'About Japan' webinar series 200: Japan's Home Fashion & Furniture Market

Is there a large home fashion and decoration market in Japan and is it worth the effort for EU companies? Especially now after the pandemic? Yes, in so many ways…

Finding new export channels is critical for any business but especially now following the Covid-19 crisis. With all businesses facing profound uncertainty about the future, flexibility, innovation and seeking out new opportunities is vital for survival. Businesses can no longer rely on customers that have supported them for the last decade; there are no guarantees, no matter how long the relationship.

Japan offers EU companies a real opportunity to find new sales. Japan has not been affected as much as many markets because the lock down has not been as severe. As a result, most economic functions continued, including the consumer economy.

Japanese consumers also have much, much higher savings levels than many markets so, even in a downturn, have more spending capacity – this is why Japan has remained one of the top five consumer economies in the last 20 years on a per capita basis In addition, Japan’s home fashion/decoration market is still quite new (for reasons explained in the seminar) so it is very fast growing – up 50% in the last decade.

As a result, Japan has a flourishing home decoration market which is one of the best in the world. Japanese demand for well-designed, high-quality and innovative furniture and home fashion brands from EU firms is very strong. In fact, because competition between retailers is intensifying, demand for new and exciting products from the EU not yet sold in Japan is increasing. There has never been a better time to sell to Japan.

The webinar targets EU home fashion, decoration and furniture firms and brands wanting to increase exports and depend less on their home market and generate revenues in what is one of the best export markets for European brands and products.

In 40 minutes from your desk, discover:

• Work out the potential market size for your product and brand in Japan
• Prepare your brand and product for Japan
• Identify how the market is structured and where your brand fits into this
• Identify the key competitors in the market
• Work out the best potential customer targets from the lists we provide
• Establish the best market entry model that suits your business and brand
• Get started now to sell to or sell more to Japan

Programme:

•     Introduction
•     Expert’s presentation
•     Q&A Session

Registration deadline: 14 November 2022

Speakers: Michael Causton is a specialist on Japanese distribution, retailing and marketing. He founded and led a successful business within Japan’s distribution and retail system and then established another to provide research on it. Following master’s degrees from Cambridge and Stirling Universities, he created CFN in 1992 to distribute apparel and other consumer goods in Japan and developed this into a business responsible for annual exports of several billion Yen within five years, at the same time building up an inside knowledge of how Japanese distribution works. Seeing the lack of good quality information on Japanese markets, he then co-founded JapanConsuming in 1999 which has since become the leading market research firm on Japanese retailing and distribution for non-Japanese companies. He is fluent in Japanese as well as Japanese business, having met with more than 2,000 Japanese companies in consumer distribution in Japan, and is the author of numerous reports on Japanese consumer markets. He divides his time between Japan and Europe consulting to brands, retailers, investors and governments through seminars, phone consultations, reports, and the odd book.

Moderator: Pauline Laloux, Business Support Coordinator, EU-Japan Centre
Organiser: EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation - Brussels Office

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