Archive for Japan
7-Eleven Wine is the Toast of Private Brand.
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Seven & I Holdings Co began selling on Wednesday two Private Brand wines from California. A Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon will be sold at the more than 15,000 stores worldwide, including 12,300 Seven-Eleven Japan convenience stores and close to 2,000 7-Eleven stores in the US.
The Wine Group will produce the wines exclusively for Seven & I. Experienced, award-winning wine-makers John Willumson and Jim McDonald were called upon to create the new wines.
The new Private Brand wine will be called ‘‘Yosemite Road’’. This is the first of some 10 Private Brand products, which Seven & I plans to introduce by the end of 2010 as part of its global merchandizing strategy.
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Posted by: | CommentsThis article from the Kyoda News by way of The Japan Times presents an interesting snapshot of Private Brands in Japanese fashion it features Japanese retailers AEON Topvalu and Sogo & Seibu Co., whose parent company Seven & I Holdings owns the American convenience store 7-Eleven. For those of you who are not up to date on the exchange rate for the Yen, the jeans in the photo would cost $9.58 USD.
Kyodo Photo
Low-priced clothing next big thing
Supermarkets, department stores count on cheap, quality items to remedy plunging sales
Supermarkets and department stores are churning out low-priced clothing, actively taking part in the planning and production phases to become manufacturing retailers.
“With this price, coming all the way here paying train fares is worth it,” said a man in his 60s who traveled from Tokyo to the Jusco Tsudanuma store in Narashino, Chiba Prefecture. The store is run by the Aeon Co. group.
He visited the store to buy three pairs of jeans priced at ¥880 each produced in August by Aeon Topvalu Co. and marketed by Aeon Co. They were put on the market to counter the ¥990 jeans marketed this spring by stores under the wing of Fast Retailing Co.
“Clothing made in Japan is still priced higher,” said Shigemitsu Yamada, a director of Aeon Topvalu. The company produces good quality but cheap products by negotiating independently with a Chinese clothing factory, including over the selection of cloth.
Manufacturers are normally reluctant to increase the variety of waist sizes and pants lengths due to the burden on inventory, but distributors can take the risk because they can predict sales with precision.
Aeon Topvalu produces 63 combinations of waist sizes and pant lengths for its slim-fitting jeans, including for middle-aged and older men, many of whom have a bigger waist and shorter legs.
The need to do something was clear. Clothing sales at supermarkets nationwide in the first half of this year fell 11.9 percent from the year before, while those at department stores in July plunged 15.6 percent, marking the 25th consecutive monthly decline.
Sogo & Seibu Co., under the wing of Seven & I Holdings Co., created a division to develop private-brand products in September. Amid a growing customer tendency to favor low-priced products, the company has tied up with a clothing enterprise dealing with mass-sales stores.
The company will market women’s clothing 40 percent cheaper than usual prices.
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Sometimes Google deliver strange and wonderful things to my in box and that is certainly the case with this fascinating article from the Ukranian based website, finchannel.com reporting on Japanese Private Brand research.
Store-Brand Food Equal To Name Brands In Safety: Survey
A total 75.7% of consumers say there is almost no difference in terms of safety between private-label and brand-name food items, according to a survey by the Japan Finance Corp.
And 63.2% of survey respondents picked very little flavor difference. Although demand for store-brand food is on the rise given its affordability, “The market for private-label food will probably expand in the future given their acceptance in areas other than price,” predicts the government-affiliated financial institution.
Low prices were picked by 74.4% as a requirement for store-brand food. This was followed by high safety at 55.9% and flavor at 39%.
“Some 38.8% of shoppers say they would buy a private-brand offering if it was at least 10% cheaper than its name-brand counterpart. Another 29.5% would make the purchase if prices were at least 20% more affordable, and 14.6% would do so if prices were at least 30% more attractive. Just 9.5% indicated they would buy a store-brand food item if the price was the same as a brand-name offering,” Nikkei report said.
Affordability of store brands is seen as extremely better or somewhat better by a combined 68% of respondents. But name-brand products were overwhelmingly given the thumbs up for flavor and aesthetics.
As part of a survey of foodmakers, 40.6% expressed a willingness to continue with their current lineups. Some 33% said they wanted to add to their store-brand offerings or begin handling such products. Those wanting to trim or end production of private-label items, as well as those with no plans to engage in such products, totaled 26.4%.
Japan Finance polled shoppers ranging in age from their 20s to 60s. It received responses from 1,735 firms, mostly smaller manufacturers.
If you enjoyed this post, get FREE updates when you subscribe to Myprivatebrand’s Blog by Email.Japanese Private Brand Shines.
