          
          
                                 Pricing
          
          The acceptance of your product in the Japanese market is 
          based primarily on its quality and after-sales service, not 
          its price.  However, pricing analysis is a critical aspect 
          of marketing in Japan for your company.  Markups at the 
          various levels of the Japanese distribution system have 
          caused some imported items to be priced at levels which are 
          noncompetitive with Japanese domestic products, even though 
          the landed price of the imported product was comparable.  
          Prices of competitive Japanese products can usually be 
          taken as a starting point for tracing back through 
          distribution channels the appropriate margins for each link 
          in the chain.  You should carefully examine the margins 
          which are provided by both the domestic and foreign 
          competition and compare the cost of establishing your own 
          channels.  Negotiations with a prospective agent should be 
          conducted to determine a realistic selling price which 
          would include reasonable and acceptable markups.  Your 
          company should also attempt to eliminate from its export 
          price all purely domestic costs involved in marketing the 
          product in the United States.
          
          
