[100 Yen Shop] Seria’s mass closures bring in cries of despair．．． “Please stay alive” “No way．．．” Despite record sales， profits are down due to soaring import costs．
Teikoku Databank reported in May of this year that “the domestic market size for 100-yen shops in fiscal 2023 is expected to reach around 1.2 trillion yen, up about 5% from the previous year, and exceed 1 trillion yen for the first time.” However… an economic reporter talks about the current situation. “But this year, things have changed dramatically. The reason is the weak yen. The yen has continued to weaken since the beginning of the year, hitting 160 yen to the dollar in July. This causes import costs to skyrocket. This will be a huge blow to 100-yen shops, which rely almost entirely on imports for their products. If the yen weakens from 100 yen to 150 yen to the dollar, simple math shows that purchase prices will increase by 50%. However, fixed costs such as labor costs and rent will not decrease. As a result, 100 yen shops, which operate on a small profit margin and high volume, are struggling. However, if the price is raised by even 10 yen, the number of customers will drop dramatically and the number of items purchased will also decrease. “We’re at our wit’s end.” As a result, some shops are moving away from the 100 yen price range. The industry leader, Daiso Industries, offers “standard products” and “threeppy,” which are slightly more expensive at 300 yen and 500 yen each. All three of these businesses are located on the same floor at Marronnier Gate Ginza 2 in Ginza, Tokyo. Among these, Seria, the second largest in the industry, is committed to the 100 yen price. It is said that Seria is experiencing a “mass closure.” According to the “Financial Results Summary for the Fiscal Year Ending March 2024” released by Seria in May this year, the number of directly managed stores opening between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024 will be 133. This is one more store than the previous year. On the other hand, 69 stores closed. This is an increase of 26 stores from the previous year. The short message stated that the reason for this was “the result of moving forward positively while carefully examining profitability.” “When you look at our sales figures you can see why. Although the figure is approximately 223 billion yen, a new record high, net profit is only about 9.8 billion yen. Although the products are selling, there is little profit. This is probably why there are so many unprofitable stores. This is undoubtedly the result of the weak yen. Should they continue to operate on the 100 yen route, or should they open stores that are a little more expensive like Daiso and maintain the 100 yen price range? Seria may be forced to make a difficult decision.” (ibid.) x also had cries of distress such as “It’s troubling that more and more Seria stores are closing,” “Oh no, the Seria I wanted to go to is about to close, it’s all over,” “Please stay alive,” and “No way… Seria… is closing…” 100 yen shops have already become a part of our daily lives.
Ah, my wife is sad because they have it in the local supermarket and it’s very useful. But Seria is different from Daiso or Can Do, it has a fake feel to it. It would be great if Seria closed down and Daiso came in and took over the space.
Seria doesn’t need to push themselves too hard, but I’d like them to raise the price to around 200 yen. Small items are already strong, and if they go up to 300 yen, competitor Three Coins will come in.
>>6 Personally, I’m grateful for CanDo lol But Daiso’s 100 yen puzzle magazines are just irreplaceable lol Seria, on the other hand, has some pretty solid standard products… But there’s not really anything that has to be from Seria lol.
Rather than keeping the price at 100 yen and having a poor selection of products, it would be better to become a 150 yen shop and offer a wider selection.
>>17 I’m fine with 120 yen prices. Other places sell things for 300 yen or more, but Seria is overdoing it. I wonder where the profit is, but I still buy it.
>>24 About a year ago, I saw a smartphone stand for sale that cost about 800 yen, but a week before that I bought one at Seria that cost about 250 yen, so I regretted it.
The 100 yen slippers at Daiso are rubbish and they try to get you to buy the 300 yen ones, which pisses me off. Seria doesn’t have that kind of stuff so it’s good.
If they were making the highest sales ever, there wouldn’t be a problem. If they were still in the red, that would be a problem, but they’re still making a solid 9.8 billion yen profit.
If supermarkets are thinking of closing down because their sales are so bad, I want them to let me know on Twitter. I want to do my best to support them because I don’t want them to go out of business.
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