Industry Consolidation, Increasing Concentration of Store Brands and Continued Competition

「In the convenience store business, as market saturation becomes increasingly apparent, we expect the difficult business environment to continue for the foreseeable future, although」

「In the convenience store business, as market saturation becomes increasingly apparent, we expect the difficult business environment to continue for the foreseeable future, although」

「With the consolidation under the brands of the 3 major chains having largely run its course, market oligopolization has resulted in increasingly standardized products and services, making differentiation from competing stores more difficult. In addition, signs are emerging that more stores are struggling to secure employees as the young population declines.」

「As the market has become oligopolized through the consolidation of stores under the brands of the 3 major chains, products and services have become more standardized, making differentiation from competing stores increasingly difficult. In addition, more stores appear to be struggling to secure employees as the young population declines.」

「In the convenience store industry, market oligopolization by the 3 major chains through management integrations is causing the number of stores to increase only slowly on a net basis. At the same time, aggressive openings continue in urban areas where customer traffic is expected, and existing-store customer counts at the major chains remain weak year on year, making efforts to improve the customer draw of individual stores an issue.」

「Following the recent reorganization of the convenience store industry, just under 500 stores in Tokyo and Chiba, where we operate, have changed to major-brand stores over the past 2 years. Since almost the same number of stores is expected to change brands over the next year, further oligopolization by the major chains could narrow the scope for leveraging our strengths, such as procuring proprietary products and providing services made possible by our scale of approximately 100 stores.」

「Market oligopolization by the 3 major chains is advancing through the integration of store brands among major chains and the conversion of several mid-sized chains to major-chain brands, while the pace of store-network expansion is slowing. However, companies remain eager to open stores in urban areas where customer traffic is expected, and existing-store customer counts at the major chains continue to be weak year on year because store numbers are increasing faster than demand, making efforts to improve the customer draw of individual stores an issue.」

「Store-brand standardization through management integrations between major chains is progressing, and several mid-sized chains have decided to change their brands to those of major chains. As the market becomes increasingly oligopolized by the 3 major chains, the pace of store-network expansion through the aggressive openings seen in the past is slowing. However, in urban areas where customer traffic is expected, companies remain eager to open stores, and high-rent properties in newly completed office buildings and well-located development sites continue to be leased. Since store numbers are increasing faster than demand, existing-store customer counts at the major chains remain weak year on year, making efforts to improve the customer draw of individual stores an issue.」

「Management integrations among major chains and business alliances between major and mid-sized chains are progressing, while products are being supplied between store brands. This is further advancing the effective oligopolization by the 3 major chains, and the pace of store-network expansion through new openings is slowing.」

「Management integrations among major chains and the reorganization of store networks through alliances between mid-sized and major chains are progressing. Products are also being supplied between store brands, further advancing the effective oligopolization by the 3 major chains and slowing the pace of store-network expansion through new openings. However, in urban areas where customer traffic is expected, there are still cases of high-rent properties, primarily in office buildings and street-front locations, being leased. Each company continues to open stores aggressively, while existing-store customer counts remain weak year on year, making efforts to improve the customer draw of individual stores an increasingly important issue.」

「The increasing oligopolization of store brands has also contributed to a moderate easing in the pace of new store openings across the industry. However, competition to open stores in the limited number of prime locations remains intense, and competition among companies, including small supermarkets, is expected to continue.」

「Management integrations among major chains and increasingly active alliances have led to the reorganization of store networks in some regions. Oligopolization of store brands has advanced further, and the pace of new store openings across the industry has eased somewhat.」