Japanese Seek Cost-Effective PB Foods... Highest Sales Share in Japanese Retail Stores

Private Brand Foods Account for 17% of Supermarket Sales
Frozen Vegetables Rank 1st...Ham and Milk Also Popular

Sales of private brand (PB) products with good cost-effectiveness are increasing in Japan. As food prices rise rapidly, more consumers are seeking cheaper products, prompting Japanese retailers to announce plans to expand the share of PB product sales one after another.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

On the 15th, Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that, together with research firm Intage, it analyzed POS (point of sale information management system) data collected from supermarkets nationwide and found that the share of PB products among food items (excluding fresh products), including processed foods, seasonings, soft drinks, and alcoholic beverages, reached 16.8% last month. This is the highest since statistics began being compiled in 2012.

By category, the share of PB products was highest in frozen vegetables at 57%, followed by ham at 34%, and milk at 32%.

Since last year, as food prices in Japan have risen, more consumers have been seeking cost-effective products, leading to an increase in the share of PB product sales. Last year, about 26,000 food items in Japan underwent price increases. From January to October this year, the cumulative number exceeded 30,000 items.

Nihon Keizai stated, "PB products are about 10-30% cheaper than products from general manufacturers," adding, "From the retailer's perspective, logistics and promotional costs can be reduced, so the profit margin is about 10 percentage points higher compared to general products."

Accordingly, Japanese retailers are successively expanding the share of PB products. Aeon, a major retail distributor, plans to convert about 2,500 out of 5,000 food items excluding fresh products in its PB brand 'Topvalu' into new products. Through this, it aims to increase PB sales, including daily necessities, by 11% year-on-year in the 2024 fiscal year (March 2023 to February 2024) and exceed 1 trillion yen.

Another Japanese retailer, Seven & I, plans to double the number of items in its low-cost PB brand Seven the Price to 160 by the end of February next year. Additionally, distributor Beisia plans to create a new PB brand called Beisia Premium, converting existing PB products into new products and introducing more than 100 items by February next year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.