Since 2020, the environment surrounding us has been subject to major changes due to the spread of COVID-19. The use of e-commerce has been increasing since before the spread of the infection, but even under the restrictions on economic activity due to the new corona, people will not stop their daily lives, and e-commerce ( The use of services that utilize new technologies such as e-commerce), food delivery, and mobile payments is rapidly increasing, and the use of e-commerce has been greatly boosted by the corona crisis. Under such circumstances, the Japanese government established the "Digital Agency" to promote future-oriented DX (Digital Transformation) and aim to create public and private infrastructure for the digital age in the next five years.

The corona crisis has forced us to restrict the movement of people and make it difficult for people to travel between Japan and other countries. Under these circumstances, now that it has become difficult to travel overseas, there is an increasing trend to purchase overseas products on e-commerce sites, and the presence of cross-border e-commerce, which is e-commerce that transcends national borders, is becoming stronger and stronger. . However, cross-border e-commerce in Japan is still developing, and there are many problems and barriers such as multilingual support, overseas settlement, overseas logistics, and laws and regulations. Also, in discussing the future of e-commerce, logistics is now inseparable. With the expansion of the EC market, the demand for logistics such as home delivery and warehousing is steadily increasing. On the other hand, chronic labor shortages are spreading throughout the logistics industry, making customs clearance more efficient and work reforms an urgent task. Against this background, we would like to have domestic and foreign companies and related organizations utilize the platform built by our association, realize more flexible and diverse cooperation, and contribute to the economic development of Japan and the world. It's up to you.

I will take the lead in these activities, starting with the creation of new frameworks, and strongly promoting domestic and international collaboration that transcends industry boundaries.
We ask for the further support and cooperation of all concerned.

January 2022
Hachiro Okonogi, Representative Director and President of International e-Commerce Association