Japan Supermarkets:

 https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20201126/p2g/00m/0bu/095000c

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Supermarket sales in Japan rose 2.8 percent on a same-store basis in October compared with a year earlier as people continued to stock up on food and other items as they stayed home amid the coronavirus pandemic, an industry body said Thursday.

The monthly sales rise following a fall in September reflected a decline in demand in October last year, when the nation's consumption tax was raised from 8 percent to 10 percent.

In the reporting month, food sales increased 2.7 percent and those of housing-related items including daily necessities, furniture and drugs grew 3.8 percent, the Japan Chain Stores Association said.

Ideas and Commentary:

Consumers, people, families, continue to change their shopping habits related to the virus situation.

Last year, in September, I was in Japan and there seemed to be a shopping spree/frenzy taking place before the October increase in the sales tax from 8 percent to 10 percent. 

During that time was also the Rugby World Cup in Japan so the Japanese were out and about and very happy about how the Japanese rugby team was doing. 

Of course now more consumers/families are not going out as much such as to restaurants. Most likely if they go to restaurants they get take out or delivery and avoid crowds.

However, if you look at the Shibuya crossing YouTube video it looks like a normal pre-pandemic day. But that is one snapshot of what is happening in Japan. 

Someone told me that in Yokohama at the Landmark tower, the number of people out and about was like the pre-pandemic days. 

So maybe consumers are out and about but for some the idea of not going to restaurants might be larger than normal but people are still out and about. 

Article:

Sales of clothing, accounting for 6.6 percent of the total, rose 4 percent for the first increase in 13 months as consumers turned to pajamas and underwear as the weather got cooler, making up for sluggish demand for suits and other business-related items with many people working from home.

On an all-store basis, sales at 10,871 supermarkets run by 56 companies totaled 1.05 trillion yen ($10 billion) in October, according to the association.

The data came amid a resurgence of coronavirus cases in Japan, with national daily counts recently hitting record highs above 2,000.

Ideas and Commentary:

Of course some items will see increase in sales and some items will see decreases in sales. 

As we've reached the Black Friday period and the traditional Christmas shopping season has begun, in most countries, including Japan, it will be interesting to see how much shopping will be done in traditional brick and mortar stores and how much will be done online.

Early reports indicate the Black Friday sales were a record in the US with most of it online of course. 

So it will be interesting to see how Japanese consumers spend this traditional holiday season, mostly online, mostly in regular stores or a balanced combination.

I would venture to say, consumers are people and they want to be out and about during the holiday season as much as possible.

Article:

"With a deterioration in employment and income -- key factors that support spending -- as well as consumer sentiment, there is concern regarding future trends" in supermarket sales, said Atsushi Inoue, a senior official of the association.

Ideas and Commentary:

However, with employment overall not doing so good and income also having challenges, this holiday season might not be the same as previous years. There might be an increase in some areas such as online shopping and necessary good, but most likely not the usual extra shopping that we see in normal holiday seasons.

And consumer sentiment, for the most part is everything. Consumer are not going to go back completely to their pre-pandemic shopping and buying habits until they feel safe, feel their incomes and jobs are safe again, including business all sizes. 

Most likely retailers are on edge and we start to get further into the holiday season, as some years the holiday season can be as much or more than the entire year for some businesses.

And then, as with a previous article about restaurants and early closing times its got be even more of an challenge for them.

Its easy to say businesses need to innovate to meet the new demands of consumer and such, but its possible many business have no room to really innovate or change to survive the virus situation.

How do, for example, travel agencies innovate when there is almost no demand or way less than needed?

How do small businesses innovate when they don't have the resources to innovate and compete?

Not everyone can innovate or change as needed and as such the government needs to step in a help as many as they can to whether the virus storm, if its not too late for some businesses. 

Have a nice day and be safe!