- Hundred-yen shops began as street stalls, when stallholders would buy goods such as bankruptcy goods cheaply, rent the space in front of an ordinary house and borrow a wooden door to use to display and sell their products. This trade was hence also known as the "wooden door business".
- Immediately following the Second World War, goods were sold at JY10 a piece, but the price rose to JY30, JY50 and then JY80, and it is now JY100.
- Hundred-yen shops have an interesting origin. Elastic braid sold in 30m rolls for JY300 was too much for the use of one household, and sold better when cut into three 10m pieces sold for JY100 each. This was followed by the idea of selling them alongside other goods as well, and the range of products on offer grew.
- The reason why it became possible to sell a variety of goods for JY100 is that the long distribution route which used to run from makers to wholesalers to local wholesalers to intermediate wholesalers to retailers and finally to consumers collapsed. Local wholesalers began to sell wholesale to retailers and open their own hundred-yen shops, the distribution route shrank, and mass production led to reductions in costs. A further factor was the appearance of cheap but good quality imports.
- Recently the size of demand has meant that a reliance on goods from sources such as firms going into bankruptcy has become impractical, as it is impossible to predict when such goods will become available. Consequently, most hundred-yen shops have started to market only newly manufactured products due to the stability of supply.
- Retailing plastic products and other products requiring expensive molds for JY100 would be totally impossible if the cost of the mold were to be included in the cost. The mold charge is therefore redeemed by selling between one and two million pieces over a period of 3-4 years, rather than including it into the cost.
- At present in Japan, there are thought to be some 10,000 hundred-yen shops, and this number looks set to increase further. There are also a considerable number of department stores and supermarkets which set up temporary "hundred-yen goods corners" for a fixed period only. Recently, Takashimaya's main store (a well-known Osaka department store) has set up a highly-successful permanent "hundred-yen goods corner" covering one-third of the store's second floor.
- Hundred-yen goods have improved dramatically in quality, and they have shed their previous unfavorable image and entered the mainstream.
- Usually, some 2,000 product types are displayed in a store of around 100m2. The more goods a store has, the greater its sales. This is due to the large number of impulse buys. A single customer buys on average five items (JY500) per visit. In one store, JY5-6 million of merchandise is displayed.
- There are a large number of manufacturers of hundred-yen goods. These supply goods at a unit price of JY30-50 to a kind of wholesaler called a "saijiya", of which there are thought to be around 1,000 in Japan. These wholesalers in turn sell to stores such as hundred-yen shops, supermarkets and department stores at around JY75, and these retailers sell to the customer at JY100. A "saijiya" is a kind of agency offering a range of services, and as manufacturers of hundred-yen goods cannot visit the large number of clients they may have individually, the agency regularly visits and keeps in closest contact with clients on their behalf to determine their needs. The supermarket chain Mycal has established its own "saiji" wholesale group.
- Although some might think that hundred-yen goods are mainly cheap imports from countries, especially in Asia, where labor costs are low, the level of imports is surprisingly low: around 30% of hundred-yen goods are currently imported, and the remaining 70% are made in Japan.
- Recently, companies seeking to attract potential franchise stores have begun to appear. These companies offer hundred-yen shop expertise which they say will enable the franchisee to start up in business in two weeks.
- In order to maintain the level of quality, some firms import products loose and package them in Japan after inspection.
- The products sold vary depending on the location of the store. The products popular where there are many young people will naturally be different to those popular where housewives predominate.
- Price tags are unnecessary as the price is a uniform JY100, and there is also no need to package and forward items as customers take them home themselves. Consequently, the relatively few employees required in the store are mainly cashiers. In shopping areas, personnel are employed to prevent shoplifting. Including security personnel, a store's staff will usually comprise around one store manager, two shop assistants and two cashiers.
- Some years ago, a hundred-yen shop opened in the center of Shinsaibashi (a high-class shopping district in Osaka). The monthly rent was JY20 million and monthly sales were JY80 million. However, the surrounding stores all complained that the area's high-class image would be destroyed and the store was forced to withdraw.
- Stores similar to hundred-yen shops can also be found overseas in countries such as the United States (particularly Hawaii), Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan, Russia, Hong Kong and China, but selling at JY100 is difficult. In Hong Kong, for example, the price is HK$10, while in China it is 12 yuan. Some Japanese hundred-yen shop manufacturers and wholesalers are establishing their own shops and franchise stores in China, and the number of such stores overseas appears likely to increase in the future.
- "Eighty-eight yen shops" are appearing, but a campaign against these low-priced competitors has seen makers and wholesalers agree not to supply goods to these stores.
|
