May 2026 Issue
FOCUS:
Fashion e-commerce: growth but more divergence
The fashion e-commerce sector continues to grow at a pace that outstrips the broader fashion market, but the gains are increasingly concentrated among a small group of operators that have mastered omnichannel, staff-driven social media, and loyalty marketing and capture – at the same time, smaller, mall-dependent players face mounting pressure and anaemic profits.
Childless market: 65% of young women don’t want children
The impact of population changes on consumer markets has strengthened rapidly in the past five years but now many young women say they don’t want children at all. Births continue to hit new record lows, while improvements in gender equality in the workplace are arriving too late and suddenly there’s a serious cost of living crisis. Births will slump to dramatic new lows as a result.
Editorial: Adapting to fewer children
Fast Retailing: real global growth
Fast Retailing’s 1H2026 results set new records and for the past three years Uniqlo has generated real momentum, growing across every region but particularly in Europe and North America. GU and the Global Brands segment, however, remain works in progress.
Social gifting boom: Isetan online gift store up 50%
Isetan has worked hard to engage with younger segments at its Shinjuku flagship, but it also owns an online gift site called Moodmark, which is proving a hit with women in their 20s and 30s, thanks in part to the boom in social gifting.
Record sales for outlet malls
There may have been a drop in Chinese tourists but other nationalities and, above all, domestic shoppers, made up the difference at outlet malls, providing another record year for the format and encouraging more investment by Mitsui Fudosan.
IKEA’s mall store for Japan
IKEA’s out-of-town showrooms are popular here but land prices and access to customers are tricky, so Japan has become the model for a new small format for shopping malls.
Izumi also focuses on supermarkets
GMS, the one-stop-shop format that does everything but nothing particularly well, has been in decline for two decades but there are still some holdouts. Izumi remains one of the best but even this southern stalwart sees the writing on the wall and now aims to pivot towards food and M&A, emulating rivals further north.
Footwear retail consolidation continues
Japan’s footwear retail sector continues to consolidate, with ABC Mart taking further share. G-Foot, which almost went under last year, is now being fully absorbed by Aeon, while Chiyoda continues to hope its private brand investments will finally pay off.
Beams going young and overseas
Beams will celebrate its 50th anniversary by opening its largest-ever store in Los Angeles, while targeting ¥100 billion in FY2025 revenues. It is aiming to rebuild its ties to Japan’s younger market with a new chain called Beams Heart.
Nojima goes vertical with Hitachi’s appliance business
Nojima is the electronics retailer doing more than any other to reinvent its business as the domestic market stagnates and shifts to selling more online. It has just confirmed the acquisition of Hitachi GLS as it works its way to ¥3 trillion revenues in the medium term, potentially becoming the first vertically integrated consumer electronics retailer.
Home centres struggle for growth amid wider competition
Home centres are the smallest of Japan’s big retail formats, yet remain an important channel for all kinds of homewares, gardening and pet supplies, and, although less than you may expect, even DIY tools and trades supply. After a short-lived boom in 2020, the sector is now consolidating fast.
PPI acquires Olympic as Tokyo base for Robin Food
Don Quijote’s parent acquired Tokyo discount chain Olympic Group for ¥26 billion last month, securing 122 stores in good locations across the capital. The deal should fast-track the rollout of its new Robin Food format – and provides rivals with a very uncomfortable sign of what’s coming.
Data: Shopping malls up 4%, department stores 3.2%
IN BRIEF
Tokyo Midtown Nihonbashi: Coredo reborn
Shibuya gets new department store, sort of
801 inflation-related bankruptcies in 2025
GIC invests in Sazaby League for global push
Devialet opens in Kansai
Dior Shinsaibashi opens this month
60% of Tokyo companies allow telework
Waco buys Glamorise
workwear for the young from Konaka and Aoyama
Ponta: challenging Rakuten
Two-season fashion confusion
Meitetsu continues to serve VIPs in Nagoya
Long shelf-life meal kits the next big thing?
