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

Shimamura Back on Track, Targeting Urban Centres

Shimamura Under Pressure as Sales Fall for First Time in 9 Years and Profits Slump

Shimamura Hoping for Profit Revival but Don't Hold Your Breath

Zozo: The Underlying Operating Metrics Worry Us

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

<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/shimamura-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:15213:1" rel="noopener">Shimamura (8227 JP)</a> has seen sales decline in the past few years after decades of consistent, reliable growth.
It has erred and stumbled in its online strategy too but this Autumn claims it will finally deliver an online store and app that makes sense for customers.
However, without a more fundamental restructuring of merchandise, stores and positioning, this alone won’t be enough for long-term survival given the improving cost performance of competitors off and online.

Shimamura (8227 JP) has seen sales decline in the past few years after decades of consistent, reliable growth.
It has erred and stumbled in its online strategy too but this Autumn claims it will finally deliver an online store and app that makes sense for customers.
However, without a more fundamental restructuring of merchandise, stores and positioning, this alone won’t be enough for long-term survival given the improving cost performance of competitors off and online.

Shimamura to Fix Online Channel but Much More Work Is Needed