Daiso, Japanese chain store sets foot in Macau

By Eva Tam

One of the Japanese chain stores, Daiso, started their business in Macau last year. Although prices of their products are similar to those local stores, many customers, particularly young people, are attracted by the store as it offers more varieties of products for customers to choose.

Daiso started its first store in Macau on April 13, 2005 at Sun Star Plaza (Bairro Do Hipodromo S/N Son Tat Kong Cheong). A few months later, on December 18, it had its second store opened at Sun Star Castle (Rua de S. Domingos NO-13). The first one covers a space of two floors and the second four floors. Their opening hours are from 11 a.m till 11 p.m.

One of the main differences between Daiso and local stores is that the products from Daiso are mostly made by themselves. Besides, Daiso will differentiate their products into different categories, like "Household Category", "Food Category", etc. This can help their customers to find what they want to buy more easily. Moreover, customers can choose what they like from different categories of products, such as bags, cosmetics, underwear, tools, toys, kitchen products, stationeries etc. And the varieties for customers to choose are more than local stores. Their prices are also comparable with local stores; the price range in Daiso is from 100 Japanese Yen to 1000 Japanese Yen (MOP10 ~100). All the price tags are marked in Yen, not in Patacas. Inside the store, there are sheets of paper posted on the wall on each floor showing the exchange rate of Yen to Patacas.

In Daiso, most customers tend to be teenagers or youngsters while middle-aged or senior people prefer the local stores. Rita Vong, a designer in an advertisement company said that she likes shopping around in Daiso as it provides a lot of goods for her to choose. She can buy almost all kinds of things in one place rather than going to several places to buy all the things she wants. Besides, Vong mentioned that prices are not expensive and comparable with the local stores. She also said that she has more confidence buying goods in Daiso as they are made by the store itself in Japan.

Although many people are attracted by Daiso, one of the local store owners was not afraid that it will affect her business. Chan Sao Wah said that her customers are from the neighborhood and most of them are frequent customers, therefore she was not afraid at all. She also said that she had never heard of a store called "Daiso"; her business volume has not decreased. In the end of the interview, she said that if these kinds of shops like "Daiso" were located next to her shop, it might affect her business a lot, but luckily this will not happen to her within a short period of time.

Daiso has a network of 2,400 shops across Japan. There are also 380 Daiso shops overseas, in Singapore, Canada, South Korea, the Middle East, and many other areas. More than 80 percent of the products sold in Daiso are developed by the network (its private brand). Daiso is a leader in the 100- Yen-Shop Industry, which is said to be a market of 400 - 500 billion yen. And in the Japanese retail industry, Daiso is in the No.30 position. Moreover, in the January issue of the monthly magazine the US National Retail Federation, Stores in 2005, Daiso was ranked as No. 10 among the fastest growing companies in the global retail industry.