TOKYO (MNI) – Department store sales in Japan fell 1.5% from a year
earlier to Y724.6 billion ($8.78 billion) in December, posting the
second straight y/y drop after -0.5% in November, as relatively mild
weather conditions dampened sales of winter clothing, the Japan
Department Stores Association said Tuesday.
In October department store sales rose 0.6%, marking the first y/y
rise in 32 months.
In the whole of 2010, store sales fell 3.1%, but better than a
10.1% drop in 2009.
Spending on duty-free items by Chinese and other tourists from
overseas rose 12.4% on year in December, snapping a second-straight
monthly fall.
Before the yen’s sharp rise prompted Japan to conduct its first
yen-selling intervention in more than six years in September, duty-free
purchases in Japan marked +51.9% in July and +99.1% in June.
Sales to overseas customers account for less than 1% of overall
department store sales, although major store chains have been seeking
ways to attract them.
The association compiles data from 91 companies running 261
department stores that have been open for at least a year prior to the
survey being conducted. The data are adjusted to facilitate comparisons
on a same-store basis.
In Tokyo, combined sales at 27 department stores fell 0.3% in
December from a year earlier, marking the first fall in three months,
after rising 0.3% in November.
Sales at Tokyo-based department store operators fell 3.0% in 2010,
the third straight year of a decline, but better than a 11.3% drop in
2009.
tokyo@marketnews.com
** Market News International Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4835 **
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