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

Rizap Offering: Some Colour on This Fad-Nomenon and Mio's Diet and Health Advice You Never Wanted

Rizap Group Placement: A Less Known Name With Sales to Double in Three Years

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

<ul class="">
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/14750" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:14750:1">Rizap (2928 JP)</a> is an opportunistic business, starting out in health foods and gyms, and then acquiring its way to a significant share of the fashion and lifestyle business.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>
</li>
<li>If its forecasts are right, by the end of this year it will have increased sales 10-fold in five years, while also extracting value from chains like <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/13185" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13185:1">JeansMate Corp (7448 JP)</a> that had lain dormant for decades.</li>
<li>At the same time, it is showing signs of exploiting the growing convergence of the fashion and sports markets through a manufacturing-to-retail business.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>
</li>
<li>Given sports fashion is both the most buoyant and most profitable mass market fashion category right now, this is a compelling strategy – if Rizap can implement it well.</li>
<li>This post focuses on the lifestyle businesses of Rizap. For more on the gym and body management side, please see these useful posts by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/rizap-offering-some-colour-on-this-fad-nomenon-and-mio-s-diet-and-health-advice-you-never-wanted" target="_blank">Mio Kato at Lightstream</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/rizap-group-placement-a-less-known-name-with-sales-to-double-in-three-years" target="_blank">Ke Yan</a>.</li>
</ul>



Rizap (2928 JP) is an opportunistic business, starting out in health foods and gyms, and then acquiring its way to a significant share of the fashion and lifestyle business. 

If its forecasts are right, by the end of this year it will have increased sales 10-fold in five years, while also extracting value from chains like JeansMate Corp (7448 JP) that had lain dormant for decades.
At the same time, it is showing signs of exploiting the growing convergence of the fashion and sports markets through a manufacturing-to-retail business. 

Given sports fashion is both the most buoyant and most profitable mass market fashion category right now, this is a compelling strategy – if Rizap can implement it well.
This post focuses on the lifestyle businesses of Rizap. For more on the gym and body management side, please see these useful posts by Mio Kato at Lightstream and Ke Yan.


Rizap: 10-Fold Growth in Five Years and More to Come