WPIC Holds Crossborder Summit with Tmall Global, Rakuten, and Coupang

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Liam Mather

Director of Corporate Affairs

Published on October 15, 2026

Asia Crossborder Summit 2026 brings the leading e-commerce platforms of China, Japan and South Korea into one room with 50 brands American consumer brands

SANTA MONICA, Calif., October 15, 2026 — WPIC Marketing + Technologies, the leading e-commerce enablement partner for global brands in Asia, yesterday hosted the Asia Crossborder Summit 2026 in Los Angeles. The invitation-only event brought together Tmall Global, Rakuten and Coupang—the leading cross-border e-commerce platforms in China, Japan and South Korea, respectively—with 50 brands consumer brands from the U.S. looking to grow in Asia.

The summit expanded on last year’s China Crossborder Summit, co-produced between WPIC and Tmall Global, by adding Japan and South Korea to the programme. Over a full day of market briefings, panel discussions, a fireside chat on artificial intelligence and an open audience forum, platform leaders and WPIC executives set out how American brands can enter and grow in three of the world’s most advanced e-commerce markets. With advances in cross-border e-commerce, this can be done without setting up a local entity or committing inventory in-market on day one.

Together, China, Japan and South Korea generated an estimated $2.28 trillion in 2025 e-commerce revenue from physical goods sold to consumers: $2.04 trillion in China, $127.5 billion in Japan and $112.2 billion in South Korea.

“Last year showed us how much appetite American brands have for Asia. This year, the room told us that appetite has only grown,” said Joseph Cooke, President of WPIC, who opened the day. “China, Japan and South Korea are three of the most sophisticated e-commerce markets in the world, and each is led by a platform that knows its consumer better than anyone. Bringing Tmall Global, Rakuten and Coupang into the same room means a brand can weigh all three opportunities side by side, with the people who run them, in a single day.”

South Korea: speed, convenience and Coupang's Rocket ecosystem

The programme opened with South Korea. Adam Poole, Managing Director of Coupang, presented the Korean market and Coupang’s offer to global brands. Coupang reaches 24.6 million active product customers across Korea and Taiwan, and 70% of Korea’s population lives within seven miles of a Coupang delivery centre—the largest B2C logistics footprint in the country. Through Rocket Overseas and Coupang Global Services, U.S. brands can sell to Korean consumers from their existing supply chain, with delivery inside a week.

Poole then joined Gin Park, General Manager for Korea at WPIC, for a discussion on building a brand in Korea. They covered how international brands can compete with strong domestic players, which categories hold untapped demand, and how cross-border e-commerce lets brands test the market before making a larger commitment

Japan: a large, loyal and under-served market

After lunch, Yuya Yamamoto, Senior Manager of Cross-Border E-Commerce at Rakuten, made the case for Japan as one of the world’s largest consumer markets, with continued room for e-commerce growth and low return and chargeback rates. Rakuten Ichiba hosts more than 50,000 merchants and sits within a Rakuten ecosystem of more than 70 services connected by Rakuten Points. Through Rakuten Cross-Border E-Commerce, overseas companies can sell directly to Japanese consumers without a local entity.

Arnold Ly, Senior Business Development Manager at Rakuten, then joined Todd Embley, host of WPIC’s podcast The Negotiation, to discuss how an unfamiliar brand earns the trust of Japan’s famously discerning consumers. The panel covered localization, why awareness-first U.S. playbooks can misfire in Japan, and the role of reviews and rankings in a research-heavy market.

AI State of the Union

In a fireside chat with Embley, WPIC CEO and Co-Founder Jacob Cooke examined how artificial intelligence is reshaping commerce across China, Japan and South Korea, and how that compares with the United States. The conversation covered Alibaba’s integration of its Qwen model into shopping, Rakuten’s AI shopping concierge, Coupang’s AI review summaries, and how Chinese brands are using AI to bring products to market even faster.

“Most of the AI conversation in the U.S. is about American labs. Some of the most important changes to how people actually shop are happening on Asian platforms right now,” said Jacob Cooke. “Consumers in China, Japan and Korea are already asking AI to find, compare and recommend products. For brands, that changes what you optimize for: your product data, your reviews and your content now have to work for an algorithm as well as a shopper. The brands that learn that in Asia will be ready when it reaches every other market.”

China: the world's largest e-commerce market

The afternoon turned to China. Feiran Liu, Head of Beauty & Personal Care (Americas) at Tmall Global, presented China’s beauty and personal care opportunity. China accounts for more than half of global e-commerce sales, and Tmall Global — China’s leading cross-border B2C marketplace — hosts more than 46,000 brands from over 90 countries and regions, serving more than 100 million consumers who buy imported products. Under the cross-border model, brands can sell into China with an overseas entity, overseas bank account and home-market trademark.

Peter McMath, Chief Growth Officer at WPIC, then moderated a panel with Fiona Weng, Category Leader for Health & Wellness at Tmall Global. The panel looked at where international brands still hold an advantage over fast-rising Chinese domestic brands, and how Tmall Global lets brands test demand before investing further.

Open forum: U.S. brands bring their questions

The day closed with an hour-long open forum. Poole, Ly, Weng and Jacob Cooke took questions submitted by attendees. Brands from beauty, skincare, supplements, apparel and other consumer categories asked about realistic entry budgets, where inventory sits when selling cross-border, how to sequence the three markets, regulatory requirements, pricing for imported products, and whether a smaller brand can test Asia without a large upfront commitment. The summit ended with a networking reception

Strong U.S. demand for Asia

The questions from the floor reflected a clear shift among American consumer brands. Many are no longer asking whether to expand into Asia, but which market to enter first and how to do it with limited risk. Cross-border e-commerce through Tmall Global, Rakuten and Coupang now lets a U.S. brand reach consumers in all three markets from its existing operations, then scale where demand proves out.

“The brands in this room came with real questions about budgets, logistics, regulation and timing, because Asia is on their growth plans,” said Joseph Cooke. “Our job is to put them in front of the platforms that matter most in each market and then run the business with them on the ground. That’s what WPIC has done for more than 20 years.”
“China, Japan and Korea are where e-commerce goes first,” added Jacob Cooke. “Today was about giving American brands a direct line to the three platforms that define those markets, and an honest view of what it takes to win there.”

About WPIC Marketing + Technologies

WPIC Marketing + Technologies is the e-commerce enablement partner for global brands in Asia, helping them launch and grow in China, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia. For 21 years, WPIC has delivered strategy, marketing, commerce, technology and operations through a single integrated model, including marketplace and D2C store management, social commerce and livestreaming, data analytics through WPIC Commerce Intelligence, logistics, fulfilment and compliance. WPIC has worked with more than 650 global and regional clients and has more than 400 in-market specialists across 10 offices in Asia, North America, Europe and Australia, supported by more than 500,000 square feet of warehouse space in the Asia-Pacific region. Learn more at wpic.co.

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