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

Conbini Clothing Wars: No Riches from Rags for Seven Eleven

York Considers Acquiring Other Retailers but Needs to Improve Competitiveness Too

Seven & I Holdings (3382 JP): The Buyback That Wasn't — Downgrading to NEUTRAL Ahead of Q2 FY27

Seven & I Holdings (3382 JP) — Buyback First, IPO Later — Initiate BUY, TP ¥2,350

Real Insight on Japanese Consumer Markets

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. 

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul>
<li>A year after Couche-Tard withdrew its bid, Seven &amp; I is still searching for new growth, leading to some speculation of closer ties with Familymart. </li>
<li>Over the summer, it pulled out of an attempt to expand in Europe, and watched franchisee profits fall for a second year.</li>
<li>Having sold 6.6% of itself to SoftBank, PayPay and Sumitomo Mitsui Card, it is now hoping to buy a retail media future. It won't be enough.</li>
</ul>


A year after Couche-Tard withdrew its bid, Seven &amp; I is still searching for new growth, leading to some speculation of closer ties with Familymart. 
Over the summer, it pulled out of an attempt to expand in Europe, and watched franchisee profits fall for a second year.
Having sold 6.6% of itself to SoftBank, PayPay and Sumitomo Mitsui Card, it is now hoping to buy a retail media future. It won't be enough.


Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316 JP)

Seven & I Holdings

Seven & I: Where Is the Growth?