ABSTRACT
The structure of the distribution channels for electrical consumer durables in Japan is characterized by two factors: firstly, sales of foreign manufacturers’ products, whether entertainment electronics equipment or domestic electrical appliances are very small indeed; secondly, the market for locally-manufactured goods is strongly oligopolistic. In electrical consumer durables, a great diversity of forms of retailing share a turnover in the region of 5000 billion yen. As a rule, the Japanese consumer buys furniture either in specialist shops or in department stores. The weak position of the authorized dealers vis-a-vis the car manufacturers on a market dominated by fierce price wars is reflected in unusually low trading margins, as a rule barely high enough to cover the dealers’ operating costs. The really crucial factor behind the infinitesimally small market share captured by foreign cars, however, is probably the decades-long sheltering of the home market against foreign competitors by high tariff and non-tariff trade barriers.
