Japan Supermarket Sales: Update September 15, 2024.

 

Japan supermarket sales grow 3.7% in FY 2023, biggest rise in 32 yrs

Article Source:  https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240424/p2g/00m/0bu/012000c

Ideas:

Sales in supermarkets, like exports, seemed to increase due to inflation or the weak yen. Yes, sales are good for supermarkets, but without inflation, what would have been the real value of sales as Japanese supermarkets.

Sales as supermarkets, like many things, go through cycles as some months will be more than other months, and some months will be less.

Japanese consumers, for the most part, are more frugal than US shoppers, as they tend to save more and spend less.

The reason why they might have become less frugal is maybe they were/are anticipating a wage increase in April, so they increased spending some in March.

Again, sales usually are not the same every month as some months might be more and some months less, but maybe Japanese consumers/shoppers are tired of the situation with inflation and are trying to get back to some normalcy in shopping, like they were tired of the pandemic and just wanted to get back to some kind of normalcy in doing things.

Yes, the increase in sales might be temporary, as, again, every month can be different as no two months are exactly the same as shoppers are people and sometimes shop based on moods or emotions, not so much on needs.

It would be interesting to see the sales increases or decreases related to Japanese convenience stores and or sales at online sites in Japan.

So again, what would the real sales had been taking out the inflation increases and or the increases in prices related to inflation that companies pass-on to their customers.

The growing season for agricultural products might be related to the poor growing seasons, due to the extreme weather changes in Japan.

And the weather, good or not good for a specific season can affect consumers, and cause havoc for clothing companies and manufacturers, as the plan years in advance with forecasts and estimates about how many to make or sell in stores.

If the winter weather was too warm, for too long, retail stores might have had sales that were not so good, which means they couldn`t sell all of their products at a good price, and they had to discount many products just to get them out of the stores so they could bring in the spring and summer line of clothes.

Have a nice day!