Yamada Denki remains one of Japan’s most aggressive and innovative retailers. It is, however, fighting a losing battle as the market around it contracts and consumers find cheaper options online. Last month it simultaneously closed 1% of its entire chain and sold a 5% share in the business to Softbank, the latter a defensive move […]
Yamada Denki’s efforts at building up online sales have been hampered by a high level of strategic inertia which continues to emphasise store-based sales. Now, leveraging its growing network of independent franchisees, Yamada plans to kill two birds with one stone, using the franchise network as a new sales arm to reach local customers and […]
Retail sales fell in April as expected, and by marginally more than in 1997, but the industry still performed well and the extreme decline feared by many did not happen. Indeed, many chains were reporting that sales were back to levels seen in 2013 by the end of the month and others were already back […]
Yamada Denki is the dominant consumer electronics retailer with 25% of the market. The company faces pressure from declining sales due to market saturation, and has begun diversifying into new businesses as a result. But it has not given up on expanding market share yet, and already has 8,000 independent stores signed up as franchisees. […]
