On a semi-related side note, I saw Square out in the wild for the first time the other week -- I went to a newish bar and asked the owner if he took credit card; he said he'd bought something and would try it out with my card and it turned out to be Square's dongle, which I've seen in convenience stores here.
[1] http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Consumers/Japan-credit-card-...
I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on what Stripe would offer in Japan in terms of being a bank transfer mediator. Unlike the US, bank transfers here are very simple and routine -- you can perform them at almost any ATM or online, and providing that they're done within business hours, they're virtually instant. Setting up recurring transfers is also simple and routine.
Japanese have on average 2.6 credit cards[1] and spend on average about $3000 a year on those cards. So yes, they're used less often than in the US but they have broad adoption.
Japanese people often tell me that Japanese don't like to use credit cards. But ask them, do they have one? (of course! they say), do they use it online? (of course! they say). So it's true in real life, not just in this report.
[1] https://www.j-credit.or.jp/en/reports/
EDIT: Ok, are you willing to predict failure for Stripe in Japan? Or do you just like being negative in a way that can't be tested? Their strategy seems sound to me, and I predict success.
Existing online services don't generally give you a lot of choice for payment.
"No other choice" != "Like".
Credit cards and bank transfers (which in Japan are very simple) have different strengths, but the one that sticks out for me is that a bank transfer keeps more control with the buyer, and exposes the buyer to less long-term risk: The service provider can steal your money by not providing the service, but they don't have any info they can use to steal money in the future.
I was really surprised when we rented our flat lately that a credit card was necessary (possibly as a means to keep out foreigners like me who often don't have access to credit cards...) We could pay for the cell phone with cash, but it is easiest to get the initial contract if you have credit card. Then through laziness, it is easiest to continue to pay through the credit card.
Most transactions that we do, even online, are cash based. Granted, we live in a small rural town, not Tokyo and I can believe that things are different there.
The reason I replied to your message is not to be negative or to predict the failure of Stripe (I like Stripe quite a lot), but rather to point out that Japanese ways of doing business may be different than they are expecting. I hope they are successful, but I also hope that they temper their expectations.
I've never seen a really detailed report that drills down into where people use them. Most people I know with cards will use them (or are forced to use them) for internet/cell phone payments, then pay for anything they buy on their smartphone through the carrier payment system, which is all charged to the card at the end of the month. The phone and plan alone (not counting apps, shopping, etc.) would probably account for $1200 a year on a credit card, which is a significant percentage of the $3000 you're citing and that's not a chunk that Stripe could conceivably take since it's initiated in a real-world transaction at a store and used for e-commerce after that.
I don't know a whole lot of people who actually go around putting their card numbers into sites, especially if they have Rakuten cards -- they just tend to stay in the little convenient walled garden and/or select convenience store or bank transfer payments.
So there are a lot of entrenched "don't worry about it" payment systems that Japanese consumers have already bought into.
> Ok, are you willing to predict failure for Stripe in Japan? Or do you just like being negative?
I'm mostly wondering what Stripe plans to bring to the table in Japan. It's hard to get excited about another online payment processor when online payments here are way easier than I remember them ever being in America. I can order and pay cash for practically anything I want online without worrying about my credit card information being leaked, etc. If I don't want to pay cash for whatever reason, credit cards haven't been difficult to use online; Rakuten makes it just as easy as Amazon does, too. I don't think I've ever had an online shopping experience where I wished there were a simpler payment processor.
I do almost all of my shopping online, so I'd imagine I'm one of the consumers that would potentially be using Stripe, but it's difficult for me to see exactly where it would make my life easier or better. At work, bank transfers are the de facto standard simply for traceability and ease of use.
Edit: Put another way, one of the main problems with American companies trying to come into Japan is that they don't really know what Japan already has to offer or why Japanese people prefer things a certain way, and I'm curious about how Stripe intends to target Japan versus just bringing in an American product and hoping it takes off.
Even if that's correct... you're talking about how Japanese people like to pay for things. Stripe entering Japan isn't about allowing people in Japan to pay for things using credit cards; it's about allowing people in Japan to get paid using credit cards.
Sure, Japanese companies will have a higher proportion of Japanese customers, but this will be important if they have any customers from outside of Japan.
Take Romania for example, we would love to have a decent alternative to PayPal, are there any legislation impediments that prevents Stripe from entering here? Also, what exactly are the costs for Stripe when launching in a new country?
That was the rationale that the cofounder of a different major Silicon Valley payments company told me when they chose Japan as the first country outside the US, and it seems like a credible rationale for Stripe to put Japan high on their list.
There's also a very low rate of fraud here in Japan, which should count for a lot.
Please Stripe, come take our money. (I'm not joking).
I have a square reader (does't integrate well) and paypal (clunky widgets that don't really apply).
Really excited about this.
In addition, Stripe's documentation and support has always been top notch. Whenever I tried to get help from WebPay it took forever, and more than once I had to patch their own libraries to make things work properly.
I love you Stripe, keep up the good work!
[1] https://support.stripe.com/questions/which-currencies-does-s...
Assuming they will want to avoid wasting resources battling each other the next logical step would be for Stripe to launch in South Korea and for Braintree to launch in Indonesia.
