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

Komehyo New Ginza Flagship Opens as Tourists Return

Mercari’s Relentless Innovation Opens Closets

Mercari Recruits Retailers and Brands to Exploit Data & Expand Markets

Mercari – Up 10% on What Should Have Been an Unsurprising Upward Revision

Mercari – Additional US Disclosure Is a Positive

Mercari – Expecting an Acceleration in US GMV Growth

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>Mercari may dominate the re-use market but retailers still have a role to play. Komehyo thinks the way to compete is to make it much easier for vendors to sell their stuff and plans to quadruple store numbers to achieve this.</p>
<p>While Mercari will continue to expand faster than competitors, there looks to be room in the market for these more traditional physical retailers. According to the Reuse Business Journal’s recent study, Re-Use Market Data Book 2020, the re-use market is expected to expand to ¥3.25 trillion by 2025, up from ¥2.19 trillion in 2018. One noted trend in the report is the growing acceptance of re-use transactions by more age groups, including seniors.</p>

Mercari may dominate the re-use market but retailers still have a role to play. Komehyo thinks the way to compete is to make it much easier for vendors to sell their stuff and plans to quadruple store numbers to achieve this.
While Mercari will continue to expand faster than competitors, there looks to be room in the market for these more traditional physical retailers. According to the Reuse Business Journal’s recent study, Re-Use Market Data Book 2020, the re-use market is expected to expand to ¥3.25 trillion by 2025, up from ¥2.19 trillion in 2018. One noted trend in the report is the growing acceptance of re-use transactions by more age groups, including seniors.

Komehyo Combats Online Threat with More Stores

Komehyo Co Ltd

Komehyo Combats Online Threat with More Stores