March 2025 Issue

Soaring food prices puts pressure on household spending

Consumers are slowly coming to accept inflation as part of their lives, but with a sudden jump in prices in January and prices of food, especially fresh food, soaring to all time highs, households are feeling greater stress on their budgets which is likely to depress consumer sentiment in coming months.

Editorial: Online offline, it doesn’t matter in Japan

Cath Kidston stores open again

Cath Kidston has always had a loyal following in Japan but missteps at home forced the closure of its 44 stores here. After buying the rights last year, Styling Life will open the first new store for the UK brand this month with plans for many more to sell its plethora of licensed product.

Fashion Giant: Itochu doubles down on brand business

Itochu continues to emphasise investment in consumer brands, particularly fashion and sports, but will now adjust its decades-old playbook, introducing more direct oversight of subsidiaries and affiliates, including a big new push to turn Vivienne Westwood into a luxury brand, upgrading Paul Smith and bringing Descente in-house.

Workman Colors replaces Workman Joshi to bring in more men

Workman’s slower same-store growth can be blamed on its shift to mass market fashion and the choice of Workman Joshi as a banner, putting off male customers. The outdoor and workwear retailer has now acknowledged the misstep and will rebrand the chain as Workman Colors while adjusting merchandise back to more apparel basics.

The Big 3: Amazon’s lead grows as Rakuten stumbles

Amazon’s growing lead in Japan’s e-commerce market looks increasingly inexorable. While growth in Japan was slower than some other Amazon markets, it still outpaced Rakuten. LY Corp did better but partly in reaction to poor results the year before.

Lawson’s AI Integration

There’s no getting away from AI and there are myriad time-saving opportunities for retailers, from brainstorming ideas through to rapid design of online ads. Companies need to find ways to introduce such systems that will add value, as well as save time by reducing repetitive tasks.

Retail Media: can retailers keep control or will agencies get a share?

Retail media is growing in Japan, although how fast is hard to elicit given the many different applications and the involvement of multiple players at different stages of the advertising process. There is also a growing disparity between retailer-led and agency-led platforms and right now it’s not clear who will come out on top – or whether there is a role for both.

Familymart adding variety flavour to chain under Nigo

Ever since Itochu Shoji acquired Familymart, it has tried to leverage the more than 16,000 stores to sell product from its many other interests, including clothing. With Convenience Wear a clear hit, it is now going further, adding new cosmetics for the young and bringing in The Bathing Ape’s founder to turn Familymart into a new kind of Conbini-Variety store.

Bain chosen as preferred York HD buyer as MBO plans ditched

Seven & I has chosen Bain Capital as the prospective buyer for a controlling stake in York HD, the company that now runs everything but its convenience store business. Negotiations with Bain are due to complete as soon as March. Meanwhile, an MBO plan led by the company’s founding family has been cancelled and ACT, which started this whole saga with its own bid last summer, is waiting in the wings to see what might be available once the dust settles – and there are now even indications that CEO Isaka will be replaced.

3Coins still growing fast

3Coins is the non-apparel part of PAL Group, and its fastest growing sub-brand. With pressure from import costs due to the weak Yen, the company spent FY2024 looking to boost product-level profitability through price increases for higher end items and new ranges. Results look positive and operating profit for the group is due to rise 23%.

J Front: more art and subscriptions

J Front has been pushing ahead with new ways to get younger (and richer) customers into its stores. It recently opened a high end art floor at Matsuzakaya Nagoya, continues to expand its fashion subscription business, and will shortly open the first joint store with Komehyo.

FOCUS:

Fashion e-commerce 2025: stores are key too

The Japanese fashion e-commerce market is undergoing rapid transformations driven by shifting consumer behaviour, competitive pressures, and new ideas in marketing and logistics. While online sales continue to grow, the channel’s share of total fashion sales has fluctuated due to strong in-store performance, boosted in part by inbound tourism. Even the best exemplars of effective integration of online and offline and personalised marketing have seen e-commerce share fall, and while online sales are still growing at a healthy clip for most, physical store sales have risen faster for many. Omnichannel models continue to evolve, with great examples of deeper integration of stores and digital through staff activities like blogging and Live Commerce.

