Visitors from southeast Asia are surging ahead; in Q1 2014 Thailand seen figures rise by 64.7% year on year whilst Malaysia grew by 61% and Vietnam by 56.2%
By October, cosmetics and other consumer goods are set to see a big difference in sales growth figures thanks to this surge in visitors and plans to abolish the 8% consumption tax. Japanese cosmetics are already a popular tourist purchase with, for example, over 90% of Chinese tourists buying them.
Alongside this growth, the Japanese government hopes to double the number of duty free shops to around 10,000 by encouraging shops outside the major cities to apply for relevant permission.
Most duty free stores are currently located in the Tokyo, Yokohama and Osaka regions.
In fact the government hopes that by 2020 the year of the Tokyo Olympics, 20 million visitors will have come to the country.
Cosmo buyers amongst the highest spenders..
A recent survey by the Japan Tourism Agency revealed that 38.5% of tourists who visited Japan bought cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, making them the third most commonly bought item after food and confectionery.
The average amount spent on cosmetics and pharmaceutical products was ¥20,270 (USD $205.52). Visitors from China were the highest spenders, with 68.4% purchasing and an average spending of ¥34,521 (USD $350.01).
Taiwan and Thailand tourists also featured prominently in purchasers of cosmetics, with 62.8% and 42.3% purchasing and average spending being ¥16,406 and ¥15,921 respectively.
The same study revealed that 3% of the ¥1.09 trillion spent by tourists each year was allocated to shopping. Foreign visitor numbers in Japan were 8.37m in 2012, an increase of 34.6% the previous year, with the Japanese National Tourist Organization setting a target number of 10m tourists for 2013