Ranking remain quite static in contrast to previous year
01 Sep '06
3 min read
The ranking remained quite static in comparison to the previous year with Aeon, Uniqlo, and Shimamura remaining as the top 3. Still, what is interesting in the ranking is that most of the retailers in the ranking are low priced retailers and department stores.
Aeon at the top is a volume retailer who had bought out Carrefour in Japan. This company has been investing heavily in their apparel department; not only in capital but in strengths. They have succeeded in changing the image of their clothing spaces to look more fashionable rather than a volume retailer. Their private brand has been developed the image of more trend following retailers like Comme Ca and received high remarks from ther customers.
In second place is the almighty Uniqlo. Them being in 2nd place is no surprise as they are one of the most prominent retailers in Japan. The following Shimamura is another low-end retailer whose shirts come at around 1,500JYen. Their sales have been rising constantly and although they may not be the most fashionable places to shop, their positioning in suburban areas and their segmentation has been benefiting them very well.
The top 3, as can be seen are all low priced retailers that does not come together easily with what one may call fashionable, but their simple, good quality, and low priced goods are winning enough customers to come as the top.
Through this ranking, one may wonder, where are the select shops? The unique element in Japanese apparel retail is centered around the existence of the select shops lies in these select shops but they are not to be seen in these rankings. Select shops are indeed quite popular amongst the Japanese consumers, but they are very segmented.
20240830145952.gif)
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "UBM China (Shanghai)")
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
