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Japan’s department store sales down 7.6% in June

Despite strong gains in department store sales in Shinjuku immediately following the opening of the new Fukutoshin subway line on June 14, department store sales fell 7.4% in Tokyo and 7.6% nationwide in June. According to the Japan Department Stores Association, 588 billion yen in sales were rung up across the country in June, at 280 department stores owned by 93 companies.

June was the fourth consecutive month with a decline in sales, and five out of the first six months of this year have seen a decline so far. Once again, the JDSA is citing bad weather as a reason for the decline in sales. Here’s a breakdown for June sales figures by category: Read more

Japan’s nationwide department store sales down 2.7% in May

With the balance of assets at Japan’s households reported to have declined 3.6% in fiscal 2007, consumer confidence near all-time lows, and household spending sluggish, it comes as no surprise that Japan’s nationwide department store sales registered a 2.7% decline in May. Japan’s department store sales have been posting declines since February, when they registered a 0.9% gain on the back of strong food sales. As January’s sales were down 2.1%, February is thus the only month this year to have seen a rise in sales, and even that was less than one percent. Japan’s department store sales have fallen for eleven consecutive years on a nationwide basis.

Before we get into anything else, here’s a breakdown for May sales figures by category: Read more

Strong food sales push up Japan’s February department store sales

After having fallen 2.1% in January, Japan’s nationwide department store sales grew 0.9% in February, according to the Japan Department Stores Association. The survey covered 279 shops operated by 93 firms that were open for at least one year.

By category, here’s a breakdown for February sales figures: Read more

Japan’s department store sales show 11th straight year of decline in 2007; December sales down 2.3%

According to figures released on Friday by the Japan Department Stores Association, sales at Japan’s department stores fell 0.5% from 2006 to a total of 7.7 trillion yen in 2007. This was the 11th straight year that department store sales have shown a decline.

In the last half of 2007, we saw a few months where department store sales appeared to be recovering slightly. In August, they rose 1.4 percent, then fell 2.5 percent in September, fell 1.4% in October and rose 0.9 percent in November. We had predicted that very strong December sales results could push department store sales figures close to positive territory for the year as a whole.

Such a result, however, was deemed highly unlikely, given decreasing consumer sentiment, rising energy and food prices, and a slightly warmer than average December. Read more

Japan’s department store sales up 0.9 percent nationwide in November, up 1.7 percent in Tokyo

We’ve been a tad remiss in posting department store sales for the past three months, but that might have been because it was all bad news and we were waiting for something good. Last month, something almost good happened: Department store sales in Japan were up 0.9% in November year-on-year, according to data released yesterday by the Japan Department Stores Association. Read more

Convenience Stores vs Supermarkets and Department Stores

I’ve been writing about this for months, but this chart still has me fascinated:

Click to see a full size version.

I’m not sure if it’s more of a comment on the national diet, the strength of convenience stores, the lack of product differentiation at supermarkets, the overpricing at department stores, the sheer convenience of convenience stores, strange chartmaking, or some mutant combination of all that and more…

From the Bank of Japan’s October 2007 Monthly Report of Recent Economic and Financial Developments.

Tokyo, Nationwide Department Store Sales Down in July

July Department Store Sales results were published by the Japan Department Stores Association on August 17th, and I read them, but was remiss in not posting anything on them. Nonetheless, here’s what we saw:

After having a generally bad first half of the year, department store sales in Japan rose for the second time in June, by a healthy 5.5 percent. In July, however, sales fell 4.3% against the same month in 2006.

The survey covered sales at 278 department stores operated by 94 companies nationwide. The surveyed shops reported employing 95,069 people, up 6.5% from a year ago (though down 151 people from June). The total amount of shop space fell by 0.8% to 6,757,146 square meters.

The only large city that saw a rise in sales over last year was Kyoto, which posted a 0.6% increase in sales. Sapporo (-6.3%), Yokohama (-6.1%), and Fukuoka (-5.2%) all saw strong falls.