Retail Data: Department stores up 5% in January

IN BRIEF

LVMH Japan up 28%

United Arrows to open Japan lifestyle store

Gaw Capital buys Tokyu Plaza Ginza

Half of young Japanese want to live to 100

AI database helps malls to pick tenants

Wacoal sells Lecien

Men’s cosmetics market up 14.8%

Kintetsu keeps department store name

Geo opens luxury vintage store

Hamamatsu is a gyoza paradise

Mitsui Outlet Kisarazu: the biggest in Japan

Lumine to swap out 130 tenants this Spring

39 new large stores in December

Margiela and Diesel owner up 16.3% in Japan

Staff Start to enter US market 

10 million visitors at Kitte Osaka

Expanded employment for people with disabilities

Korea’s Open YY opens first popup

TSI closes Jill Stuart, unifies online store

Shibuya 109 adds 21 new stores

Online B2B platform Terminal hits ¥100 billion

Tokyo Base launches new brand, Ritan

Yutori upgrades forecast

New retail facilities in Yoyogi Park

Burton opens at Niseko

Isetan Beauty launched online

Brands and Retailers in this Issue

Adastria, 1, 14, 16–17
Akachan Honpo, 11
Amazon, 6, 8–9, 14, 16
Another Address, 13
Anta, 4
Anuans, 9
Aoyama Shoji, 15
Art Hub, 13
Auntie Rosa, 16
Bain Capital, 11
Baroque Limited, 16
Baycrews, 14, 16–17
Beenos, 7
Brandeli, 16
Burton, 13
Buyee, 7
Cartier, 7
Cath Kidston, 3
Cawachi Drugstore, 9
Cecile, 16
Citen, 9
Clane, 9
Coronet, 4
Cosmos Yakuhin, 9
Cox, 17
Crooz, 1
Cross Plus, 14–15, 17
Daikoku Bussan, 9
Daimaru, 1, 13
Daiso, 10, 12
Daytona Int, 16
Decathlon, 1
Descente, 4
Diana Shoes, 15
Diesel, 9
Edwin, 4
Egoist, 12
Fabrica Pelletterie, 4
Familymart, 10–11
Fast Retailing, 14, 16
Felissimo, 16
Fila, 4
FMV, 8–9
Fred Perry, 17
Fukusuke, 5
Gaw Capital, 3
Geo Holdings, 6
Glow Fashion, 15
Godiva, 10
Goldwin, 16–17
Hakuhodo, 5, 9
Heart Relation, 13
Hermes, 7
Hince, 10
Honeys, 15–17
HTH, 12–13
Hulic, 11
Incontro, 4
Injinji, 15
Isetan Beauty, 13
Itochu Shoji, 3, 10, 16
Jade Group, 4, 14, 16
Japan Post, 10
Jeans Factory, 15, 17
Jill Stuart, 11
Joix, 4–5
Jun, 16–19
KDDI, 7, 12
Kintetsu, 6, 13
Kitte Osaka, 10
KKR, 11
KNT365, 3
Komehyo, 13
Lawson, 7, 10, 12
Lecien, 5
Leilian, 17
LeSportsac, 4
Locondo, 4, 14, 16–17
Loft, 11
Lohaco, 6
Lone Peak, 15
Louis Vuitton, 10
Lululemon, 8
Lumine, 8, 16
LVMH, 1, 3, 10, 13
Magaseek, 4, 14, 16–17
Maison Kitsune, 8
Maison Margiela, 9, 13
Marni, 9, 13
Mash Holdings, 4
Matsuya, 1, 4
Matsuzakaya, 1, 13
Megrus, 13
Merryjenny, 12
Mitsui Fudosan, 8
Moonbat, 5
Muji, 1, 10, 12, 14, 16
Nigo, 10
Nissen, 16
Nitori, 1, 9
Nugu, 1, 14, 16
Oriental Traffic, 15
Orizzonti, 4
Pal Group, 15, 17
Parco, 13
Paul Smith, 4–5
Plaza, 3, 10
Prococo, 4
Rakuten, 6–10, 14
Reebok, 4, 16
Regal, 14–15
ReQM, 3
Rhizome, 4
Ricovita, 5
Ritan, 9, 12
Salomon, 8
Sanyo Shokai, 16–17
Seijo Ishii, 6
Senshukai, 16
Seven Eleven, 7–8, 10–11
Shein, 14
Shimamura, 1, 14–16
Somari Imagination, 17
Staff Start, 10, 16
Starbucks, 6
Styling Life, 3
Tabaya, 3
Tabio, 17
Takashimaya, 1, 10, 13
Tanaakk, 5
Tokyo Base, 9, 12, 17
Tokyodo, 3
Tokyu, 3, 12
TSI, 3, 11, 16–17
Uniqlo, 1, 14, 16–17
United Arrows, 1, 3, 15–17
Valeur, 7
Vanish Standard, 10
Vivawave, 10
Vivienne Westwood, 4–5
Wacoal, 5, 16–17
Workman, 1, 5
Yahoo Shopping, 6–7, 10
Yutori, 12–13
Zozo, 6, 14–16