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Latest News from Japanese Consumer Markets

March Top Stories
Rakuten fighting hard as Amazon Japan becomes No. 2 retailerThe big online malls continue to grow at higher rates than[...]
February Top Stories
Footwear sales rebound in weakened sectorFootwear sales plummeted during Covid, except for sports and hiking shoes, with a deleterious impact[...]
January Top Stories
Giftee: digital gifting surges for consumer businessesThe gift market has contracted in recent years as corporate and formal gift giving[...]
December 2022 Top Stories
Domestic tourism surges back to life as inbound traffic rises The long awaited lifting of restrictions on inbound tourists in[...]
November Top Stories
Inflation at 30 year high The CPI hit 3% in September, excluding fresh food and adjusting for consumption tax. Prices[...]
October Top Stories
Itochu signs Forever 21, American Eagle returns alone Two major US apparel retailers are returning to the Japanese market for[...]
September Top Stories
E-commerce 2021-22: another high growth year E-commerce sales of physical goods jumped nearly 9% in FY2021. Although this was well[...]
July-August Top Stories
Sale of Sogo Seibu imminentInitial reports suggest that Fortress Investment, part of the Softbank group of funds, is now the[...]
June Top Stories
Big apparel looks for new relevanceThe two leading apparel firms, World and Onward, posted largely negative results for 2021 although[...]
May Top Stories
Big retailers resist price pressure As more suppliers announce price increases, larger retailers are turning to discount campaigns to establish[...]
April Top Stories
Widespread price rises at retail and wholesale With energy costs still rising and ongoing supply-chain issues exacerbated by the re-emergence[...]
March Top Stories
Household expenditure increases in 2021 and more of it online The latest figures show that, even though incomes fell for[...]
February Top Stories
Seven & I to sell Sogo Seibu Department Stores Numerous reports indicate that Seven & I is preparing its Sogo[...]
January Top Stories
Cainz takes on Nitori with Tokyu Hands takeover Iconic retail chain, Tokyu Hands, is to be acquired by Cainz, Japan’s[...]
December Top Stories
Baycrews grows online sales to 50% of turnoverBaycrews is showing how it’s done. It is tying stores and online to[...]
November Top Stories
Zozo launches OMO platform, opens first pop-up store Zozo is getting physical: it will open its first popup physical store[...]
October Top Stories
Online fashion sales soarContraction in apparel consumption aside, fashion retailers and brands have made dramatic strides to pull in customers[...]
September Top Stories
Muji: a ¥3 trillion brand by 2030?Ryohin Keikaku fired a broadside at Uniqlo last month when it confirmed not only[...]
July-August Top Stories
Shrinking, ageing Japan but a growing solo marketThe latest Census confirms the ongoing fall in total population across most of[...]
June Top Stories
Apparel groups respond to crisis2020 was an annus horribilis for the apparel sector, and particularly for wholesale-centred firms. The good[...]