Expert on Japan Retail and Consumer Markets, JapanConsuming

Michael Causton

Michael is co-founder and partner at JapanConsuming.

JapanConsuming is a specialist research firm producing intelligence on Japanese retail and consumer markets. Founded in 2000, JapanConsuming has become the leading provider of insights on Japanese retailers and consumer trends to retailers, brands, government agencies and investors. As well as a highly regarded monthly report on the market, JapanConsuming produces in-depth reports and seminars on retail sectors and consumer trends, as well as telephone consulting/meetings with investors. 

All of JapanConsuming's team are bilingual and bi-cultural, and the company's research sources are:

Direct meetings with retailers, wholesalers, distributors, trade body staff, govt., marketing firms, academics etc.
Govt. data
Trade association data
Trade Press across all consumer sectors
Unique Network of buyers/managers/marketing staff at retail, as well as wholesalers and trading firms.
Editors/Journalists at publishing houses and PR/Ad firms.


JapanConsuming was founded by Michael Causton and Roy Larke. 

Michael Causton set up and ran a consumer distribution business in Tokyo for 10 years and developed this into a business responsible for annual imports to Japan of several billion Yen, at the same time building up an inside knowledge of how Japanese distribution works and developing a network of contacts across the industry. Seeing the lack of quality market intelligence on Japanese markets, he co-founded JapanConsuming in 2000. He divides his time between Japan and Europe/US consulting for companies, governments and investors, including providing talks, seminars, and webinars as well as writing reports and books.

Expert on Japan Retail and Consumer Markets

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JapanConsuming

JapanConsuming is a specialist research firm producing intelligence on Japanese retail and consumer markets. Founded in 2000, JapanConsuming has become the leading provider of insights on Japanese retailers and consumer trends to retailers, brands, government agencies and investors. As well as a highly regarded monthly report on the market, JapanConsuming produces in-depth reports on retail sectors, seminars on key trends and telephone consulting to investors on trends and retailers.

JapanConsuming was founded by Michael Causton and Roy Larke. 

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

Japan Retailing / Thematic (Sector/Industry)

As our review posted today of the department store sector makes clear (<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/japanese-department-stores-2018-19-taking-new-risks-creates-opportunity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Japanese Department Stores 2018-19: Taking New Risks Creates Opportunity</a>), the sector overall continues to decline. The contraction is slowing but it will continue for at least the next decade.
This negative pall puts many investors off, perhaps not surprisingly given the poor consistency of performance among even the better operators.
However, within this contracting market are emerging signs of improved performance particularly in terms of extracting more sales per square metre and, in turn, improved profitability from each store. The leading four firms, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/j-front-retailing-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:8947:1" rel="noopener">J Front Retailing (3086 JP), </a><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/takashimaya-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:370:1" rel="noopener">Takashimaya (8233 JP),</a><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/isetan-mitsukoshi-holdings-l" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:18871:1" rel="noopener">Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings L (3099 JP)</a> and Sogo Seibu (<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/seven-i-holdings-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1041:1" rel="noopener">Seven &amp; I Holdings (3382 JP)</a> all have different strategies on how to achieve this. The following is a review of each of the big four.

As our review posted today of the department store sector makes clear (Japanese Department Stores 2018-19: Taking New Risks Creates Opportunity), the sector overall continues to decline. The contraction is slowing but it will continue for at least the next decade.
This negative pall puts many investors off, perhaps not surprisingly given the poor consistency of performance among even the better operators.
However, within this contracting market are emerging signs of improved performance particularly in terms of extracting more sales per square metre and, in turn, improved profitability from each store. The leading four firms, J Front Retailing (3086 JP), Takashimaya (8233 JP),Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings L (3099 JP) and Sogo Seibu (Seven &amp; I Holdings (3382 JP) all have different strategies on how to achieve this. The following is a review of each of the big four.

Hell Will Freeze over And (Some) Japanese Department Stores Will Increase OPM