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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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. 

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

Japan Consumer discretionary / Thematic (Sector/Industry)

Last month, the Japan Department Store Association (JDSA) announced a 1.1% drop in sales at department stores for calendar year 2018, with sales also down 0.8% on a same-store basis.
This was a reasonable result in a year when there were many store closures, both permanent and temporary, and slow traffic due to extreme weather events, and of course the background trend of an ageing consumer base.
However, the underlying trend remains clear: apparel sales continue to fall, down more than a third in a decade. Meanwhile, cosmetics has seen its share of sales double.
Since apparel accounts for 30% of department store sales on average and as much as 50% for regional stores, this is a serious weakness. With competition from speciality chains and online intensifying yet further and department stores themselves cutting space for apparel, there is unlikely to be any respite.
For this reason, and with further store closures planned in the next few years, the department store sector will continue to contract.

Last month, the Japan Department Store Association (JDSA) announced a 1.1% drop in sales at department stores for calendar year 2018, with sales also down 0.8% on a same-store basis.
This was a reasonable result in a year when there were many store closures, both permanent and temporary, and slow traffic due to extreme weather events, and of course the background trend of an ageing consumer base.
However, the underlying trend remains clear: apparel sales continue to fall, down more than a third in a decade. Meanwhile, cosmetics has seen its share of sales double.
Since apparel accounts for 30% of department store sales on average and as much as 50% for regional stores, this is a serious weakness. With competition from speciality chains and online intensifying yet further and department stores themselves cutting space for apparel, there is unlikely to be any respite.
For this reason, and with further store closures planned in the next few years, the department store sector will continue to contract.

Japan Department Store Apparel Sales Down 35% in a Decade