and air conditioning
- Record defects, omissions and items that need rework
- Compare the progress rate with the planned schedule
- Review the need, quantity and quotation for additional work
- Site meetings and minutes
- Check that client-approved items are reflected on site
Supervision: completion check
- Coordinate completion and function inspections
- Prepare a list of corrective items
- Re-check that corrections are complete
- Provide verification materials before progress and final payments
- Compare completion documents with the actual construction
- Record the handover condition
- Check inspections and repairs during the defect liability period
We distinguish professional supervision from general process management, and check local qualifications and scope of work.
What the brand prepares
- Selecting a design firm (Korea/Japan)
- The brand's space concept and design standards
- Design documents that allow construction quotes to be compared
- Decisions on construction scope, specifications and construction cost
- Signing a separate construction contract
- Approval of change requests and additional construction costs
- Settling the final payment
5 Marketing operations
Once the store opens, LOPI runs local content and viral marketing for it.
Brand · Decide the range of products and content the store can offer.
Led by LOPI
View details
What we handle
Market research and localization
- Research Japanese target customers and purchasing behavior
- Research competing brands' prices, messaging and channels
- Set the brand's positioning in the Japanese market
- Japanese localization of the brand name, copy and product descriptions
- Develop pricing, discount and package strategy
- Allocate the annual and opening-stage marketing budget
Building channels
- Prepare a Japanese website and online sales foundation
- Open social media channels and set operating permissions
- Register on map services and store information
- Plan content production and posting schedule
- Produce photos, videos, graphics and Japanese copy
- Set up a system for inquiries, comments and customer response
- Set up online ads and build a performance measurement system
Influencers and PR
- Select influencer candidates that fit the target
- Check follower composition, engagement and collaboration track record
- Negotiate fees, sponsorship and visit conditions
- Finalize content format, posting date and retention period
- Check ad and sponsorship disclosure standards
- Set up content revision and approval procedures
- Secure reuse and advertising usage rights for photos and videos
- Connect with media, reporters and local PR agencies
- Write and distribute press releases
Events and performance management
- Plan opening events, invitation events and brand collaborations
- Select pop-up locations and sign space-use contracts
- Prepare event fixtures, staff, inventory and payment
- Check venue approval and required procedures
- Manage installation, operation and teardown
- Run coupons, promotions and customer revisit programs
- Analyze visits, purchase conversion, sales and ad spend performance
- Report by channel and improve the next campaign
What the brand prepares
- Brand name, copy and product descriptions (source for Japanese localization)
- Decisions on pricing, discount and package strategy
- Annual and opening-stage marketing budget
- Social media channel operating permissions
- Content revision and approval
Other tasks we help with
Tasks handled alongside the five stages for a Japan launch. We proceed with only what you need.
Company incorporation
Deciding the direction and structure of incorporation
- Understand the brand entering, the business and the operating model
- Compare forms of entry, such as a local corporation or a branch
- Review suitable entity types and consult local specialists
- Define the relationship between the Korean headquarters and the Japanese corporation
- Decide the shareholders or investors and shareholding ratios
- Decide the capital amount, actual investors and payment method
- Decide the representative and officers
- Review whether a local representative is needed and their actual role
- Set representative authority, voting rights and approval procedures for important matters
- Negotiate the representative's compensation, term of participation, and replacement and resignation conditions
Preparing address and documents
- Select candidate company names and check availability
- Organize the business purposes
- Search for and contract a registered-address service or an office for the head office
- Collect identity and related documents of shareholders, representative and officers
- Prepare corporate documents when a Korean company invests
- Check whether translation, notarization or certification is needed, and carry them out
- Prepare the source of funds and proof of payment
- Organize the information needed for the articles of incorporation and pass it to specialists
Carrying out incorporation
- Select local specialists such as a judicial scrivener and compare quotes
- Finalize the scope of delegation, costs and schedule
- Draft the articles of incorporation and carry out required certification procedures
- Pay in capital and confirm proof
- File the incorporation registration and respond to correction requests
- Receive confirmation of completed registration and key documents
- Support making and registering the corporate seal
- Set storage and usage authority for seals and original documents
Building the foundation after incorporation
- Compare banks for opening a corporate account
- Prepare the business plan, transaction structure and related materials for bank screening
- Coordinate bank interviews and submission of supplementary materials
- Connect with the person in charge of initial tax and social insurance filings
- Select an accounting manager and tax accountant
- Carry out follow-up procedures if changes to the head office, business purposes or officers are needed
- Final handover of incorporation documents, contracts and account information
Scope of work, costs and schedule are agreed according to the entity type and the local review results. Specialist work is done with local specialists, and bank account opening is subject to the financial institution's screening.
