Summary

The Japan freight and logistics market is driven by the strong performance of the ecommerce industry and the growth of the manufacturing and automotive industry in the country. Japan’s logistics industry is undergoing rapid development and structural change in order to meet increasing demand. The Japan freight and logistics market has the presence of major international player competing with established local players.

Key Highlights
Japan is currently the world’s third largest and one of the fastest growing e-commerce markets in the world. The growth rate has become a bit stable though. There were 82.59 million e-commerce users in Japan in 2017, while 6.33 million users are expected to be shopping online by 2021. Japan also had an internet penetration of 90.87% of the mainstream population in 2017.
After observing a decline for the past few years, in the year 2017 the automotive imports and exports increased this trend is expected to continue in the future.
Japan is highly dependent on imports and sea freight is an important segment for the freight and logistics industry. Some of the major ports in Japan are Osaka, Kobe, and Yokohama among others which serve as the gateway for international trade.


Key Market Trends

Rapid growth of E-commerce


Japan's B2C-ECommerce market in 2017 is JPY16.5 trillion (up 9.1% YoY). Fashion and consumer electronics are among the most major ecommerce categories. Various international players are active in the Japan E-commerce and parcel delivery market, like UPS, FedEx, JB Hunt, C.H Robinson, Deutshe Post, CJ Korea Express, Kerry Logistics, etc.
The domestic e-commerce market continues to expand revenue. Major firms such as Amazon and Rakuten have consistently increased annual sales in Japan since 2013, with the latter increasing sales in its domestic e-commerce segment by over 25% YoY for FY2017.
Further, small to medium-sized companies are increasingly moving into online sales, including peer-to-peer flea-market applications, such as Mercari, which have recently become popularized in Japan.
The increasing demand for shipping services accompanying this expansion has presented new challenges and opportunities to the logistics industry, alike.
Japan’s e-commerce shipping landscape is dominated by three expansive organizations that control more than 90% of the domestic package delivery market. The largest, Yamato Transport, delivers over 1.8 billion packages every year. Sagawa Express, a close competitor, provides logistics services for key customers including Amazon, with Japan Post as the third largest player.


Strong Manufacturing and Automotive Industry Supporting the Market


Japan is considered to be one of the global leaders in the manufacturing machinery and automobile industries. The materials and manufacturing industry of Japan include the four different areas of machinery, oil and gas, forest products, & metals and mining.
The areas in manufacturing where Japan enjoys the most success are consumer electronics, automobile manufacturing, semiconductor manufacturing, optical fibers, optoelectronics, optical media steel & iron, and copy machines.
Japan has been one of the top exporters of Automotive Vehicles in the world for a long time and is renowned for its manufacturing quality and efficient logistics services. Supporting its status as an exporting giant are its highly developed infrastructure and port network and its dense concentration of shipping lines.
Consumer demand for Japanese car brands in United Kingdom rose by 38.2% in the past five years, with more than 350,000 registrations done in first three quarters of 2017. Still, the Japanese Automobile market grew at about 2% in 2017 and the growth rate is expected to decrease to 0.2% in 2018.
Japan's manufacturing industry is an important key industry, which accounts for about 20% in, both, the GDP and the working population. The Japanese steel industry depends entirely on imports for the main steelmaking raw materials of iron ore and coal.


Competitive Landscape

The Japan freight and logistics market has the presence of major international players like Kuehne Nagel, DHL, and DB Schenker along with dominant local players like Yamato Holdings, SGH Global, and Japan Post to name some. The market is expected to be fragmented with few players specialized in certain segments.

Additional Benefits:

The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
3 months of analyst support

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