The Daiso brand is certainly the best-known representative of Japan's “100-yen shops”, stores where all items are at the same price and cost very little (¥100 = less than $1!).
Founded in 1977, the Daiso Japan brand has enjoyed immense success and is today's presence worldwide with more than 5,000 stores in more than 25 countries (mainly in Asia and the Middle East).
In this guide, we briefly cover what you can buy from Daiso and what you should look out for when purchasing from Daiso from overseas.
What Can You Find at Daiso Japan?
So what can you get at Daiso? There is no shortage of choice! Many of the products they sell are household items such as kitchenware, decorative items, furnishings, hobby materials or even cleaning tools and materials. The list you see in the screenshot of their website is just a small taste of everything Daiso has to offer.
Even if many are just simple gadgets, accessories or small objects, all have been ingeniously designed to combine practicality and convenience.
Daiso Japan has skillfully created an image of a somewhat catch-all store where you really can find anything and everything. The brand seeks to embody an image of “discount DIY”, inexpensive home DIY accessible to everyone.
And it works! In Japan, almost all households regularly visit Daiso to equip their interiors at low prices.
Also Read: How To Buy Clothes From GU in Japan
Practical, clever and economical, Daiso Japan brings together all the assets to appeal to consumers around the world. You can even find products from other major brands like Disney or Nanoblock (miniature Japanese building blocks, a little like Lego)! And anime collaborations too!
In Daiso stores, there is also a fairly varied “Food and Snacks” section where the latest novelty snack items are generally present.
How Can You Buy from Daiso Japan?
What to look out for when shopping Daiso Japan from overseas
Purchasing from Daiso Japan with ZenMarket is quite easy... but there are a few things to look out for. Firstly, shipping of singular items from Daiso is not particularly economical, so they often (but not always) sell their items in packs or sets of multiple pieces - these are typically listed on the Daiso Bulk site.
Shop Daiso Bulk
In addition, you cannot purchase one item at a time - in fact Daiso's minimum order for online delivery is 10 items (approximately 1,100 Yen, or $7 - $8). Ordering this minimum amount will cost 770 yen in domestic shipping fees in addition to the Daiso item cost and ZenMarket service fees.
Don't fret though - if you want to buy Daiso items in bulk, orders over 11,000 Yen (about $70 - $80) qualify for free domestic shipping! This is a great opportunity to get many items at once so you can save on domestic shipping fees. This amount equates to roughly one hundred items.
Shop Daiso
Access the Daiso Japan
You can access the Daiso Japan website using either of the buttons above. Here they are again for your convenience:
Translate the Daiso Japan Website
The Daiso online store is in Japanese, so if you are not fluent in the language it can be difficult to know what exactly it is you are looking at, particularly when using Daiso, a store with tens of thousands of items. Thankfully there is a simple solution!
You can translate it automatically from your browser. If you're using Chrome, just right-click and select "Translate to English". If you prefer, you can adjust your Chrome language settings so that it translates to other languages, but we will stick with English for this guide.
In other browsers, simply copy and paste the URL of the page you want to translate into the Google Translate website and click on the translated link!
(Please note that this will be an automatic Google translation and might not be 100% accurate!)
Find your desired item(s)
Once the site appears in a language you understand, all you have to do is shop like on any other online store. The Daiso catalog is divided into numerous subcategories:
- Clothes
- Toys
- Stationery and office supplies
- DIY
- Beauty products
- Kitchen utensils
- Travel gear
- Cleaning
- Laundry
- Gifts
- Fashion
- Snacks
The list goes on and on...
Choose a category and begin browsing items. Alternatively, you can search for items using the website's built-in search bar, but keep in mind that you will need to first translate your search to Japanese, or the Daiso Online store won't understand your search terms.
Once you have chosen a category you can browse products - you may have to prompt your browser to translate the page again if results appear in Japanese.
Ope the product page so you can check the item's details.
Remember the minimum order of 1,100 Yen? This means that if you try to purchase items from Daiso that add up to less than this amount, that they will be rejected by our customer support due to not meeting the minimum order threshold for Daiso.
In which case, you would have to add them to your cart all at the same time. To that end, we recommend opening items you want in a new tab until you have the entire Daiso order ready.
When following this step, rinse and repeat this process until you have all the items you want for you Daiso order.
Add Items to Your Cart
When ordering from Daiso, it is best to send all the URLs you wish to purchase at once in a message to customer support via the messages tab on your account. Here is a simple templated message you can use:
"Hello. I would like to place an order on Daiso Japan. I have selected items with a value of more than 1,100 yen so as to meet Daiso's minimum order threshold. Please add and make them available for purchase. The URLs for my selected items are below:
[LINK 1] x Quantity
[LINK 2] x Quantity
...
...
Thank you."
*This may not be necessary if ordering items from the Daiso Bulk site, depending on what you order.
Copy and paste the message above and replace the URL and quantity placeholder with that of the items you would like to order, then send the message to customer support.
From here, support will check the availability of the items, as well as whether or not they can be shipped internationally with the carriers at our disposal. If not, the cancellation of some items in your order will result in your order slipping below the Daiso minimum order threshold, the entire order may be cancelled.
To prevent this, we highly recommend checking which items are prohibited or restricted for international shipping, before placing your order.
This checking process can take some time, even up to 2 business days in busy periods, so please be patient.
There may also be items that were initially listed on Daiso, but did not have stock, or the volume of stock you were looking to order. In this case, approved items will typically go through, while unavailable items will be removed, so you may have to find some other items to top up your cart to the minimum order threshold.
Pay for your item(s)
Once the item(s) has been validated by our team, you can add funds in order to pay. For Daiso orders, all items will typically become listed under a single Pay button. Click this button to pay for all items on your order.
Also Read: How To Use ZenMarket To Buy From Japan
Although buying multiple items in bulk might seem like an inconvenience, there would be little point in purchasing single products costing ¥100 each when living abroad, considering the cost of shipping and importing them! Also, given there is a 500 yen fee for each unique item, the cost can add up really quickly.
Notice in the image above how the service fee is 500 yen for each item. This is true even for the items where multiples are purchased. Essentially what this means is that you can save by purchasing items in bulk. You should try out the Daiso Bulk site if you want to make sure you can save!
Buying on Daiso Japan through ZenMarket also allows you to avoid having to create an account on their store's website, a condition normally required to be able to order from them.
If you want to order items from Daiso Japan's online store, please make sure the total amount is at least ¥1,100 including tax.
The site does not allow you to place orders for a lower amount.
Why Buy from Daiso Japan?
Buying on the Daiso Japan website is interesting for several reasons:
- The range of products is really very wide! For certain types of products, such as Japanese tableware, kitchen utensils, stationery or children's games for example, it's really a good deal, especially when you buy in bulk. There is no shortage of choice and we can find school supplies, picture and coloring books in Japanese, modeling clay and slightly crazy toys!
- Another reason is collaborations and exclusive items with other brands. This is an opportunity to find product lines from Disney, NanoBlock, NaRaYa, etc. at very low prices.
Whether you've already visited a Daiso or you're just familiar with the name brand, it's an excellent store to find cheap trinkets and we highly recommend you take a look!
