The sales result of the LAWSON Business (LAWSON and NATURAL LAWSON) in March is as follows*1.
Existing-store sales (excluding ticket and gift card sales etc.) decreased 0.8% year on year over the same period and the average number of customers per store fell 6.0% and the average customer spend rose 5.6% year on year.

The Lawson Group operated 14,517 convenience stores in Japan at the end of March 2021, including 141 NATURAL LAWSON stores and 675 LAWSON STORE 100 stores.

Since last year, we have been implementing thorough measures to combat infectious diseases and to respond to new demand in new norms. In the face of the COVID-19 confusion, we have also changed our structure to maintain and improve sales and customer numbers.
In March, the state of emergency was extended in 1 metropolitan area and 3 prefectures, and the number of people with infections started to increase. However, sales continued to recover. Other strong categories are as follows:
Sales of Fresh foods, frozen foods, daily delivered foods, room-temperature Japanese and Western sweets, and alcoholic beverages increased year-on-year due to the success of expanded and improved product offering that supports customers' daily lives, which we have been working on since last fall.
Sales of the microwave oven noodle series, which were supervised by popular stores around the country, and sales of cold noodles were strong in line with rising temperatures. As a result, the cooked noodle category largely exceeded the previous year's level.
In toys, sales rose significantly year on year, driven by sales of the Entertainment Lottery.
Cigarette sales were a factor that pushed up existing-store sales in March by about 1.5 point year-on-year.

Character stamp rally, etc. were implemented as initiatives to provide enjoyment to a wide range of customers.

In recognition of our health efforts, we were selected as a “the 2021 Health & Productivity Stock Selection" jointly selected by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) fourth time, and became a " the 2021 Certified Health & Productivity Management Outstanding Organizations Recognition Program " approved by the METI. Was also certified fifth time.

We were also selected as the Nadeshiko Brand, which is the METI and the TSE jointly selected TSE-listed enterprises that are outstanding in terms of encouraging women’s success in the workplace.　This is the sixth time that it has been selected as a "Nadeshiko Brand", and it is the largest number in the retail industry.

Note 1: Sales of the LAWSON Business include sales generated by LAWSON stores (excluding Lawson Okinawa, Inc., Lawson Minami-Kyushu, Inc., and Lawson Kochi, Inc.), NATURAL LAWSON stores.