Japan supermarket sales up 0.9% in July, first rise since February

August 25, 2008
By Ken Worsley

Japan Supermarket Sales 2008 Japan’s supermarket sales rose for the first time in four months in July, post a 0.9% gain to 1.12 trillion yen, according to the Japan Chain Stores Association. These figures follow a 0.9% fall in May, and represents only the second time supermarket sales have increased in the past 31 months. However, when new shops (those opened within the past year) are included in the data, supermarkets saw a 4.4% decline in sales.

Here is a breakdown of June’s adjusted figures (not including newly opened stores):

Food: +1.8%, 60.6% of total revenue
Household Products: -0.1%, 20.5% of total revenue
Clothing: -1.7%, 12.4% of total revenue
Miscellaneous Items: +0.7%, 6.2% of total revenue
Services: +1.1%, 0.4% of total revenue

Once again, sales of clothing fell at supermarkets last month, despite predictions that better weather in July might have helped turn around such sales. Although July’s figures were much better than the 9.8% decline seen in clothing sales in June, it still needs to be highlighted that supermarkets only continue to really see growth in sales related to core operations.

Compared to a year ago, supermarket sales were down 1.0% per square meter, as 36 fewer shops were in operation this year. The number of employees at supermarkets fell 7.8% to 413,881.

Filed Under Business, Consumer Spending, Economic Reports, Japan, Supermarkets

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