Japan drugstore giants Cocokara and Matsumotokiyoshi in merger talks
Major drugstore chain Cocokara Fine Inc. said Wednesday it will enter merger negotiations with industry peer Matsumotokiyoshi Holdings Co. If the two giants merge, they would create an industry leader with sales of some ¥1 trillion. Amid intensifying competition, further realignment moves are likely to follow, ...
Time for 'air con,' yukata and beer: Summer sales battle heats up in Japan as rainy season ends
The summer sales battle is intensifying as the year's rainy period officially ended Wednesday after bringing a record-breaking lack of sunshine. The Meteorological Agency on Wednesday announced the end of the rainy season in the Tohoku region, declaring the end of the rainy period throughout ...
Private equity has directly killed 600,000 U.S. retail jobs, study says
Amazon.com Inc., landlords who charge sky-high rents, brands that fail to adapt. The carnage in the retail industry has been blamed on all of them. Now Wall Street is too. Over the past decade, 597,000 U.S. employees working for retailers owned by private equity firms ...
A severe lack of sunshine in the Kanto region is cooling sales of summer products, while the temperatures, unusual for this time of the year, are also generating unseasonal demand for hot drinks and food products. According to the Meteorological Agency, the number of hours ...
Otsuka Kagu plans luxury futon sales campaign in Chinese market to turn fortunes around
Furniture retailer Otsuka Kagu Ltd. will accelerate efforts to develop sales channels in China to achieve a turnaround, President Kumiko Otsuka has said. In a recent interview, Otsuka said her company will start with luxury futon, with down feathers, in a fresh sales blitz in ...
Blue-collar clothier Workman shakes up Japan's stagnant apparel market
It's a weekday morning and a steady stream of customers is entering a Workman store in Tokyo's industrial Ota Ward, mostly blue-collar workers looking for ¥99 rubber gloves, ¥3,500 safety shoes and other gear they need before heading to construction sites. The clientele markedly shifts ...
Aeon plans to quadruple product sourcing from Vietnam by 2025
Retail giant Aeon Co. plans to purchase $1 billion worth of products from Vietnam in 2025, with the nation seen as having great potential as a supplier of quality food for Japanese consumers. The company will double the value of products it procures from Vietnam ...
Japan cosmetics firm Shiseido ties up with Hong Kong drug store chain A.S. Watson Group
Cosmetics giant Shiseido Co. said Thursday that it has concluded a business tie-up agreement with A.S. Watson Group, the Hong Kong-based operator of a major drug store chain. Shiseido aims to strengthen sales of its products in the middle price range through A.S. Watson's extensive ...
Finally in cross-hairs of Trump's tariffs, U.S. retailers sound alarm
After surviving a year mostly unscathed in President Donald Trump's trade war, retailers are finally sounding the alarm bell — and loudly. Home Depot Inc. estimated Tuesday the hit to product costs could be $1 billion a year. J.C. Penney Co. said further escalation — ...
Tough online competition forces Isetan Mitsukoshi to shutter one of its Singapore outlets
Leading department store operator Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. will shut one of its five outlets in Singapore due to tough competition from online retailers. Its local subsidiary, Isetan (Singapore) Ltd., said Monday it will not renew its lease with JB Trustee Pte., landlord of the ...
Japan store operator Cainz to set up fund to invest in AI tech in Silicon Valley
Do-it-yourself store operator Cainz Corp. will set up a fund in Silicon Valley to invest in startups with artificial intelligence and other technologies, according to President Masayuki Takaya. "We'll create a foothold in the U.S. West Coast to tap technologies of local startups," Takaya said ...
Preparations for 2020 Tokyo Olympics transforming capital into 'global standard' city
Foreign-language signs are increasingly common along streets, cashless payment is becoming available at more shops and restaurants and ashtrays are vanishing from public spaces. Change is afoot in Tokyo. The capital is rapidly transforming into a "global standard" city with these moves ahead of the ...
