Archive for Aeon
Japan Has A Yen for Private Brand.
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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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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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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