2023年03月01日
Markdown Flurry
I often will do my late evening shopping after I get off work, and I always go to a Marunaka because they stay open later, until 10 pm. Most other supermarkets close around 8 or 9pm with the exception of Halows, which stays open much later, or perhaps 24 hours. Halows is unfortunately out of the way and not convenient to get to at that time for my purposes.
In any case, I usually get to Marunaka around 9:30 or 9:45. There are quite a few cars coming and going at that time, along with bicyclers, and motorcycle or scooter riders. This is primarily because of the price markdowns at the store and the flurry of customers that it brings in. The markdowns of food merchandise occurs generally in 3 areas from what I can see: packaged meat and fish, pre-cooked meals that have been boxed and wrapped, and the bread or bakery area. It is a great strategy used by the stores to sell products that are perishable or ready to expire. It is also a win-win situation - good for the customer and good for the store. The markdowns seem to start a few hours before the store's closing, with increasingly higher markdowns stamped on the product as the store closing nears. I am sure other supermarkets use this strategy also. It works, as almost all of the markdown products are sold before closing, especially the pre-cooked meals that have been boxed and/or wrapped.
In Southern Cal supermarkets from where I live, such as Stater Bros, Vons, Safeway, Food4Less, Wal-mart, etc, Wal-mart is the only one that uses a more 'fluid' markdown strategy to sell perishables on a daily basis. The markdown process here in Japan is better and more effective.
In any case, I usually get to Marunaka around 9:30 or 9:45. There are quite a few cars coming and going at that time, along with bicyclers, and motorcycle or scooter riders. This is primarily because of the price markdowns at the store and the flurry of customers that it brings in. The markdowns of food merchandise occurs generally in 3 areas from what I can see: packaged meat and fish, pre-cooked meals that have been boxed and wrapped, and the bread or bakery area. It is a great strategy used by the stores to sell products that are perishable or ready to expire. It is also a win-win situation - good for the customer and good for the store. The markdowns seem to start a few hours before the store's closing, with increasingly higher markdowns stamped on the product as the store closing nears. I am sure other supermarkets use this strategy also. It works, as almost all of the markdown products are sold before closing, especially the pre-cooked meals that have been boxed and/or wrapped.
In Southern Cal supermarkets from where I live, such as Stater Bros, Vons, Safeway, Food4Less, Wal-mart, etc, Wal-mart is the only one that uses a more 'fluid' markdown strategy to sell perishables on a daily basis. The markdown process here in Japan is better and more effective.
