Like a scene from a TV soap drama, Otsuka Kagu finally settled its protracted leadership battle at the end of March, with the founder and chairman summarily removed by, of all people, his own daughter. While just a political spat in a company that is past its prime, the story reveals a lot about how […]
In the 1980s and 1990s Japan became a fashion market like no other, with almost every generation developing a fascination with personal style and brands, and a concomitant willingness to spend. Until recently this interest in fashion as a form of personal expression, of presentation to the outside world, has entirely focused on fashioning the […]
The home fashion market is booming, but despite this, Bals, one of the largest retailers of interior accessories, has seen sales fall in recent years. Part of its problem is new competition from cheaper chains offering similar ranges of pop home goods targeting 20s and 30s women such as 3Coins and Flying Tiger. It now […]
Aeon continues to abide by the ‘keep it in-house’ rule, designing a myriad of small formats meant as tenants for its own stores and mall properties. Now several of these smaller chains will be spun off as new subsidiaries, with expansion to locations outside the direct control of Aeon Group. Aeon will expand its non-food […]
Inditex Japan now has four of its Spanish parent’s brands operating here, and based on plans for the rest of this year, looks like entering a new phase of expansion, creating one of the largest foreign retail businesses in Japan. Stradivarius’s launch in Japan in January and Zara Home’s new flagship in Aoyama were met […]
Home centres are Japan’s answer to DIY stores in the West, but it is a sector that overlaps heavily with GMS chains and one that increasingly finds it hard to compete. 2013 was a reasonable year, but all of the 0.9% growth in sales came from new space added by just a handful of top […]
Nitori appears to go from strength to strength. Despite having a business based on direct imports from China, last year it overcame higher costs due to the weakened Yen, and with particularly high demand in the final quarter, reported another record performance. The company is introducing higher quality lines and opening more stores, both at […]
IKEA has been operating in Japan since 2006, but went on a short hiatus, opening no new stores between 2008 and 2012. Following the opening in Fukuoka in 2012, it will now add a further four stores over the next two years – the same one or two stores a year pace that it sets […]
