How are Japanese consumers reacting to deep discount product prices?
It is a myth that ‘discount’ or ‘deep discount’ is either new or unusual in Japan. Customers are as price conscious here as anywhere – ask any of the major retailers. There’s no reason at all to say they may be ‘confused’ other than if you’re an old-time retailer or manufacturer with a vested interest to keep out modern chains. Department stores are dying because they are unable to accept this, and meanwhile Costco, Ikea, Tesco and so on are huge successes in Japan, as are local price orientated chains. Wal-Mart has had an awful press here, but to understand that things are not as bad as the Japanese press would have you believe, you just need to check their stores.
