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

Big Apparel in Trouble: World Announces yet More Cuts but It Still Won't Be Enough

Marui to Invest ¥80 Billion over 5 Years in FinTech & Buildings

Japan Fashion Retailing Complete Review 2019-20: Pain Now but a Recovery Is Certain

Japan's Big Apparel Trouble: World to Close 350 More Stores

World Resets as Losses Mount for Apparel Firms

Big Apparel in Trouble: Sanyo Shokai to Close 160 Stores

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/world-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:27437:1" rel="noopener">World Co Ltd (3612 JP)</a> is working hard to diversify from its dependence on the mid-level fashion market as both its department store and shopping centre brands retreat in the face of competition and lower apparel consumption.But it needs to fill the empty concessions in department stores and one solution is the UK brand, Laura Ashley, which it is now launching in Japan with plans for 30 stores soon.This is not enough however. While World cancelled five brands and several hundred shops last August, we argued it would need to do more and it has just confirmed it will close another 450 stores and ask for another 100 voluntary redundancies.Meanwhile sales continue to plummet, down nearly 40% in January.

World Co Ltd (3612 JP) is working hard to diversify from its dependence on the mid-level fashion market as both its department store and shopping centre brands retreat in the face of competition and lower apparel consumption.But it needs to fill the empty concessions in department stores and one solution is the UK brand, Laura Ashley, which it is now launching in Japan with plans for 30 stores soon.This is not enough however. While World cancelled five brands and several hundred shops last August, we argued it would need to do more and it has just confirmed it will close another 450 stores and ask for another 100 voluntary redundancies.Meanwhile sales continue to plummet, down nearly 40% in January. 

World Launches Laura Ashley Chain but It Is Not Enough