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

ZOZO: No More Thank Yous and Less Profit Too

Smartkarma’s Week That Was in JP/​​​​​​​​​KR: -0.3% GDP Growth, Intel's Warnings, & The Next Joker?

Zozo: A Shooting Star Shooting Itself in the Foot

Zozo: Looks Like There's a Dead Cat in This Bouncy Zozosuit

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

In January, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/4887" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:4887:1">United Arrows (7606 JP)</a> announced it would take back control of its own e-commerce operations from <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/18379" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:18379:1">ZOZO (3092 JP)</a> but stipulated it would continue to sell through the online mall. This was a clear break in a long-standing relationship but there was at least confirmation of a continuing link.Now, however, United Arrows has announced a new mobile fashion platform called Fitom that is in many ways a competitor to one of Zozo’s key products, its Wear app.Like the Wear app, Fitom lets users upload fashion looks and discuss trends but also adds more incentives for users to check out product in stores on behalf of other users to confirm sizing and quality.As well as targeting Zozo's Wear app, the service encourages more store visits by online fashion consumers and allow participating merchants to get access to key data on Japanese fashion trends.

In January, United Arrows (7606 JP) announced it would take back control of its own e-commerce operations from ZOZO (3092 JP) but stipulated it would continue to sell through the online mall. This was a clear break in a long-standing relationship but there was at least confirmation of a continuing link.Now, however, United Arrows has announced a new mobile fashion platform called Fitom that is in many ways a competitor to one of Zozo’s key products, its Wear app.Like the Wear app, Fitom lets users upload fashion looks and discuss trends but also adds more incentives for users to check out product in stores on behalf of other users to confirm sizing and quality.As well as targeting Zozo's Wear app, the service encourages more store visits by online fashion consumers and allow participating merchants to get access to key data on Japanese fashion trends.

Zozo Competition: United Arrows Launches Rival to Zozo’s Wear App

ZOZO Inc

Zozo Competition: United Arrows Launches Rival to Zozo’s Wear App