Japan April Supermarket Sales:

 https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210526/p2g/00m/0bu/072000c

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Supermarket sales in Japan rose 6.0 percent on a same-store basis in April from a year earlier, the second consecutive month of growth, supported by stronger demand for clothing, an industry body said Wednesday.

Sales of clothing items jumped 74.3 percent in reaction to a drop in April last year, when people were asked to stay home to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Ideas:

Perhaps maybe it should be a little more specific and say clothing store sales instead of just the broad general idea of supermarkets.

Or maybe use department stores sales instead of supermarkets to be more specific.

Supermarkets might be considered places to buy food and similar items, maybe not exactly clothing.

It would be interesting to see a breakdown of what percent were online sales and what percent were in-store sales.

Article:

Overall sales of 11,804 supermarkets operated by 56 companies totaled 1.08 trillion yen ($9.9 billion), according to the Japan Chain Stores Association.

Sales of home appliances increased 52.6 percent as liquid-crystal display TVs and air purifiers sold well as people spent more time at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ideas:

Again perhaps there should be a distinction between supermarkets and department stores instead of what looks like just a combining of everything in one classification.

Maybe the Japan Chain Stores Association should have several classifications; department stores and then supermarkets.

For example home appliances are not usually associated with supermarkets but instead departments stores or even more specialized stores like Yodobashi camera.

As workers maybe begin to go back to their office, it will be interesting to see how much the sales of home appliances decrease in 2021 compared to 2020.

Of course, as the summer season begins, the sales of air-conditioners will most likely increase which might keep the sales of home appliances at a reasonable level.

Article:

Demand for such products as picnic sheets, pet goods and sportswear continued to be robust. But sales of food products slipped 3.2 percent from a year earlier, although those of fresh and carry-out items were brisk.

Atsushi Inoue, a senior official of the association, said the overall sales growth in the reporting month largely resulted from the sharp fall a year ago and it is not mirroring the current situation of consumption.

He said the situation is "severe" and predicted that "saving-oriented" consumption will continue for the time being.

Ideas:

Yes, it must be remembered, that an increase one year to the next, doesn't mean sales are back to pre-pandemic levels.

Sales were so bad in 2020, any increase in 2021 might look good.

But yes, sales are not back to the pre-pandemic levels and consumer spending is still not where it should be.

Consumers are still in a wait and see mindset and some if not many might still be worried about their jobs, especially if they are in the services oriented industries.

Have a nice day and be safe!