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

The Winners in Japanese Fashion Retailing

Japan Department Stores 2018: Some Growth Again and Even Real Profits – Part II

Zozo: A ¥700 Billion Business in Three Years. Really?

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

<p>There is nothing unusual about what <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/baroque-japan-limited" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:23639:1" rel="noopener">Baroque Japan (3548 JP)</a> sells: fashion for young women through brands like Moussy, Sly and Azul by Moussy, as well as Enfold, a chain targeting women in their 30s. Baroque is, however, one of the few Japanese fashion retailers owned by a Chinese firm – it was acquired by China’s <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/belle-international-holdings-limited" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:17174:1" rel="noopener">Belle International Holdings (1880 HK)</a> from CLSA in 2013. Since then there has been much talk of making Baroque a true pan-Asian fashion retailer, but so far there is little sign of this happening and not much growth at home.</p>

There is nothing unusual about what Baroque Japan (3548 JP) sells: fashion for young women through brands like Moussy, Sly and Azul by Moussy, as well as Enfold, a chain targeting women in their 30s. Baroque is, however, one of the few Japanese fashion retailers owned by a Chinese firm – it was acquired by China’s Belle International Holdings (1880 HK) from CLSA in 2013. Since then there has been much talk of making Baroque a true pan-Asian fashion retailer, but so far there is little sign of this happening and not much growth at home.

Belle International Holdings (2129452D HK)

Baroque: ¥100 Billion in Sales in 5 Years…maybe