Management
Rawson, Japan’s second largest convenience
store chain, will expand the area per store to nearly 160 square meters to
increase the number of such items as vegetables and prepared foods. The average
area of a new convenience store was 133 square meters in 2011, and the company
will increase the area by 23 square meters to 156 square meters. It has already
been operating a test store of this size, and plans to start to expand stores
of this size in full swing coming June. The company is scheduled to build 800
new stores this year, 50-70% of which will be a store of the bigger area. Construction
cost is expected to remain the same as in 2011 partly because of the decreasing
price of LED lighting and review of external wall materials.
The big area will allow the company to
increase the items by 300-500 to attract the elderly who wish to shop in the
vicinity and housewives who wish to buy prepared foods for dinner on their way
back to home from work. In addition, it wishes to increase the number of
private brands, and some stores now prepare foods inside the store for
shoppers. With the expansion of service and increase of handling items, the
company naturally needs to expand the area. Currently, the concept of a
convenience store is growing close to a small supermarket specializing in foods
and daily necessities. Actually, the difference in sales between supermarket
and convenience stores is becoming smaller.
As the competition among the convenience
store chains intensifies, each of them focuses on some specific strategic
points. Seven-Eleven will introduce seasonings with ingredients that allow shoppers
to prepare foods only with a kind of vegetable they buy at the store. Rawson plans
to increase the number of contracted firms to 30 in three years to increase the
line-up of vegetables. Family-Mart wishes to increase the number of kinds of
small vegetable packs sold at 100 yen each, and Circle K will introduce cut
vegetable easily prepared by a kitchen microwave.
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