Ocean provides a cloud-native platform that automates tax refunds for inbound tourists in Japan, supporting over 30 currencies and multiple payout methods through RESTful integration with POS and e‑commerce systems. The platform also offers a coupon‑driven marketing network linking retailers to overseas OTA and media partners, with a unified analytics dashboard for tracking refunds, redemption rates, and foot traffic.
Funding
Funding not disclosed
Founders
Product
Problem
Inbound tourists in Japan encounter time‑consuming, paper‑heavy tax‑refund procedures, while retailers struggle to capture these visitors and convert them into sales due to fragmented marketing channels and compliance complexity.
Solution
Ocean delivers a cloud‑native, refund‑centric platform that automates tax exemption across more than 30 currencies and supports multiple payout methods, eliminating manual paperwork for both shoppers and merchants. The “Ocean Tax Refund” engine integrates via RESTful APIs with point‑of‑sale and e‑commerce systems, providing real‑time refund calculation, validation against the latest tax regulations, and secure, encrypted transaction handling. Complementary “Ocean Marketing” connects Japanese retailers with over 20 overseas OTA and media partners, distributing coupon‑driven promotions that steer inbound shoppers to physical stores. Merchants access a unified analytics dashboard that reports refund throughput, coupon redemption rates, and foot‑traffic uplift, enabling data‑driven inventory and staffing decisions. The solution is hosted on a horizontally scalable cloud infrastructure, ensuring low latency and high availability during peak tourism seasons.
Target Audience
The primary customers are Japanese retail chains, boutique stores, and tourism‑focused merchants that want to streamline tax refunds for inbound shoppers and boost store traffic through data‑driven marketing campaigns.
Features
- Multi‑currency tax‑refund engine supporting 30+ currencies and diverse payout options (bank transfer, digital wallets, cash)
- RESTful and Webhook APIs for seamless integration with POS, ERP, and e‑commerce platforms
- Real‑time compliance engine automatically updated for upcoming tax‑law changes (e.g., 2026 reform)
- End‑to‑end encryption and PCI‑DSS‑aligned data storage for secure personal and financial information
- Coupon management module linked to a network of 20+ overseas OTA and media partners for targeted inbound‑shopper promotions
- Interactive merchant dashboard with KPI visualizations: refund processing time, redemption rates, and store visitation metrics
- Auto‑scaling cloud architecture leveraging container orchestration (Kubernetes) to handle seasonal traffic spikes
- Role‑based access control and audit logging to meet privacy and regulatory requirements