The North Face, Coleman popular with campers
TSI buys Toyo Enterprises
Takarajimasha enters fashion business
Sally Hansen closes stores
Shop Channel record sales
Lumine to open Paris store
Distance expands in Japan
Alpen targets runners, staff must run marathons
JINS’s Shinjuku flagship largest so far
49 new large stores approved in February
Brands and companies in this Issue
ABC Mart, 3, 8, 9, 16
Aeon, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13
Akachan Honpo, 15
Alpen, 12, 13
Alleanza, 11, 12
Amazon Japan, 16
ASBee, 8
Baroque Japan, 17
Baycrews, 14, 15, 16, 17
Beams, 9, 16
Belluna, 16
Bravissimo, 6
Cainz, 11, 12, 13
Cecile, 16
Chaumet, 5
Chiyoda, 8, 9
Coleman, 9, 10
Cosmos Yakuhin, 7, 13
Coty Japan, 10, 11
Courts, 10
Cox, 8, 17
Crooz Shoplist, 17
Daytona International, 16
DCM, 11, 12, 13
Devialet, 5
Dior, 5
Distance, 12
Don Quijote, 3, 13
DoClasse, 16
F.O. International, 16, 17
Felissimo, 16
Fendi, 5
FamilyMart, 3
Fast Retailing, 3, 4, 16
Freak’s Store, 16
G-Foot, 8
GIC, 4
GU, 4, 16, 17
Gelato Pique, 14
Glamorise, 6
Glow, 15, 17
Grandberry Park, 4, 6
Green Leaf, 9
Haier, 10
Heart Relation, 15
Hiramatsu, 5
Hitachi GLS, 10
IKEA, 6
Isetan, 5, 9
Ito-Yokado, 7, 12
JAM Trading, 14
JD.com, 4
JINS, 13
Joix, 17
Jun, 16, 17
Jupiter Shop Channel, 11, 15, 16
Karuizawa Prince Shopping Plaza, 6
KDDI, 7, 8
Ken Depot, 12
Kohnan Shoji, 11, 12, 13
Komehyo, 16
Komeri, 1, 11, 12
Konaka, 7
Leilian, 17
Locondo, 15
Look HD, 17
Lopia, 7, 11, 12
LINE Gift, 5
Mamy Mart, 13
Mash Holdings, 14, 15, 16
MEGA Don Quijote, 13
Meitetsu Department Store, 8, 9
Midea, 10
Mitsubishi Estate Simon, 5, 6
Mitsui Fudosan, 3, 5, 6, 14
Montbell, 9, 10
Moodmark, 5
Musinsa, 16
Nitori, 1, 11, 12
Nike, 12
Nojima, 10
NTT Docomo, 7
Onward HD, 15, 16, 17
Oshman’s, 8
Olympic Group, 13
PAL, 14, 15, 16, 17
Panasonic, 10
Piago, 13
Play Product Studio, 17
Princess Tam-Tam, 4
Ponta, 7
QVC Japan, 16
Qoo10, 16
Rakuten, 7, 8, 14, 16
Ralse, 12
Regal, 9, 17
Robin Food, 13
Rohto Yakuhin, 1, 3
Sacs Bar HD, 17
Sally Hansen, 10, 11
Sanyo Shokai, 17
Sazaby League, 4
Seibu Properties, 6
Senshukai, 16
Sesame Street, 6
Sharp, 10
Shimamura, 1, 15, 16
ShinQs, 3, 4
Ships, 15, 16, 17
Shoplist, 16
Sony, 10
Sunlife, 7
Sunny, 7
Tabio, 17
Takashimaya, 1, 9
Takarajimasha, 10, 15
Theory, 4
Thermos, 10
THT Japan, 5
Tokyo Base, 17
Toray, 4
Tokyu Malls, 4, 6
Toyo Enterprises, 10
Trial, 7, 13
TSI Holdings, 10, 16, 17
Tsuruha HD, 1
Uniqlo, 4, 14, 15, 16, 17
United Arrows, 14, 15, 16, 17
Uny, 13
VAIO, 10
Valor Holdings, 13
Wacoal, 15, 16, 17
World Party, 17
Yahoo, 14
Yakuodo, 13
Zozo, 8