Three weeks after the government's request that people refrain from large-scale events due to the spread of the new coronavirus, a consumption trend that can be described as "retreat consumption" has been growing.
In the first week of March, Toto Seikatsu Kyodo Kumiai, a Tokyo-based food co-op, saw an 80% surge in orders for noodles over the previous year, while orders for rice soared 40%. "The number of [previously inactive] co-op members who resumed orders also increased," said an official of the product department.
At Isetan Mitsukoshi department store, the number of customers using its food delivery service increased sharply beginning in late February, but the company halted the service on March 5, except for products that are delivered on an ongoing regular basis.
According to the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry's analysis of data from point-of-sales systems (POS) at retail stores, sales of frozen foods and other "processed food" at supermarkets rose 24% in the fourth week of February (Feb. 24 through March 1) and 16% in the first week of March (March 2 through March 8) from the same periods in the previous year.
Delivery services at restaurants are also growing. Osaka Osho, a Chinese restaurant chain, said sales of food delivered in Tokyo and two other prefectures in the Kanto region rose about 50% in late February from the previous month.
"[The ongoing self-restraint regarding large-scale events] has urged people to review the way they consume. It's also become an opportunity for companies to engage consumers they have never contacted before," said Hiroaki Matsumoto, a senior researcher at Dentsu Future Scanning Lab, who is knowledgeable on consumption trends.
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