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. 

Equity Bottom-Up

<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/4701" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:4701:1">Kobe Bussan (3038 JP)</a> opened its cash and carry food wholesale business to the general public back in 2000 and has not looked back.
While often under the radar of overseas investors, the chain – which is called Gyomu Super – today has more than 800 stores, although entirely franchised, and continues to grow thanks to low prices and a unique range of merchandise.
It is a great example of the growth going on in discount retailing of all kinds, and of how much Japanese appreciate discount retailing when they can access it.
We believe this demand for discount will continue to grow because consumer budgets remain under pressure and will continue to stay under pressure for a long time to come.
Kobe Bussan will be a significant beneficiary of this trend and should continue to grow strongly.

Kobe Bussan (3038 JP) opened its cash and carry food wholesale business to the general public back in 2000 and has not looked back.
While often under the radar of overseas investors, the chain – which is called Gyomu Super – today has more than 800 stores, although entirely franchised, and continues to grow thanks to low prices and a unique range of merchandise.
It is a great example of the growth going on in discount retailing of all kinds, and of how much Japanese appreciate discount retailing when they can access it.
We believe this demand for discount will continue to grow because consumer budgets remain under pressure and will continue to stay under pressure for a long time to come.
Kobe Bussan will be a significant beneficiary of this trend and should continue to grow strongly.

Pan Pacific International Holdings (7532 JP)

Kobe Bussan: The Booming ‘Pro Supermarket’ Discounter Beloved by Japanese Consumers