JCCU announced its FY2023 business report and co-ops nationwide

The total membership of JCCU member co-ops, including the Health and Welfare Co-ops, and School Teachers Co-ops, reached 30.63 million (estimated value, an increase of 100.7% compared to the previous year).

The turnover (sales) of the 117 major community-based retail co-ops nationwide in FY2023 amounted to 3.123 trillion yen (estimated value, an increase of 100.7% compared to the previous year). Both home delivery and store business saw growth compared to the previous year, with home delivery business at 100.1% and the store business at 103.0%.

Home delivery business: The turnover remained flat compared to the previous year. Due to price hikes, although the purchase unit price per member increased, the number of purchases and items declined.  The home delivery business turnover of community-based retail co-ops was 2.926 trillion yen estimated value, a 100.1% increase compared to the previous year), remaining nearly unchanged from the previous year. The unit purchase price per member was 103.0% compared to the previous year, while the number of members making purchases was 97.4% and the number of items purchased was 96.2%.  Severe labor shortages are being faced by Japanese consumer co-ops, and their suppliers are no exception. Additionally, a challenging business environment with increasing costs is being confronted, and cost structure reforms such as standardizing operations and improving delivery efficiency are being advanced. Despite these circumstances, efforts are being made by consumer co-ops to enhance member convenience through improvements in product ordering and delivery systems, and the partial introduction of cashless systems has begun.

Store Business: Achieved a turnover of 942.9 billion yen, a 103.0% year-on-year increase.

The turnover of the store business of community-based retail co-ops across the country was 942.9 billion yen (estimated value, 103.0% compared to the previous year). The opening of new stores and the renovation of existing ones led to an increase in the number of customers (estimated value, 101.1% compared to the previous year). Additionally, due to the impact of increased costs, the unit price of products rose. As a result, although the number of purchased food items decreased (estimated value, 97.6% compared to the previous year), the overall unit price of purchases per member increased (estimated value, 101.8% compared to the previous year), leading to an increase in the turnover compared to the previous year. The store business was unable to achieve a positive profit, but the ordinary surplus ratio improved to -1.37% (-2.18 in the previous year).

The total business turnover of JCCU increased to 441.1 billion yen (an increase of 101.2% compared to the previous year).

The total turnover of JCCU was 441.1 billion yen (101.2% compared to the previous year), surpassing the previous year. The total turnover of the CO・OP brand product business was 353.8 billion yen (103.0% compared to the previous year), exceeding the previous year's figures in all categories. This increase is due to price hikes resulting from increased costs, indicating that the CO・OP brand product business is facing a challenging environment. Among the categories, frozen foods and chilled foods performed particularly well.

The turnover of the Carrot Division, which primarily sells NB (national brand) household and miscellaneous items, was 33.1 billion yen (94.7% compared to the previous year). The Catalog Division, which handles catalog and online sales of clothing and other items, had a turnover of 50.7 billion yen (94.5% compared to the previous year), and the turnover of the Gift Division was 3.3 billion yen (95.6% compared to the previous year).