Guess left Japan more than eight years ago but is now back with its first store opening this month. Last time it licensed its brand to a local firm, but this time around Guess is following the market leaders with its own direct operation. Guess will re-enter the Japanese market this month with a store […]
Partnerships between JR operators and department stores have been successful for the most part, notably Takashimaya Nagoya, Daimaru Sapporo, and most recently Hankyu Hakata. In Osaka, JR West has been cursing its deal with Isetan-Mitsukoshi since well before the opening of their joint store at Osaka station in 2011. JR West will now take control […]
Cross Company still delivers rapid growth but it is reaching a scale that could well slow it down if it doesn’t expand beyond the current model and narrow market. It knows this, and for the last two years has been working on a plan to create a new kind of fashion chain, one that is […]
E-commerce sales to hit ¥21 trillion in 2018 Nomura Research Institute has revised forecasts upwards for e-commerce sales, now suggesting a market of ¥20.8 trillion in 2018 for BtoC e-commerce. This is up from an estimated ¥11.5 billion in 2013, an annual average growth rate of 12.6%. Key growth categories will continue to be fashion, […]
The results for specialty apparel retailing in FY2012 were even better than 2011, reflecting higher spending on premium fashions as well as a general uplift in consumer demand. The top specialty apparel retailers outperformed the market, averaging 9.1% growth and now account for 35% of the entire apparel market – the top 20 alone own […]
Paypal and Square are gaining traction in the Japanese market, potentially disrupting the cozy world of credit card processing with its fat fees and oligopolistic practices – even though Square itself is backed by one of Japan’s biggest card processors. Already Square’s entry into the market has forced Paypal to lower its fees. Paypal is proving […]
As LINE continues to expand its user base, it is also capturing more corporate customers. As with Facebook and Twitter, LINE makes it easy for brands and retailers to engage directly with consumers, sending out information on special offers, events and new stores. LINE itself is now developing its own e-commerce revenues. Messaging service LINE […]
Start Today has launched a new market place offering SMEs in the apparel and fashion world access to its large base of fashion consumers. It may well threaten the fashion merchant business at Rakuten and Yahoo but the move is also part of a much bigger story about who will win in e-commerce: general merchandise […]
From the 1960s right up until 2007, METI conducted its Census of Commerce, regularly updating the world on the minutiae of the distribution sector – and making a case for protection of small, largely uncompetitive players who supported the ruling party. That motivation has now been largely overtaken by political reality and the Census has […]
Aeon heralds each of its new large malls as a new era of mould-breaking shopping, but often reveals something more prosaic. Makuhari Shintoshin may be the exception. While there is nothing startlingly original in the individual components, overall it is one of the more forward thinking SCs of recent years, offering a level of entertainment […]
Seven & I Holdings has a problem. In FY2012, Seven Eleven still accounted for 81% of the group’s net profits. It’s not surprising then that the group’s chairman, Toshifumi Suzuki, is keen to find new alternatives. This is the main thrust to four separate acquisitions announced in December, with the long-term goal of creating the […]
Fast Retailing finally achieved its target of ¥1 trillion in sales for the year ending August 2013. It took four years more than originally hoped, but is still a significant achievement as the first apparel firm to break this iconic target. The company claims to be still on track to meet CEO Tadashi Yanai’s next […]
