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

Online Food Boom: Rakuten Walmart Alliance Goes Live

Walmart Will Relist Japan Unit Soon and at Last Has Potential to Grow – but Only Online

Online Food Demand Brings New Ideas and Innovations

Japan E-Commerce Breaks ¥10 Trillion, Set for Major Boost This Year

Mercari – Conditions Remain Strong and Poshmark and ThredUP Listings Could Raise Multiples

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. 

Event-Driven

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<p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/wal-mart-stores-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:11134:1" rel="noopener">Wal Mart Stores (WMT US)</a> will sell 85% of its stake in Seiyu, the Japanese general merchandise store (GMS) chain to <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/kkr-co-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27333:1" rel="noopener">KKR &amp; Co Inc (KKR US)</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></p>
<p>This ends Walmart's original plans to relist its Japanese business and confirming widespread speculation that it has been trying to sell off its 330-store Japanese operation after 17 years of trying to turn the business around. The purchase price is a reported ¥172.5 billion, considerably less than the ¥441 billion Walmart paid for the business in 2007.</p>
<p>The deal is a win for KKR of course, but much more interestingly, is a huge win for Rakuten. <strong>We previously suggested <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/walmart-will-relist-japan-unit-soon-and-at-last-has-potential-to-grow-but-only-online" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in this Insight</a> that should the Walmart/Rakuten deal not grow fast enough, Rakuten would be a natural acquirer of the Seiyu business and this has turned out to be true – and for good strategic reasons.</strong></p>
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<p>As described before <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/online-food-demand-brings-new-ideas-and-innovations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/online-food-boom-rakuten-walmart-alliance-goes-live" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>, the Japanese online food market is only just beginning to boom (penetration of food retail by online is still less than 3%) and many of the key players are jockeying for position, 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 a joint venture with <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/life-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1743:1" rel="noopener">Life Corp (8194 JP).</a> </p>
<p>If Rakuten can begin to properly exploit Seiyu's physical store presence to quickly build out a nationwide online food delivery business, it should rapidly become one of the leaders in this fast-expanding market. And given how important the food/FMCG category is, leadership in food e-commerce equals leadership in BtoC e-commerce overall.</p>
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Wal Mart Stores (WMT US) will sell 85% of its stake in Seiyu, the Japanese general merchandise store (GMS) chain to KKR &amp; Co Inc (KKR US) and Rakuten Inc (4755 JP). 
This ends Walmart's original plans to relist its Japanese business and confirming widespread speculation that it has been trying to sell off its 330-store Japanese operation after 17 years of trying to turn the business around. The purchase price is a reported ¥172.5 billion, considerably less than the ¥441 billion Walmart paid for the business in 2007.
The deal is a win for KKR of course, but much more interestingly, is a huge win for Rakuten. We previously suggested in this Insight that should the Walmart/Rakuten deal not grow fast enough, Rakuten would be a natural acquirer of the Seiyu business and this has turned out to be true – and for good strategic reasons.

As described before here and here, the Japanese online food market is only just beginning to boom (penetration of food retail by online is still less than 3%) and many of the key players are jockeying for position, led by Amazon.com Inc (AMZN US) in a joint venture with Life Corp (8194 JP). 
If Rakuten can begin to properly exploit Seiyu's physical store presence to quickly build out a nationwide online food delivery business, it should rapidly become one of the leaders in this fast-expanding market. And given how important the food/FMCG category is, leadership in food e-commerce equals leadership in BtoC e-commerce overall.


The Walmart Japan Sell Off: A Huge Gain for Rakuten