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Japan convenience store sales slide 4.9% in March

April 20, 2010
By Ken Worsley


After the sales boom that followed the introduction of the Taspo card for tobacco purchases, Japan’s convenience stores have had a difficult time keeping sales up. According to data released today by the Japan Franchise Association, convenience store sales fell 4.9% in March, showing a decline for the tenth consecutive month.

The report showed foot traffic falling 1.6% to 1.05 billion people, showing a decline for the ninth month in a row. Sales per customer slipped 3.4% to 566.6 yen, dropping for the 16th consecutive month.

For FY 2009 overall, sales at convenience stores fell 4.1%, totaling 7.26 trillion yen. While the effects of the Taspo boom wearing off will last for a few more months, it seems essential for convenience stores to find a way to both attract more customers and get each customer to spend more.

Reflecting the deflationary retail environment, some Natural Lawson locations have recently been converted into cheaper Lawson 100 shops. Whether this strategy ends up helping Lawson to sell more cheap products to customers remains to be seen.

Or perhaps Lawson simply realized that its Natural Lawson outlets were selling ridiculously overpriced items in some neighborhoods saturated with cheaper Family Mart and Seven Eleven locations.

Filed Under Business, Convenience Stores, Economic Reports 

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