JapanConsuming July-August 2001 (Double Issue)

• Coach ties with Sumitomo and aims for sales of ¥20 billion
  Coach, the top US accessories brand, has announced a new venture with Sumitomo Shoji, the trading company, in a bid to drive sales in Japan to levels on a par with European rivals. Mitsukoshi will sell its subsidiary PDC which has been importing and distributing Coach for the last decade.
• Matsukiyo attracts allies in the Drugstore wars
  In response to the new Jusco drugstore affiliation, Aeon Welcia Stores, Matsumoto Kiyoshi, Japan’s largest single drug store chain has established its own affiliation. Now the drug store sector looks set to see a clear two horse race.
• Hermes flagship mobbed
  Hermes’ new Ginza flagship finally opened last month on 28 June. Consumers had been waiting for months for the opening following several delays (the original planned opening was 15 March) which may go some way to explain the huge numbers that besieged the store prior to the doors opening.
• Small is beautiful for Seiyu
  With Japan abolishing its long bemoaned Large Store Law last year, some hoped for a new and more transparent process in opening larger retail outlets. New laws emphasize not scale, but location, and add, in truth, even more red tape and fiddly regulations on store openings. Some companies, however, like it small.
• Carrefour stretching its wings
  Carrefour has operated stores in Japan for all of six months. Despite the cries of glee in the Japanese press at the French company’s apparent impending failure, the first three Carrefour stores are clearly just the first experimental step. Having learnt from these experiences, the company looks set to expand.
• Gearing up for gifts
  July is the midyear ‘o-chugen’ gift season, the second largest. With retailers desperate to boost performance, everyone is jumping on the bandwagon with many chains pinning their hopes of sales improvement on the coming month.
• Fashion Specialty chains upgrade: Beams, UA and Ships
  It has been a recurring theme in JC for a while now that the inroads being made by the well-marketed and coherently merchandised discount apparel retailers would impact on the more basic offer of the specialty and department stores. Now signs are emerging of new strategies that will help the specialty chains distinguish themselves from the likes of Uniqlo, with Beams leading the way.
• A discount store artist
  Tokyo discount chain, Don Quixote is opening a new format named ‘Picasso’-well actually its ‘Pikaso’ but we’re sure its supposed to be the former. Will the new format take discount retailing to a new art level?
• Yaohan to get back on its feet?
  Yaohan was Japan’s first major retail bankruptcy. The company has been in receivership since going under in 1997, but is now crawling its way out of debt. All being well, it should be solvent again early next year.
• JR Takashimaya Nagoya one year on
  Senken calls it a jewel. To Takashimaya, it’s been a savior and to Japan Railways, a model for plans to become one of Japan’s leading retail development operators. Whichever way you look at it, the Nagoya Takashimaya was one of the most successful launches in Japan in the last decade. How has it fared in its first year against the entrenched competition?
• Losing sleep over our phones
  The keitai—the ubiquitous name for Japan’s mobile phones—is finally coming of age as a marketing tool. NTT’s introduction of 3G technology may not be ready for prime time, but with more than 70 million subscribers, companies now see mobile phone users as the overwhelming target that they are.
• Daiei adjusts and then adjusts some more
  New president Takagi is continuing his gradual move towards repositioning massively indebted Daiei. Having already announced a rather disconcerting strategy that aims to push Daiei more up-market and higher margin, the company is now working hard to clarify exactly what this means.
• We happy band, we merry few.....
  A lot of people talked about the end of the recession last year, but what about the retailers? With financial results in for everyone except some of the specialty chains, the numbers show clearly the widening gap between the best and the rest. In this month’s double focus we take a detailed look at the first set of results for listed companies, concentrating on chain stores, department stores and convenience stores.
• Retail Data: A Spring in their step
  
• Shorts:
  Harry Potter’s Japanese fans
  LVMH establishes new Japan business
  TV shopping on the up and up
  Christian Lacroix store opens
  Burberry Blue Label up 40%
  Burberry license sales of kids apparel up 85%
  San Frere launches Neil Barrett in Japan
  Yahoo to do battle with NTT
  Paul Frank ties with Yagi Tsusho
  Omotesando Vivre, now Gucci and Chanel
  Gucci Japan lays the foundations for future growth
  Daimaru Umeda sparkles
  Amazon Japan expands categories
  Mycal teeters
  Uniqlo takes on the world
  Plug in and play
  International recycling—clothes across the water
  Armani goes from strength to strength
  10% of Catalog sales made online
  JC Only in Japan Series: A fetish for packaging