About KOMODO
Based in Tokyo, Honolulu, and Seoul, KOMODO works on products that shape the gaming and manga industries of the future. KOMODO HAWAI’I develops NIUHI and publishes popular titles on PC and game consoles, and is also the official licensed provider of Valve’s Steam Deck and newly announced Steam Hardware—including the Steam Machine, Steam Controller, and Steam Frame—in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Through the KOMODO STATION storefront, KOMODO manages everything from sales and promotion to marketing and customer support across these regions.
In addition to hardware distribution, KOMODO operates “NIUHI”, a digital manga platform where you can buy, sell, and share indie manga and comics from around the world. They also produce the original sci-fi action manga series MOON CIDERS.
Founded in April 2021, KOMODO Co., Ltd. is a company engaged in game development, game publishing, the sale of gaming hardware and software, and the development and operation of a digital manga platform. Using both WordPress WooCommerce for its eCommerce site, the company operates cross-border EC not only in Japan but also in multiple Asian markets such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea.
Since the launch of its services, KOMODO has used KOMOJU, the multi-channel payments platform together with WooCommerce.
We spoke with Ricky Uy, the Co-Founder and CEO at KOMODO, about their online store and how KOMOJU helps them localize payments for gamers and manga fans across multiple markets.
A Partnership Built on Trust: KOMODO Selected KOMOJU from Day One
KOMODO has worked with KOMOJU for many years, with a relationship going back long before launching their own store.
In fact, Uy first encountered KOMOJU while working at Valve, where KOMOJU pioneered Steam’s payment system in Japan. That experience set the foundation for today’s partnership:
“I have known about and collaborated with KOMOJU since the time I worked at Valve, where we used it as Steam’s payment system in Japan. Based on that experience, I’ve trusted KOMOJU as a reliable payment system and we have been using it since the launch of the KOMODO Steam Deck Store, which was just recently rebranded to KOMODO STATION.”
Rather than switching to KOMOJU later, KOMODO chose to build their store with WooCommerce and KOMOJU from day one.
Smooth and Seamless WooCommerce and KOMOJU Integration
KOMODO uses WooCommerce for their eCommerce store, and KOMOJU was integrated directly into that setup.
With support from KOMOJU’s team, the rollout was smooth and straightforward:
“With support from the KOMOJU team, we were able to implement it smoothly without any issues.”
The integration wasn’t just a quick plugin install. KOMODO also invested in a robust implementation to make KOMOJU work for them and stress test it.
- Around five team members were involved
- The work took place over the course of a couple of months to develop and test the integration thoroughly.
[Editor’s note: because KOMODO is a larger retailer, they invested extra time in development and stress testing. For most growing stores, implementation is significantly quicker.]
Uy highlights that communication with KOMOJU played an important role in that smooth process:
“Most of our communication was done through chat apps, but whenever something urgent came up, they were quick to respond by phone or online as well. Overall, we think the communication went very smoothly.”
How adding local payment methods have strengthened sales in Asia
Operating across multiple Asian markets means dealing with very different payment preferences. For KOMODO, supporting these preferences was a key part of the brief.
“We believe every region has its own local payment methods that are unique to that area. That’s why having KOMOJU support local payments is not only convenient for us, but more importantly for our customers.”
KOMODO uses KOMOJU to offer:
- A range of local payment methods tailored to each region
- Card payments, including brands like American Express, which turned out to be more popular than expected
- Complete freedom of choice for their customers to choose a payment method they’re comfortable with
“I will say that American Express was more popular in Japan than I would have guessed. Seeing the data helps keep us informed and tailor our services to continuously improve the shopping experience for our customers.”
KOMOJU also helped KOMODO work through a key challenge: offering as many payment methods as possible while managing risk.
“We wanted to offer as many payment methods as possible while also minimizing the potential for fraud. KOMOJU was very helpful in helping us select an initial set of payment methods and then expanding those over time as we scaled.”
How have local payment methods impacted your customers’ experience?
Because KOMOJU was in place from the start, KOMODO doesn’t have a before-and-after data comparison.
But the feedback they’ve seen so far is clear:
“For our store, we have been using KOMOJU from the beginning, so we don’t have before and after metrics to share. However, the feedback and results so far have been very encouraging. KOMOJU’s local payment support clearly made the checkout process intuitive for our customers.”
For KOMODO, localization is about more than language, too. It’s also about how people pay:
“Even if a certain payment method isn’t familiar to us, it may be the most common and comfortable option for customers in that region. Having access to familiar payment methods helps customers feel more confident and secure when using our site, and encourages purchases.”
Adding new local methods has also been straightforward:
“Everything went really smoothly, thanks to the team’s solid groundwork. It’s great to see that adding new payment methods didn’t disrupt our flow at all.”
No system downtime even during traffic spikes
With highly anticipated hardware and major sales events, KOMODO needs a payments platform that can handle spikes in demand without missing a beat.
Uy describes KOMOJU’s stability and resilience as a major strength:
“It’s been very stable overall, and we haven’t encountered any system failures.
The reliability has definitely been one of the strong points of using KOMOJU. This has been especially important with the products we sell, where there can be periods of intense spikes in volume of activity. KOMOJU has held up under all circumstances thus far.”
Customer support is another area where Uy says that KOMOJU stands out:
“Our experience with KOMOJU’s customer support has been excellent. The team is responsive, helpful, and quick to address any questions or requests we have.”
And for big sales moments, the real-time tools are especially useful.
“We also really enjoy the real-time online tools for tracking payments during an important sales event.”
KOMODO’s future outlook: continue manga platform “NIUHI”’s global expansion
NIUHI is currently live for customers in the U.S. and Japan, but KOMODO’s long-term goal is to reach more manga fans and support independent creators around the world:
“Our manga platform NIUHI is currently active in the U.S. and Japan for customers, but our goal is to reach more manga fans around the world and empower independent artists.
“With our NIUHI manga platform, we are looking to add more payment methods globally, starting with an expanded offering in Japan and the Americas, then moving on to other parts of East Asia, Europe, India, Southeast Asia, and more.”
“KOMOJU’s strong local payment coverage will be key in making our NIUHI accessible and seamless in each new region we expand into.”
KOMODO Co-Founder and CEO, Ricky Uy’s advice to other WooCommerce merchants in the gaming industry
“For anyone in the gaming industry using WooCommerce, KOMOJU is a great choice, especially if you want to make your checkout process easier for players in Asia.
It’s easy to set up, reliable, and the local payment coverage really helps build trust with customers.
We also really enjoy the real-time online tools for tracking payments during an important sales event.”
For merchants looking to strengthen sales across Asia, ensure stable operations during high-traffic product launches like KOMODO, or easily add payment methods to a WordPress site using WooCommerce, KOMOJU is the ideal solution. With no setup fees, no monthly fees, and world class security, KOMOJU provides a reliable and scalable payment platform for your e-commerce business.
Shopifyに決済を導入するならKOMOJU
KOMOJUなら、初期・月額費用無料で、カード決済やスマホ決済、後払い決済などの決済方法をネットショップに一括導入することができます。
