Intensifying Competition and Growing Demand for Differentiation in the Retail Industry

「Geopolitical risks are increasing by the day as tensions in the international situation intensify, and uncertainty about the outlook remains.」

「Transactions are concentrated among the top 10 companies, including Seria Co., Ltd. and Don Quijote Co., Ltd., and sales to the top 10 customers accounted for 51.1% of our group’s revenue in the fiscal year ended September 2021.」

「In light of intensifying price competition and the impact of the global spread of COVID-19, we determined that a recovery in performance could not be expected even over the medium term and transferred all shares in 台湾粧美堂 held by the company.」

「Competition among retailers is intensifying, while the distribution of products itself is changing substantially as internet sales rapidly gain ground. Changes in the business environment resulting from industry restructuring, including fiercer price competition and the consolidation and elimination of retailers, may affect the performance of our group.」

「Domestic personal consumption remained weak as diversified consumer needs and unseasonable weather were compounded by a preference for saving driven by concerns about the future.」

「The domestic market faces structural factors including further population aging and population decline, particularly a decline in the younger population, which is the main user base for our products, making future market expansion difficult to achieve. The distribution industry, our principal customer base, is facing intensifying competition across business formats, along with major structural changes such as the expansion of the e-commerce market through the use of the internet.」

「Real wage growth remained low, and a preference for saving and selective spending continued amid concerns about the future. At the same time, demand remained firm in some product categories, supported by the wealth effect and the increase in visitors to Japan, resulting in highly uneven consumption.」

「Personal consumption was highly uneven. In general, slow wage growth and concerns about the future continued to drive a preference for saving and selective spending, while demand remained firm in some product categories, such as luxury goods, supported by the wealth effect from rising share prices and continued growth in visitors to Japan.」

「Domestic personal consumption remained in a difficult environment, with a strong preference for saving and continued selective spending as stagnant income growth heightened consumers’ focus on protecting their livelihoods. Performance disparities were also evident among the retail companies that are major customers of our group.」

「Domestic personal consumption remained in a difficult environment, with a strong preference for saving and continued selective spending as stagnant income growth heightened consumers’ focus on protecting their livelihoods. Performance disparities were also evident among the retail companies that are major customers of our group.」

「Domestic personal consumption remained in a difficult environment, with selective spending continuing as stagnant income growth heightened consumers’ focus on protecting their livelihoods, compounded by factors such as the pullback following the “bulk-buying” boom among visitors to Japan. Performance disparities were also evident among the retail companies that are major customers of our group.」

「Among the retail companies that are major customers of our group, performance disparities widened due to factors including sluggish apparel sales caused by warmer winters and differences in the extent to which companies benefited from inbound consumption, in addition to these macroeconomic factors.」

「The distribution industry, our principal customer base, is facing intensifying competition across business formats, along with major structural changes such as the expansion of the e-commerce market through the use of the internet.」

「To address the growing demand for “differentiation” as competition in the retail industry intensified, we worked to strengthen sales of OEM and custom-order products (Note 2).」