Key Sales And Purchasing Trends In Japan'S Garment Market

Japan is not only one of the largest garment markets in the world, but also one of the largest importers of clothing. This market provides new opportunities for fashion brands and retailers. JuliaHuott and ShengLu from Delaware University have studied Japan's sales and procurement patterns and some unique features.

Japan is one of the largest garment markets in the world. In 2018, the clothing market reached US $67 billion, ranking the third place after the European Union (US $380 billion) and the US (US $284 billion).

Like most other developed economies, most of the local consumer clothing comes from imports, which allows global fashion companies and purchasing agents to recognize Japan as a country with huge purchasing power and marketing opportunities.

According to the latest market and trade data, the in-depth analysis of the Japanese garment market and its purchasing mode will help fashion brands and retailers explore business opportunities at present and in the future.

(1) survey of the garment market in Japan

Japan's garment market is unique.

First of all, the Japanese market is huge, but its growth is slow. During the 2015-2019 years, the annual retail sales of garments in Japan remained at around us $66 billion, with no significant increase or decrease. Similar to many other markets, women's clothing accounted for 62.1%, men's clothing accounted for 29% and children's clothing accounted for 9% of the clothing items sold in 2017.

Although the growth rate of the Japanese market is not as exciting as some emerging economies, the overall size of the Japanese clothing market is still attractive. In 2018, the Japanese market was as large as 123% in India, 433.2% in Mexico, 283% in Brazil, and 262.9% in South Korea. Most importantly, due to the gradual improvement of the Japanese economy, the forecast points out that the market value of the ready made clothing retail market in Japan will increase by 1.3% annually in the next 5 years, and will reach about US $71 billion by 2023, although this growth rate is still lower than the world average of 4.3%.

Secondly, the competition in the Japanese garment market is fierce, and local brands are the main competitors. The market has more than 105 regional and global fashion companies stationed in Japan, including Adidas, Zara, Gap and other internationally renowned brands. However, the unique feature of the market is that Uniqlo occupies a leading position in many Japanese brands. Its market share has grown steadily from 8.5% in 2012 to 12.3% in 2018 (see Table 1). By contrast, the most powerful brand Nike in the American Apparel retail market accounted for only 2.5% of the Japanese market in 2018, while other non American fashion brands were more obvious.