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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Japan Retail Review 2019-20 Part II: A Sector by Sector Review of Winners and Losers

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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 Food and staples retailing / Thematic (Sector/Industry)

With Japanese shoppers still reluctant to visit stores too often, more are turning to online food shopping.This trend was already building gradually before the pandemic, but demand has grown massively in the past nine months and large and small food retailers alike are rushing to add more online capacity.The winners will be the ones able to solve the last mile problem and add some customer-centric innovations. The sector is currently led by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/amazon-com-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:409:1" rel="noopener">Amazon.com Inc (AMZN US)</a> in its partnership with <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/mitsubishi-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20668:1" rel="noopener">Mitsubishi Corp (8058 JP)'s </a>supermarket affiliate, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/life-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1743:1" rel="noopener">Life Corp (8194 JP).</a> Others like <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/aeon-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:3:1" rel="noopener">Aeon Co Ltd (8267 JP)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/rakuten-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:31:1" rel="noopener">Rakuten Inc (4755 JP)</a> are also investing for the long-term and even <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/seven-i-holdings-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1041:1" rel="noopener">Seven &amp; I Holdings (3382 JP)</a> is having another go and we review the current status of all the main players below the fold.What is certain is that, with online penetration of the food retail sector still below 3%, there is plenty of share to mop up for all concerned.

With Japanese shoppers still reluctant to visit stores too often, more are turning to online food shopping.This trend was already building gradually before the pandemic, but demand has grown massively in the past nine months and large and small food retailers alike are rushing to add more online capacity.The winners will be the ones able to solve the last mile problem and add some customer-centric innovations. The sector is currently led by Amazon.com Inc (AMZN US) in its partnership with Mitsubishi Corp (8058 JP)'s supermarket affiliate, Life Corp (8194 JP). Others like Aeon Co Ltd (8267 JP) and Rakuten Inc (4755 JP) are also investing for the long-term and even Seven &amp; I Holdings (3382 JP) is having another go and we review the current status of all the main players below the fold.What is certain is that, with online penetration of the food retail sector still below 3%, there is plenty of share to mop up for all concerned.

Online Food Demand Brings New Ideas and Innovations