Japan Convenience Store Sales:

 https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210521/p2g/00m/0bu/016000c

Article:

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Convenience store sales in Japan rose 6.6 percent in April from the same month last year for the second consecutive month, as customers returned after the first nationwide state of emergency was declared over the coronavirus, an industry body said Thursday.

Same-store sales of seven major convenience store operators totaled 842.50 billion yen ($7.7 billion), as the number of shoppers rose for the first time in 14 months by 7.8 percent to 1.24 billion, according to the Japan Franchise Association.

Ideas:

Most likely the increase in sales in related to big company workers returning to working in the company offices instead of at home, and as such are back to buying things in the convenience stores near their work places.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming months with the spread of the new variants and if companies go back to working from home, or continue to work in their offices.

On a side note, as restaurants are not allowed to service alcohol, will that have an affect on the sale of alcohol at convenience stores.

Article:

But average spending per customer fell for the first time in 19 months by 1.1 percent to 682.10 yen, as people tended not to buy food and beverages all at once compared to a year earlier.

Still, sales of alcoholic beverages remained solid, with many people drinking at home as the third state of emergency was declared in late April, the association said.

Ideas:

As just stated above it seems alcohol sales have remained  steady, buying at convenience stores and drinking at home, as restaurants are not allowed to sell alcohol.

And it was expected that spending per customer would decrease as customers feel more safe going to the conbini more than once instead of just a one time purchase for many things.

But at the same time, the decrease in spending per customers might be related to buying from a conbini near their office, such as only buying what they need to lunch, and then maybe, if they need anything for the night visiting the conbini again near their home or near their office.

Article:

In April last year, the first state of emergency was issued in Tokyo and its vicinity and later expanded to the whole nation, sharply decreasing the number of people going out.

The same-store sales in April 2020 dropped 10.6 percent from a year earlier, logging the sharpest monthly decline since comparable data became available in 2005.

Ideas:

As sales decreased in conbinis in 2020, was there ever any talk of the government also helping convenience stores or was it just let the market be as it is, meaning some industries will be OK, and some not, but let the market be as it is.

Or did any of the franchise stores operated by retired workers/families get any kind of compensation because of the emergency measures, like the restaurants were supposedly getting.

Many of the franchise stores operate on very thin profit margins and are under not so good conditions as required by the large franchise companies.

So any drop in sales, when they rely mostly on volume might have been a significant stress for the retired workers who started a franchise conbini as a way to keep making a living and live.

And did any of the conbini companies help their franchise stores, owners, with a loss of sales during the pandemic.

Article:

The latest state of emergency was declared in April this year initially covering four prefectures including Tokyo and later expanding to now cover a total of nine prefectures.

Compared to figures in pre-pandemic April 2019, the reporting month's sales on an all-store basis fell 3.7 percent to 882.17 billion yen, while the number of customers dropped 9.8 percent to 1.30 billion. The number of all stores was little changed from 55,824 in April 2019 to 55,868 in April 2021.

Ideas:

A drop of 9.8 percent is a significant decrease because of the pandemic. Most likely the conbinis near the large company work areas were the most affected, while those near the workers homes, most likely were not as affected.

But even though there is the pandemic, which as reduced economic activity in the Japanese economy, it seems conbinis are still a favorable to start and run, especially maybe for retired workers who still want to work.

But the article doesn't say if any stores were closed during the pandemic period which was possible as customers decreased in 2020.

Have a nice day and be safe!