Archive for Ito-Yokado
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.
If you enjoyed this post, get FREE updates when you subscribe to Myprivatebrand’s Blog by Email.Japanese Private Brand Pays “The Price”
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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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