Sales at Tokyo’s 28 department stores fell for the first time in three months, showing a 3.9% decrease. In June, department store sales in Tokyo had surged up by 7.4%.

Japan’s Department Stores see Surge in June Sales

After having seen sales drop 0.4% in May, the nation’s department stores saw a rise in sales for the first time since February of this year as June sales increased by a whopping 5.5% to 634.9 billion yen versus June of 2006.

The survey covered sales at 278 department stores operated by 94 companies nationwide. The surveyed shops reported employing 95,220 people, up 6.4% from a year ago. The total amount of shop space (measured in square meters) was unchanged.

Sales by category (nationwide):

• Clothing: +8.0%, at 36.6% of total sales
• Food: +3.3%, at 26.2% of total sales
• Furniture and home appliances: +2.0%, at 14.4% of total sales
• Household products: +1.1%, at 5.1% of total sales
• Services: +3.2%, at 0.9% of total sales

Broken down by major regions, only Hokkaido (-1.0%) and Tohoku (-0.4%) saw declines in sales, while Shikoku (6.1%) and Kanto (6.0%) saw the greatest increases. As far as cities go, all ten large cities surveyed saw increases in sales, with Nagoya posting the largest gains, at 10.6%.

Department store sales in Kyoto have now been on the rise for 8 months, longer than any other city, having see a 7.9% gain in June.

Japan’s April Department Store Sales Down 1.3%

Bleak news continues to come from the Japan Department Stores Association, who released their report on April sales at the nation’s department stores on Friday. Sales in April declined 1.3% year-on-year, after having fallen 1.5% in March. Once again, the JDSA is blaming unseasonable weather for the fall in sales. At this point, with a few more months of ‘unseasonable’ weather, people will simply have no clothes left and will have to walk around Japan in the nude.

The numbers include results from 276 shops owned by 94 companies nationwide. If sales at stores that were opened within the year to March 31, sales last month fell 1.9 pct from a year before, after a 2.4 pct decline in March. Sales at 28 department stores in Tokyo dropped 1.5% from April 2006.

Broken down by categories:

Sales of Clothing: -2.3%, at 39.9% of total sales
Sales of food: +0.7%, at 20.9% of sales
Sales of jewels and cosmetics: -1.7%, at 15.0% of sales
Sales of personal belongings: -1.2%, at 13.4% of sales
Sales of everyday household products: -3.5%, at 5.6 % of sales
Sales at store restaurants and cafeterias: -0.6%, at 2.7% of sales
Sales of miscellaneous items: +4.2%, 1.6% of sales
Revenue from services: +0.2%, at 1.1% of sales

I’m still not feeling bad for them enough to even walk in the door, let alone buy something. The funny part is that they are just too crowded for me.

Rumor has it that Tokyu is closing some of their department stores, including the Machida location in Tokyo. Can anyone out there verify that?

Japan’s Department Store Sales Down 1.5% in March

The Japan Department Stores Association released its March nationwide sales results on Thursday, but we were just too busy to post on it.

After February’s sales had shown a 1.7% rise against the same month last year, March showed a 1.5% decline. Once again, we see that “unseasonable weather” is given as the primary reason for the decline in sales. The survey covers sales figures from 95 companies operating 278 department stores that have been open for at least a year. Sales at the 28 department stores surveyed in Tokyo showed a decline of 2.2% year-on-year.

Broken down by categories:

Clothing: -3.1%, at 39.8% of total sales
Food: +1.7%, at 21.5% of total sales
Furniture and home appliances: -0.8%, at 14.7% of total sales
Household products: -1.8%, at 3.2% of total sales
Services: +2.5%, at 1% of total sales

Also interesting is that in Tokyo, the number of employees at department stores stood at 18,352, up 6.0% from a year ago. Nationwide, the number of employees stood at 91,080, up 3.3% from March 2006.

Broken down by large cities, only Kyoto (+2.9%) and Fukuoka (+5.6%) showed increases in year-on-year sales. Sapporo saw the largest fall, at -3.1%.

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