The Japanese apparel market has seen significant growth in sales during the fiscal year of 2012 and is set for an era of development and relative stability, according to a recent report by JapanConsuming.

 

According to the report on ‘Apparel Retailing FY 2012: leading from the top’ released by JapanConsuming, although overall apparel sales grew an incremental 0.4 percent in Japan in fiscal year 2012, the top 100 apparel retailers averaged a strong growth rate of 5.2 percent, helping these leaders garner more than 60 percent share of the total apparel market in the country.

 

Fiscal year 2012 was a solid year for Japanese apparel retailing, and despite the market grew less than 2.3 percent to the year before, it still grew, and for only the second time since 2003, the report states.

 

According to the report, sales growth among the top 100 apparel retailers in the country, including overseas brands, averaged 5.2 percent year-on-year, indicating a significant increase of 2.0 points compared to fiscal year 2011, greatly outperforming the market as a whole.

 

Specialty chains continued to deliver most of the growth, but e-commerce businesses were also to the fore, with a growth of 10 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively, in fiscal year 2012, the report adds.

 

As per the report, general merchandise stores (GMS) and department stores in the country’s apparel sector continued to lose market share in fiscal year 2012, but the efforts of the large department store firms to fix problems and take control of apparel retail floors through marketing and, above all, own brand development has begun to bear fruit, which is supported by greater spending from wealthy Japanese consumers.

 

With prices having bottomed out after two decades of decline and having started rising, stabilizing prices as well as improving corporate efficiency in the apparel stores alone suggest the apparel market in the country will grow in value in the years ahead, the report adds.