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We don’t mind spelling it out again: in an age of abundance, curators rule! Riding the CURATED CONSUMPTION trend in all its glory is Japanese Ranking Ranqueen, a Tokyo chain selling only the top 3, 5 or 10 items in a bewildering range of categories. Rankings are based on sales data from big Tokyo department stores and independent research. Think best-selling lists for bath powder. Tooth picks. Pasta sauce. Cell phones. And so on. Rankings are updated every week, mercilessly replacing the out of favor with the Next Big Thing. There are eight Ranking Ranqueen stores in total: five stores in Tokyo (Shibuya, Shinjuku, Otemachi, Jiyugaoka, Kitasenju), two stores in Yokohama (Azamino, Kamiooka), and one store in Fukuoka (Fukuokatenjin). The company is owned by Tokyu Corporation. (Spotted by Ray Collouch, Springspotter Network.)

Opportunities

Long tail. Broadening taste. End of mass. All true. But as long as consumers are time-starved, and as long as some of them still enjoy buying what many of their peers are buying, they will love initiatives like Ranking Ranqueen that take care of selection for them.And whereas Ranking Ranqueen has been up and running successfully in Japan for a few years now, the rest of the world remains wide open for similar concepts. Time to immerse yourself in list-mania and start telling consumers what to buy!