International Marketing Practices

Urban wood products are new to Japan, but wabi-sabi design preferences (seeing the beauty in natural flaws) have been long established. Because live-edge and urban wood products are new to Japanese markets, they are in the introduction stage, meaning that education will be an extremely important aspect of marketing going forward. Because Japanese consumers value quality, products will be priced comparatively to appeal to high-end consumers, accounted for in high Japanese per capita income. High income, middle-aged consumers will be targeted owing to their purchasing power and established market presence. Urbanwood Insights will also target consumers in cities, like Tokyo, owing to high concentrations of consumers that prefer face-to-face point of sale. SWOT Analysis A SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis is used to outline internal and external environments in which a firm operates to formulate strategies accordingly [230]. Strengths and weaknesses are internal to the company and largely involve products and services, while opportunities and threats are external trends that a firm has minimal control over [224]. Using the information compiled in the situational analysis, firms should conduct a SWOT analysis to summarize strengths to bolster and weaknesses to address, as well as opportunities to take advantage of and threats to combat [230]. A SWOT analysis is often presented using a table, as presented below.

Strengths Competitive advantages and differentiation • Product quality • Unique aesthetics • Inherent product sustainability • Few substitute products available – exclusivity

Weaknesses Shortcomings compared with competitors • Price points • Cost of international shipment

• Lack of product and name recognition • Lack of established relationships with Japanese companies • Large products – need to drive demand in space-constrained homes Threats External trends that threaten operations • Other firms providing similar live-edge and sustainable furniture • Current tumultuous political climate • Demand for lower price points

Opportunities External trends that provide opportunities

• Demand for sustainably sourced, quality products • Innovative designs (i.e., wabi-sabi)

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