E-commerce expansion in the Japanese apparel market

The purpose of this study is to highlight the expansion of e-commerce (EC) in the Japanese apparel market and investigate the impact of online sales on the performance of the Japanese apparel makers. Descriptive statistics and a regression analysis are used to tackle this issue. The findings of this study are as follows. First, it was clarified that the EC penetration rate of the apparel market is greater than the average of Japan as a whole and this rate is increasing. It was also revealed that EC efforts of apparel companies have a significant positive impact on the performance for relatively large companies. This indicates that the EC efforts of apparel companies are an important strategy as the EC penetration rate continues to grow steadily in the Japanese apparel market.