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Private Brand takes many forms across multiple categories all around the world in this example from Japan elegant Swedish design is discovered rather unexpectedly in a Japanese Private Brand. ASKUL is a rapidly growing Japanese mail-order company that offers more than 41,000 items including office supplies, stationary and furniture.
In this first of two posts the design agency Stockholm Design Lab has created unique design that truly differentiates these products in a clear and graphical way: clarity equals more sales.
To see more images: Stockholm Design Lab
Japanese Private Brand Brew.
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The Japanese daily The Japan Times reported this week that the grocer Aeon has codeveloped with brewer Suntory Liquors Ltd. a “third-category” beerlike drink and will begin selling it for ¥100 in July.
According to the article:
Rival retailer Seven & I Holdings Co. said it will introduce at around the same time a similar private brand product with Suntory priced at ¥600 for a pack of six 350-ml cans.
The products, with alcoholic content of 5 percent, took about a year to develop. Aeon’s will be called Topvalu Mugi No Kaori, while Seven & I’s will be named The Brew.
Aeon, the operator of Jusco, Saty and MaxValu supermarkets, plans to roll out the private brand with a price tag about 20 percent lower than similar drinks from major brewers on the back of consumer demand for cheaper products amid the recession.
Meanwhile, Seven & I, which operates Ito-Yokado and other supermarkets, said it will sell its new product at around 400 stores nationwide.
Sales of beerlike beverages in the new category, which often use soybeans, corn and peas as main ingredients, have increased in recent years due to their price appeal.
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This is a fascinating story from the Japanese newspaper The Mainichi Daily News, the Asian markets and the growth of Private Brand are a interesting story to follow. Notice the 7-Eleven sign in the background, Ito-Yokado is part of retail group Seven & I Holdings Co.
Ito-Yokado to launch new discount product range ‘The Price’ Retail giant Ito-Yokado, part of retail group Seven & I Holdings Co., will launch its own line of products at their discount store chain The Price, it was announced on Thursday.
Product costs for the new private brand, also named “The Price,” are reduced through the use of irregularly shaped and sized ingredients and materials, as well as simplified packaging. Prices will be 10 to 20 percent lower than products in “Seven Premium,” another private brand sold by businesses under the Seven & I Holdings group.
The range will include food and daily consumer goods priced around 30 to 50 percent lower than brand-name products. For example, there is toasted seaweed made of seaweed with holes at 177 yen for a 10-sheet pack, soy sauce-flavored rice crackers with broken pieces at 197 yen for a 15-piece pack, and a three-serving package of Chinese noodles without the usual pouches of seasonings for 167 yen. Ito-Yokado is promoting the brand as a special highlight of the discount chain, and will not be selling the products at regular Ito-Yokado outlets.
Ito-Yokado will be debuting the brand next Monday, and hopes to develop some 350 products within the current fiscal year to reach about 5 billion yen in sales.
There are currently only eight The Price outlets, all located in the Kanto area, with plans to boost the number to 20 before the end of fiscal 2009.
“There has been an increasing push for competitive prices among consumers in this lagging economy, and there will be a continued demand for low-priced private brands,” explained Ito-Yokado President Atsushi Kamei.
Others in the retail industry have also stepped up price reduction measures in response to consumers’ increasingly thrifty shopping habits, including the April debut of retailer Aeon’s “Best Price by Topvalu,” a more competitively priced product line than their leading private brand, “Topvalu.”
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Japan’s Aeon turns to store brands in tough times By Taiga Uranaka Aeon, the second-largest retailer in Japan announced it would introduce more Private Brands and dramatically cut the prices of existing Private Brands. The Private Brands in Japan are following the same trend as the US and Europe where Tesco, Kroger and Safeway are positioning their Private Brands as direct competitors to national brands.
According to an article from Reuters, sales of Aeon’s “Top Valu” Private Brand products are likely to grow by more than 40 percent in the year ending this month, Kunihiko Hisaki, Aeon’s chief merchandising officer, told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday. Aeon said starting next month it would replace 1,700 store brand items with cheaper ones and add 500 new products. That would lift sales of Private Brands to around 371 billion yen ($3.9 billion) at Aeon, which has around 2,000 stores.
Aeon’ competitor, Seven & I, Japan’s biggest retailer, is reporting a similar growth in its Private Brands. It expected sales of its private label items to more than double to 180 billion yen in the current business year, a spokesman said. Interestingly enough the Japanese retailer uses English names and seems to be mimicking the private brand structure of many US and European grocers.
Premium: Top Valu Select
National Brand Equivalent: Top Valu
Value: Best Choice by Top Value
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