Delayed recovery in private consumption due to stagnating consumer sentiment

「Personal consumption showed signs of a gradual recovery as improvements in the employment and income environment and the trend toward higher wages continued. At the same time, consumers remained strongly focused on protecting their household finances amid price increases, particularly for food, and the outlook for personal consumption remained uncertain as consumers continued to favor frugality and selective purchasing.」

「継続的な食品の値上げに伴う消費者の節約志向の一層の高まりによる買い控えの影響から、当初の計画を下回って推移しました。」

「Against a backdrop of improvements in employment and income conditions and increased inbound consumption, the economy entered a moderate recovery phase. On the other hand, the outlook for the economy remains uncertain due to unstable international conditions and prolonged price increases.」

「Against a backdrop of improvements in employment and income conditions, personal consumption remained resilient and the economy entered a moderate recovery phase. On the other hand, customers' tendency to economize and defer purchases strengthened further due to prolonged price increases.」

「As COVID-19 was reclassified as a Class 5 infectious disease, inbound demand recovered and personal consumption began to recover, and the economy showed signs of a moderate recovery.」

「While economic and social activity moved toward normalization, including a recovery in personal consumption and an increase in visitors from overseas,」

「As restrictions on activities related to COVID-19 were eased and economic and social activity moved toward normalization, personal consumption began to recover and the economy remained on a moderate recovery track.」

「Changes in the operating environment, including a growing inclination to economize, have continued.」

「The trend of declining store visitors and lower purchase frequency has continued as consumers have become more focused on protecting their household finances due to price increases and higher prices.」

「As the number of customers and purchase frequency declined amid consumers' growing focus on protecting their household finances due to lower real purchasing power caused by various price increases, the company worked to secure revenue by expanding sales of priority products and offering products in quantities that were easy to purchase, thereby increasing the number of items purchased per customer and store visit frequency. However, revenue declined partly due to the application of the revenue recognition accounting standard and other standards.」

「However, from October, after the state of emergency was lifted, opportunities to go out and eat out increased as foot traffic picked up, intensifying the declining trend in the number of store visitors. In addition to the backlash from exceptional demand for home consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic in the previous year, average spend per customer remained sluggish as consumers became more focused on protecting their household finances due to soaring gasoline and kerosene prices and other factors, resulting in revenue falling below the same period of the previous year.」

「In addition to the backlash from exceptional demand for home consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic in the previous year, including school closures, customer numbers remained sluggish as requests to refrain from going out became routine, while consumers' increasing focus on low prices contributed to revenue per customer remaining sluggish, resulting in revenue falling below the same period of the previous year.」

「However, in addition to the backlash from increased demand in the previous year following the declaration of a state of emergency and the closure of elementary and junior high schools, the number of customers declined due to requests to refrain from going out, while average spend per customer remained sluggish as consumers became more focused on low prices, resulting in revenue falling below the same period of the previous year.」

「In addition to low-price competition with competitors, as consumers became more focused on protecting their household finances due to concerns about the future,」

「As consumers became more focused on protecting their household finances and economizing due to concerns about the future,」

「As consumers became more focused on protecting their household finances due to the consumption tax hike, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was added,」

「In the supermarket industry, in addition to the need to respond to consumers becoming more focused on protecting their household finances due to the consumption tax hike, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was added,」

「With consumers becoming more inclined to economize due to concerns about the future, including the consumption tax hike and issues concerning pensions and retirement funds, revenue fell below the previous year's level,」

「With consumers becoming more inclined to economize due to concerns about the future, including the consumption tax rate increase scheduled for October and issues concerning pensions and retirement funds, revenue fell below the previous year, resulting in lower revenue but higher profit.」

「Against a backdrop of weak personal consumption due to concerns about an economic downturn,」

「Against a backdrop of weak personal consumption as consumers economize due to uncertainty about the outlook,」

「In addition to successive price increases for electricity and gas and everyday foods such as bread, cheese and natto, consumers became more focused on protecting their household finances and economizing due to factors including higher gasoline prices, resulting in a very difficult outcome in securing revenue and gross profit.」

「In addition to successive price increases for electricity and gas and everyday foods such as bread, cheese and natto, consumers became more focused on protecting their household finances and economizing due to factors including higher gasoline prices. Amid lower purchase frequency and intensifying competition, securing revenue and gross profit resulted in a very difficult outcome.」

「Although consumers remain focused on low prices and economizing, personal consumption has yet to make a full-fledged recovery,」

「Although consumers remain focused on low prices and economizing, personal consumption has yet to make a full-fledged recovery,」

「Although consumers remain focused on low prices and economizing, personal consumption has yet to make a full-fledged recovery,」

「Although consumers remain focused on low prices and economizing, personal consumption has yet to make a full-fledged recovery,」

「To address conditions such as sluggish consumption and intensifying competition, the company regards building a solid competitive position by strengthening its "product capabilities" and "frontline capabilities" as its top priority.」

「The supermarket industry faces numerous challenges, including accelerating consolidation and shakeout in the retail industry, intensifying competition across industries, adapting to a mature and shrinking market, securing human resources, and the delayed recovery in personal consumption, resulting in an increasingly challenging operating environment as companies compete for survival.」

「Delayed recovery in personal consumption」

「Stagnation in personal consumption due to subdued consumer sentiment」