Japan’s February Supermarket Sales: Down Again

March 23, 2007
By Ken Worsley

The Japan Chain Stores Association released its monthly report on supermarket sales yesterday, showing a decline in nationwide sales for the fourteenth month in a row. Sales in February declined 1.6% compared to February of 2006, totaling 1.025 trillion yen. Supermarket sales in Japan had a also been down 2.4% in January, and have now fallen in 35 of the last 36 months.

The JCSA chalked up poor sales in part to sluggish sales of winter clothes (although you may remember that just a few days ago, the Japan Department Stores Association announced that increased February department store sales were due to “early sales of spring clothes.”

The JCSA’s data is based on the total sales of 84 supermarket chain companies which collectively run 8,762 outlets. Broken down by category, February’s sales look like this:

Food: +0.1%, 63.9% of total revenue

Household Products: -0.9%, 18.8% of total revenue

Clothing: -2.2%, 11.1% of total revenue

Miscellaneous Items: -11.8%, 5.8% of total revenue

Services: -51.5%, 0.4% of total revenue

The association’s data finishes with a listing of the average February temperatures in eight cities across Japan, showing temperatures 2-3 degrees Celsius warmer than the same month a year before.

Filed Under Retail