Visa acquisition and residence status management
Identifying the people involved and the need
- Survey the stay plans of the representative, dispatched staff and local hires
- Understand the actual work in Japan, length of stay and how compensation is received
- Check each person's current residence status and scope of activities
- Review the residence status that fits the planned activities
- Check the requirements at the time of application through local specialists
- Prepare the corporation, office, staff and business plan, and link them to the application schedule
Preparing the application
- Organize the applicant's education, career and business history
- Support drafting the business plan
- Draft the sales, cost, employment and funding plans
- Prepare corporate documents, the office lease and materials showing the business is real
- Prepare the source of funds and payment records
- Carry out required translation and certification
- Select a local application specialist and finalize the scope of work
- Organize specialist fees, administrative costs and the expected schedule
Application and follow-up management
- Check the application documents for omissions and inconsistencies
- Coordinate the relevant procedures, such as the Certificate of Eligibility
- Respond to requests for additional materials and corrections
- Coordinate the visa application and entry schedule
- Explain permitted activities and restrictions before acquisition
- Support registration and living-setup procedures needed after entry
- Re-review and prepare operating alternatives in case of denial or delay
- Manage renewal schedules and related documents
- Check whether notification is required when the representative, workplace or activities change
The residence status needed for registering the representative and for management activities in Japan is reviewed separately.
Interior design
Planning and site survey
- Selecting a design firm (Korea/Japan)
- Organize the brand's space concept and design standards
- Review how the space will be used with Japanese customers in mind
- Analyze store operations and the flow of customers and staff
- Measure the space and check differences from existing drawings
- Survey existing facilities and reusable fixtures
- Allocate area among the sales floor, storage, staff areas and management areas
- Organize functions by business type and equipment installation requirements
- Review accessibility, safety and ease of maintenance
Design development
- Draft the basic floor plan and layout
- Design the exterior, facade and signage
- Select walls, floors, ceilings and finishing materials
- Lighting plan and review of color temperature and brightness
- Design furniture, fixtures and storage
- Review colors, materials and brand expression
- Place Japanese signage and graphics
- Plan the positions of equipment, POS, security and telecom
- Client consultation using images, samples and simulations
Detailed design and ordering preparation
- Coordinate electrical, telecom, water supply and drainage, and air conditioning design
- Required fire safety and evacuation review
- Prepare drawings for approval by the landlord and management company
- Check with local specialists whether related applications and reviews are needed
- Prepare detailed drawings and material and product specifications
- Distinguish items made in Korea from items procured in Japan
- Adjust specifications to fit the budget
- Finalize design documents that allow construction quotes to be compared
- Manage the number of design revisions and approval procedures
- Organize drawings, design usage rights and the scope of original files provided
Logistics
Import and export preparation
- Prepare a list of products, equipment, materials and consumables to bring in
- Designate the Japanese importer and the Korean exporter
- Check whether each product can be imported and the rules that apply
- Check whether certification, inspection and Japanese labeling are needed
- Select a customs broker and a carrier
- Review item classification, expected duties and import-related taxes
- Prepare the invoice, packing list and shipping documents
- Review the country of origin and applicable trade terms
- Distinguish goods for sale, samples, display items and temporary imports
- Decide who bears transport, insurance, customs and taxes
Transport and customs clearance
- Compare air, sea and international express options
- Plan the shipping, customs clearance and in-store delivery schedule
- Prepare packaging, damage prevention and transport insurance
- Customs declaration and response to requests for supplementary materials
- Manage inspections, delays and additional storage fees
- Respond to goods that cannot be brought in, returns and disposal
- Check quantity, damage and product condition after arrival
Warehouse and delivery
- Select the warehouse location and main delivery areas
- Search for and contract warehouse space
- Compare receiving, inspection, storage, picking and shipping costs
- Inventory system and SKU management
- Allocate inventory among stores, online and distributors
- Check shipping rates and delivery times for regional and remote island areas
- Handle returns, exchanges and defective items
- Organize stocktaking and responsibility for losses
- Review long-term stock, disposal and re-export to Korea
- Set up a replenishment system for equipment repair parts and consumables
Expanding distribution
- Identify wholesale, retail and online distributors
- Prepare distribution proposal materials and price lists
- Negotiate supply prices, minimum order quantities and payment terms
- Review sales territories and exclusivity
- Organize terms on returns, consignment sales and inventory burden
- Build a sales reporting and settlement system
Recruiting, staff training and operations
Staffing plan and recruitment
- Calculate headcount by number of stores and business hours
- Review full-time, part-time, dispatched and outsourced arrangements
- Set salary, working hours and benefits
- Select recruitment agencies and recruiting channels
- Write Japanese job postings and job descriptions
- Receive applications, review documents and coordinate interviews
- Assess language, service and job skills
- Check the scope of eligible employment and required documents
- Coordinate offer notices and start dates
Onboarding and training
- Explain working conditions and prepare employment contracts
- Coordinate payroll, attendance and insurance registrations
- Brand, product and service training
- Training on equipment use and breakdown response
- Training on handling customer complaints and emergencies
- Create a Japanese operations manual
- Trial operation and checking training results
Operations management
- Manage work schedules, shifts and days off
- Opening, closing, cleaning and facility checks
- Cash and inventory management
- Performance evaluation and additional training
- Respond to staff grievances and conflicts
- Manage absences, resignations and replacement staff
- Resignation procedures and recovery of materials and accounts
- Connect with specialists for local labor issues
We distinguish recruitment support from job placement or staff dispatch, and check the business licenses required.
