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

Aeon: Major Overhaul of Supermarkets, Ties with Fuji (8278)

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)

GMS (General Merchandise Store) chains have a bleak future in Japan – at least if they stick to their current form – and the latest annual results prove the point.The big chains are all in decline, with regional stores the only exception. Those in direct competition with each other and more dynamic, speciality formats desperately need some new point of differentiation.There are a growing number of examples that show the way forward including <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/pan-pacific-international-holdings-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13475:1" rel="noopener">Pan Pacific International's (7532 JP)</a> conversion of the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/uny-group-holdings-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:319:1" rel="noopener">UNY (8270 JP)</a> chain.

GMS (General Merchandise Store) chains have a bleak future in Japan – at least if they stick to their current form – and the latest annual results prove the point.The big chains are all in decline, with regional stores the only exception. Those in direct competition with each other and more dynamic, speciality formats desperately need some new point of differentiation.There are a growing number of examples that show the way forward including Pan Pacific International's (7532 JP) conversion of the UNY (8270 JP) chain.

Pan Pacific International Holdings (7532 JP)

Japanese GMS Chains Need to Differentiate to Survive and Donki (7532 JP) Leads the Way