Japanese supermarkets sales fall 1.7% year-on-year

According to sales figures released by the Japanese Chain Store Association, supermarket sales in the country have taken a 1.7% by dip, by 13.17 yen (0,10 EUR) in the last fiscal year, with a 4% decline in supermarket sales in March alone. The announcement of the decline, for a twelfth consecutive year, came yesterday.

 

 

The deterioration is on a same-store basis and is attributed largely to people's anxieties about their futures due to the global recession. But there are other causes. Non-food sales are the worst affected, as clothing sank by 9% due to bad weather. Fortunately, this was not the case in food sales as discounts and a national feel for bananas as a diet food helped sales.

 

 

The major cause is the waning of consumer confidence during the recession. The JCSA has said that government handouts will not assuage public anxiety, and warned that the economic bad weather is not over yet.