Business management: sales, accounting, tax and legal management
Sales and fund management
- Select POS, sales and reservation systems
- Contract with payment providers and link settlement accounts
- Reconcile daily sales with deposits
- Manage cash, refund and cancellation records
- Monthly profit and loss calculation and store performance comparison
- Analyze sales, cost and profit by product
- Manage rent, labor costs and advertising costs
- Manage the funding plan and payment schedule
- Set remittance approval and spending limits
- Review the break-even point and outlook for recovering the investment
Accounting and tax
- Select a local tax accountant and accounting manager
- Set up a system for collecting transaction records and receipts
- Keep the accounting books and close monthly
- Manage inventory and fixed assets
- Process payroll and the representative's compensation
- Review corporate taxes and the application of consumption tax
- Manage filing and payment schedules
- Review transactions between the Korean headquarters and the Japanese corporation
- Organize transaction records such as loans, royalties and support costs
- Respond to tax audits and requests for materials
Legal and contract management
- Check trademark and design rights and support registration
- Manage permit acquisition, renewal and changes
- Prepare customer terms of use and return and refund policies
- Review advertising, product labeling and safety
- Take out insurance and respond to accidents
- Manage contract expiration and renewal schedules
- Organize materials and connect with a lawyer when a dispute arises
- Manage procedures for changes to the representative, shares and head office
Expansion and closure of the business
- Review profit and loss of additional stores and expansion into regional areas
- Set store-by-store performance and improvement plans
- Review distribution, franchise and collaboration models
- Review cost adjustment and withdrawal if losses continue
- Wind down the store, staff, inventory and lease
- Coordinate maintaining the corporation, suspension of business or liquidation procedures
Interpretation and guide services
Business interpretation and translation
- Check the client's interpretation purpose and area of expertise
- Assign interpreters by field, such as corporate, real estate and construction
- Interpretation for site visits, landlord negotiations and contract explanations
- Interpretation for design meetings, construction meetings and completion checks
- Interpretation for meetings with banks, specialists and government agencies
- Interpretation for hiring interviews and staff training
- Interpretation for meetings with suppliers, distributors and investors
- Translation of emails, contract materials and reports
- Organize minutes, approved items and follow-up tasks
- Translation review and consistency of key terms
Support for local visits
- Plan the schedule and route for each purpose of visit
- Book meetings and confirm attendees
- Coordinate transportation, accommodation and on-site travel
- Guide showroom, competing store and trade area visits
- Guidance on local business practices and meeting preparation
- Respond to schedule changes and emergencies
- Connect long-term residents with housing and living services
How we operate
- Distinguish in-person, remote and always-on contact support
- Set standards for interpretation hours, business trips and overtime fees
- Confidentiality and handling of personal information
- Distinguish the authority of decision-making on behalf of the client from simple interpretation
- Distinguish who is responsible for contract translation and legal review
We distinguish what is provided: accompaniment on business visits, sightseeing guidance or travel arrangements.
Investment
Investment planning and feasibility review
- Check the client's investable amount and source of funds
- Estimate budgets for incorporation, lease, construction and equipment
- Estimate initial inventory, promotion and operating funds
- Set a contingency reserve and margin for exchange rate fluctuations
- Create base, optimistic and conservative sales scenarios
- Review the break-even point and payback period
- Compare investment size and profitability by store
- Plan the timing of expenses and funding schedule
Funding structure
- Compare equity, shareholder loans and borrowing from financial institutions
- Review fund transfers between the Korean headquarters and the Japanese corporation
- Review the accounting and tax treatment of investments and loans
- Check required overseas investment and foreign exchange procedures with specialists
- Prepare the business plan and materials for submission to financial institutions
- Review collateral, guarantees and repayment terms
- Research eligibility and application feasibility for support programs and subsidies
- Adjust the opening plan if funding is delayed
Connecting investors and partners
- Organize the business model to propose to investors
- Prepare investor presentation materials and the financial plan
- Identify local strategic partners and investor candidates
- Coordinate meetings and provision of materials
- Manage non-disclosure agreements and access to materials
- Respond to due diligence on investors and the business
- Negotiate investment amount, shareholding and company valuation
- Negotiate management control, voting rights and approval conditions for important matters
- Review follow-on investment, dilution and investor exit conditions
- Connect to legal and tax review of the investment agreement
Post-investment management
- Confirm payment of investment funds and shareholding procedures
- Manage how investment funds are used
- Investor reporting and running management meetings
- Review the need for additional investment
- Support dividends, share transfers and exit procedures
- Connect with specialists when ending the collaboration or settling shares
We distinguish investment planning, investor introductions and actual fundraising, and review the regulations and conflicts of interest that depend on how the service is provided.
Based on the Japan Launch Project Task Checklist from OHOI.