The Lawson Group Sweeping Transformation Executive Committee entered its fourth year of operation in FY2023. The Committee was launched to realize our Challenge 2025 medium-term vision and mark our 50th anniversary in 2025.
Now that the COVID-19 virus has been downgraded to a Category 5 infectious disease under the Infectious Diseases Act and we move further into the post-COVID era, Lawson has expended considerable effort in FY2023, or the twelve months from March 2023 through February 2024, expanding the area company system across the country in order to realize the strategic concept for "community-based × individual customer and individual store-focused operations." That has meant transferring more authority and discretionary power from the head office to frontline operations and pursuing various measures to help build a strong system and facilitate the dedicated pursuit of customer value creation at frontline sites that are much closer to our customers.

In the Domestic Convenience Store Business, each area company has promoted efforts to strengthen store displays, with particular attention paid to the range of products on offer and the volume of inventory, based on the strategy pursued by the Lawson Group Sweeping Transformation Executive Committee to renovate stores and expand the range of frozen foods and other daily products. We increased the number of stores offering MUJI products (something that we started in earnest in FY2022) to 12,712 stores* and increased the number of stores offering food delivery services to 4,884 stores.* We also implemented various measures as part of our HAPPY LAWSON PROJECT, which was first launched in FY2022, to encourage customers to enjoy shopping at stores that have been newly transformed by store renovations and new and extended product ranges. In response to the 2024 logistics problem and reduction of CO2 emissions, we have been progressively changing the number of shipments to stores of chilled and temperature-controlled products from three to two daily deliveries since December 2023.

As a result of the above initiatives, existing-store sales in Japan rose 4.6% year on year in FY2023.

With regard to our Seijo Ishii Business, sales at stores located in offices recovered from the sluggish performance they suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the product front, sales of daily foodstuffs as well as Seijo Ishii’s own deli items, which are prepared in-house in the Central Kitchen, proved strong, and sales of fresh foods increased at street-level stores. In November 2023, the first store in Seijo was completely renovated as the new flagship store.

In our Entertainment-related Business, with respect to our ticketing business undertaken by Lawson Entertainment Inc., concerts and other events enjoyed brisk demand which resulted in a year-on-year increase in our ticket transaction value. Cinema complex business by United Cinemas Co., Ltd., attracted more moviegoers and generated higher sales than in the same period of the previous fiscal year as a result of the release of much-talked-about and highly anticipated movies.

Regarding our Financial Services Business, the usage of Lawson Bank ATMs rose year on year in FY2023 as the number of people out and about increased. We have been working to expand new services that use the Lawson Bank ATM network and ATM infrastructure, and to expand the number of collaborating operators and financial institutions.

Regarding our Overseas Business, people flows have gradually recovered in China since the spread of COVID-19 infections peaked between the end of 2022 and early January 2023. While we are noting some regional differences in the pace of recovery, daily sales have increased in line with the recovery in people flows.

■FY2024 Initiatives

In fiscal 2024, under the banner of "Real × Tech Convenience," we will work to boost the current degree of convenience at our stores and also leverage technology to create new types of convenience. We will also seek to improve customer satisfaction by continuing to advance our "community-based × individual customer and individual store-focused operations." More specifically, we will strive to create stores with the perfect product lineups and inventory volume to meet customer demand using our next-generation ordering system, AI.CO, which will be launched in earnest in May.
In addition, by building a system that allows customers to know product inventory in real time and expanding the range of products handled, we aim to improve speed and convenience through the world's fastest quick e-commerce based on our existing physical stores.
We achieved the FY2025 Performance indicators of "ROE of 15% or more and EPS of 500 yen or more" set forth in the Lawson Group Challenge 2025, two years ahead of the target year. We will continue to achieve "Recommendation No.1" and strive to achieve the Lawson Group’s vision of turning our stores into “hubs of refreshment in every community” as we approach our 50th anniversary in 2025, and we ask for your continued understanding and support.

* Number of stores at the end of February 2024