As Japan takes tentative steps to open up its borders, it faces a problem of the pandemic’s creation: What happens to the “new normal” now that things are getting back to the way they were?

In 2020, fashion brands and shops that saw the writing on the wall were quick off the mark to focus their efforts on e-commerce. This was doubly true for those reliant on the inbound market, but now they must grapple with another realignment.

Even so, by the time many brands had started to make moves to sell digitally to international buyers, various fee-based shopping services and brokers working on overseas customers’ behalf had beat them to the punch.