DAISO

Enriching People’s Lives

Based in Japan, DAISO began life as a mobile shop in 1972 but always had the aim to become a globally-renowned retailer who assists in making the lives of people around the world richer at a single, low price. In this interview, RLI speaks with President and Representative Director Seiji Yano to learn more about the company as it continues to move forward with its international expansion.

The aim of Daiso Industries Company Limited is to continually provide impressive quality at an impressive price while exceeding customer expectations under its three banners of DAISO, Standard Products and THREEPPY. In order to achieve this goal, they aim to build a global brand by providing products with an unparalleled value and by innovating and further refining their business model to allow for optimal product procurement, distribution and sales.

The 100 yen retail business now operates a portfolio of 6,451 stores in 24 countries around the world. . The majority of these units are DAISO locations and they are spread across Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Oman, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, UAE, Vietnam and the US. Meanwhile, Standard Products has 40 stores in Japan and two overseas, one in Taiwan and one in Singapore and THREEPPY has 341 stores in Japan and 22 overseas, with seven of these in Taiwan, 13 in Singapore, one in Hong Kong and one in Macau.

“In terms of recent openings for the brand, two in particular stand out for me,” explains Seiji Yano, President and Representative Director of Daiso Industries Company Limited. “The first is our September 2022 opening of DAISO in the Elante Mall in Chandigarh, India. This was a major milestone for the business as it marked our first opening in the country. The second is the Jurong Point flagship store in Singapore, which opened in May 2022. It is the first fusion store outside of Japan that displays products from three brands, DAISO, Standard Products, and THREEPPY, all under one roof. It was important to the business that it was there.”

As the Group looks forward, they are focusing their efforts on the Indian market. Following their debut in the country in September, they are now looking to expand across the territory with the opening of 50 new sites in the coming five years. Further down the line they plan to open a total of 200 units, mainly in the shopping malls, large cities and capital cities of New Delhi.

Under its three main banners, the company offers a wide range of products that enrich customers’ lives. Its DAISO banner features products that fall under the categories of daily necessities, hobbies and luxury items. Standard Products is one of their new brands and has a concept of ‘a little better is always really nice’, with the business carrying more than 2,000 products including some eco-friendly products with simple designs made from recycled thin wood and selected products made by Japanese craftsmen. Finally THREEPPY’s concept is ‘adorable just for you’ and the brand carries more than 2,400 mature and cute products.

“An increasing number of customers are choosing environmentally-friendly products and we are making efforts to develop products that reuse thinned wood. In addition to protecting the environment, we are also developing products in collaboration with growing areas to revitalise local communities,” Yano highlights.

As the future of the retail sector focuses more than ever on ‘brand experience’, the company continues to try and develop products and items that meet the needs of customers and become an integral part of their lives. To help build customer loyalty across the countries in which they operate, they pursue the creation of new items that are exciting and add to their range of products, increasing their variety and selection for visitors.

As the topic of conversation moves onto social media and its massive presence in the retail world today, Yano explains that the company allows customers to take photographs of products freely at all brands and stores. They want customers to enjoy shopping by communicating freely about how they encounter and use their products. In addition, they welcome feedback from customers, regardless of whether this is good or bad feedback. They value the opportunity to hear the viewpoints of customers, as they value the positive feedback and if there is any negative feedback, act upon this and improve the experience for those customers in the future.

“We strive for quality that inspires customers, employees, business partners, products, logistics, stores and the entire business domain and as a company that is living infrastructure for people all over the world, we strive to be a company that exceeds the expectations of customers and society and continue to provide enjoyment and richness,” explains Yano when asked what the ethos of the company is.

Our time with the President and Representative Director ends with us asking him what the greatest challenge is for the business looking to 2024 and beyond.

“As we already operate stores in 24 countries, we want to take the lessons learned from previous expansion and utilise these as we look to grow into additional territories, because dealing with the regulations in each country is difficult as each one is different and this has presented major challenges in the past,” Yano concludes.