Mercari plans Tokyo store to tempt more into its online marketplace
Online flea market operator Mercari Inc. said Thursday that it would try its hand at brick and mortar operations in hope of reaching tens of millions of untapped users in the Japanese market, allowing them to sell their used goods on the spot and ...
Lunar New Year department store sales plummet in Japan amid coronavirus outbreak in China
Japanese department store operators saw duty free sales slump during the key Lunar New Year holiday, one of the first indications of how hard the nation's retail sector will be hit by the coronavirus outbreak in China. Takashimaya Co.'s duty free sales during the weeklong ...
Duty-free sales down at Japan's department stores during China's Lunar New Year
Major department store operators in Japan reported a drop in duty-free sales during the Lunar New Year holiday amid China's ban on all outbound group travel to stop the spread of a deadly coronavirus. Three out of the nation's four major operators, including Takashimaya Co., ...
Dispatches from the front line of Japan's retail sector
Since October, business media have focused on two topics at the near-exclusion of numerous others: the economic repercussions of the consumption tax hike and how that increase has influenced, or accelerated, a shift from cash to electronic payments. This blanket coverage is probably one reason ...
Amid virus outbreak, Japan stores scramble to meet demand for face masks
Drug stores in Japan are scrambling to restock their supply of surgical masks to keep up with growing demand as fears deepen over the outbreak of the coronavirus. Surgical masks are often the first thing people use to protect themselves from infectious diseases, and as ...
Japan firms brace for impact from China's virus-related ban on outbound group travel
The retail and tourism sectors have been counting on robust spending by Chinese visitors during the Lunar New Year holidays.
Online sellers petition for antitrust probe into Rakuten free shipping policy
A group of merchants on Rakuten Inc.'s online shopping mall on Wednesday submitted a petition with some 4,000 signatures to the Fair Trade Commission, asking it to investigate the e-commerce giant's planned free shipping policy. The union of more than 300 sellers on Rakuten alleges ...
40% of Japanese consumers make cashless purchases more frequently: survey
About 40 percent of Japanese consumers started to use cashless payments more frequently after the government's introduction of a point reward program for such payments, an industry ministry survey showed Friday. The survey about the point reward program, introduced in October to alleviate negative effects ...
Paris shops' sales halved as strikes bring chaos to the city
Five weeks into strikes crippling French transport, Emile Sebbag is agonizing over how to keep afloat his two Parisian clothing stores, deserted by shoppers as the backlash against France's pension reform drags on. The start of winter sales on Wednesday — traditionally a big event ...
Hong Kong protests cause economy to shrink in fourth quarter
Hong Kong's economy is set to contract in the fourth quarter as the city reels from six months of violent social unrest, the financial chief said Sunday. "Based on the situation of these few months, it is inevitable that negative growth will continue," Financial Secretary ...
Falling output and retail sales signal Japan's economic strains
Industrial output slipped for the second straight month in November, raising the likelihood that the economy will contract in the fourth quarter due to slowing demand abroad and at home. Japan's economy has cooled in recent months due to a prolonged hit to exports from ...
Minimum charge for plastic bags at Japanese shops from July: ¥1
The government on Friday revised ordinances of four relevant ministries to oblige retailers to charge a fee for issuing plastic shopping bags from July 1. All stores in the nation, including supermarkets and convenience stores, will be subject to the rule. The move is aimed at ...
