In its 52 years of operation, Daiso Industries Company Limited has continually provided happiness and fulfilment to its customers through creative thinking and is always seeing the ‘absolute’ in all things. Here, RLI catches up with Seiji Yano, President and Representative Director to learn what the company has been up to in the last 12 months and what the future looks like.
Daiso Industries Company Limited is a Japan-based, global retailer that enriches people’s lives around the world with amazing quality at everyday low prices. It is this motto that has driven the business forward for more than 50 years, in which time it has expanded from a single mobile shop to a global behemoth that operates more than 5,300 stores in 27 countries and regions around the world.
Operating through the three banners of DAISO (4,746 stores), Standard Products (104 stores) and THREEPPY (475 stores), the business has locations in Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, UAE, the US and Vietnam.
The company’s main brand, DAISO, offers a wide range of cost-effective products, from everyday items to hobby and environmentally-friendly items that enrich people’s lives. The brand carries 76,000 products, of which 90 per cent are developed in-house and they continue to produce 1,600 new items each month.
Meanwhile, Standard Products is a brand featuring everyday goods that value basic and sophisticated designs in collaboration with Japan’s domestic industries. Finally, THREEPPY is a brand that is popular among younger people and is known for its trendy designs and high-quality products, with its appeal lying in the product line-up that offers value beyond its price.
In terms of recent store openings, back in June the company launched their first-ever DAISO store in Brunei Darussalam. The DAISO Rimba Point store opened at the Rimba Point shopping mall, a 15-minute drive from Brunei International Airport. Following this successful launch, five additional stores are planned for the country by 2028.
An additional DAISO site also launched in May, at the Village of Donki shopping centre in Tamuning, Guam. The 436sq m store is the first of five stores planned in the country by the close of 2026.
“In the future, we will move ahead with product development in India and Malaysia. In Malaysia, we are currently renovating our largest warehouse (Malaysia GDC), which is scheduled to be completed and launched in 2027,” explains Seiji Yano, President and Representative Director of Daiso Industries Company Limited. “Therefore, we plan to strengthen the development of products using Malaysian raw materials and export them from there to other countries.”
The brand carries 76,000 products, of which 90 per cent are developed in-house and they continue to produce 1,600 new items each month.
Presently the business is focusing heavily on the US market, one of the largest in the world and they believe that consumers are highly motivated to purchase in the region and that success in this market is essential to Daiso Industries Company Limited’s global growth strategy.
“Increasing recognition in the US market will improve our global brand recognition and have a positive impact on opening stores in other countries. We aim to be a brand trusted by customers all around the world,” comments Yano.
Discussing product development, the President explains that they take advantage of economies of scale to purchase in large quantities and provide products with designs and quality that meet customer’s needs at affordable prices.
“In order to enrich the lives of people around the world at a single price, we continue to seek prices and quality that impress our customers. We increase customer satisfaction and maintain our position at the forefront of the market by selling well-made products at affordable prices.”
As the topic of conversation moves onto social media, Yano highlights that we are now in an era where customers can imagine their own ideas and communicate this on social platforms. By selling high-quality items, the business is able to generate traffic from more customers by allowing them to discover and spread the potential and appeal of their products.
Reducing their environmental impact is a key part of the company’s ongoing strategy. They are working to reduce this impact through a variety of initiatives, including simplifying product packaging by removing unnecessary packaging materials, using recycled materials such as recycled paper and plastic and reducing fuel consumption in logistics.
Over the course of its history, the company has gone above and beyond its image as a ‘100 yen shop’ and is now recognised as a brand that sells high-quality products, whilst their commitment to quality control and design creates originality that is not found in other brands.
“In order to differentiate ourselves from other 100 yen shops, we are working on unique product development and store design. By selling collaboration products and stylish interior goods, we increase customers’ desire to purchase,” Yano highlights.
“We feel our success is due to a variety of factors, including our low price strategy, wide product selection, new product development, store expansion strategy and brand image and differentiation strategy. We develop new strategies in response to changes in customer needs.”
Before our time with the President ran out, we asked him about what comes next for the brand and what challenges they will face moving forward, to which he explains that each country in which they operate has different regulations and a major ongoing challenge for the company is to quickly respond to these. In addition, as the business handles many products that are imported from overseas, stabilising the supply chain is another issue.
“Finally, in recent years, we have become susceptible to changes in the global economic situation and we feel that there is a need to build a stable procurement system as we continue to grow and expand,” Yano concludes.
