The Pressures of Globalization in Retail: The Path of Japanese Department Stores, 1930s–1980s

Three Japanese department stores were within the top 100 global retailers in the 2010 fiscal year: Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings ranked sixtyfourth, J. Front Retailing ranked ninety-fourth, and Takashimaya ranked hundredth. There were just six other department-stores on this list: these were American (three), Spanish (one), British (one), and South Korean (one).1 Japanese department stores have enjoyed modest success in overseas markets. In 2008, Mitsukoshi had 10 overseas stores, representing 35.7 per cent of its total number of stores; and Isetan had 14 overseas stores, representing 58.3 per cent of its total stores. The proportion of the number of overseas stores to total stores among these department stores are much higher compared to that of Aeon, the leading retail group in Japan, where only 1.1 per cent of its total number of stores are located overseas. However, the proportion of overseas sales to total sales are much lower. Overseas sales at Mitsukoshi and Isetan totalled just 1.4 per cent and 9.1 per cent of total sales, respectively, while the equivalent figures at Aeon, Tesco, and Carrefour were 11.2 per cent, 24 per cent, and 54.2 per cent.2 Furthermore, Japanese department stores found that their gross profit margins in other Asian countries were low compared to those at their stores in Japan. Indeed, 70 per cent of overseas Japanese department stores and supermarkets have been closed by the parent company.3