What Do the Following Have in Common?

99 Cents Stores
Dollar Shops
Loonie Bins/Stores

From the United Kingdom to Canada to the United States to Hong Kong to Japan--bargain-hunting and smart shopping seem to follow hard times.  

It is said that "necessity is the mother of invention."  No one has demonstrated this more visibly than Mr. Hirotake Yano, founder of Daiso Industries Co, Ltd., in Hiroshima, Japan.  He has created a trend that has turned Japanese retailing on its ear.  Until recently, the obsessively brand-conscious Japanese were willing to pay two or three times more for brand names and quality products and services.  

However, Japan has been in a recession for more than ten years, and people, particularly the younger Japanese, are coming to grips with the concepts of value and discount shopping.

The Making of a Trend

What began as a small business out of the back of a truck in the late 1970's has grown into a billion dollar empire!  Estimates state that Daiso handles about 40,000 different products--everything from food to dishes to stationary to clothing to plants to cosmetics.  You name it, you can probably find it for 100 yen.  Most stores carry about 3,000 different items!

How is this possible in a country infamous for the highest prices in the world--the country where people often give $100 melons as gifts!  Japan is still a big market for high quality, luxury products.  Perhaps the difference today is that consumers have a sense of value, and no longer shun the concept discount shopping. 

How is Daiso able to sell good products for so little?  The company procures almost half of their products from various overseas locations, they deal in huge volumes that offset the small markup, they have an excellent sense of the market and timing, they put stores in excellent locations and they offer good quality products.