Seven-Eleven Japan, the largest convenience store chain in Japan with over 14,000 outlets, topped food sales during the Japanese financial year 2011 (JFY - April 2011 to March 2012), followed by Aeon Retail (General Merchandise Store) and Lawson (Convenience).
Other leading “conbini’s” (Japanese nickname for a convenience store) included Family Mart and CircleKSunkus, being ranked as the 4th and 7th in the report by the Japanese industry magazine Chain Store Age.
Food and daily item sales at convenience stores were strong during the last JFY, partially prompted by consumers’ bulk-buying after the March earthquake last year, but also underpinned by the businesses providing shoppers “convenience” and “proximity”.
With regard to food products, Japanese convenience stores offer processed items as well as various prepared meals, fresh vegetables and desserts.
While these items are generally priced slightly higher than supermarkets, its variety and small portion packs attract customers such as students, office workers, single person households and elder couples.
There were 44,814 convenience stores as of the end of March 2012, up 4% from a year ago (Japan Franchise Association, member companies outlets only).
Major players are planning to aggressively increase numbers of stores during the JFY 2012, with the total outlets number being expected to reach over 48,000 within the year.
The Japanese food retail market has been estimated as worth over 34 trillion yen (approximately A$ 412 billion), according to the most recent data (2007) by the Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Source: MLA.com
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