Lawson Japan has revealed ambitious plans to add over 200 new outlets to its overseas network of stores within the next 12 months, Inside Retail Asia has reported.
The convenience store owner currently has over 12,400 stores in Japan and a further 790 stores internationally. Lawson hopes to boost its number of offshore stores to 1,000 by February 2017, with the US and South East Asia identified as potential markets for this growth.
“In the US, where the market is mature, mergers and acquisitions are a simple and straightforward way for us to expand, which would also allow us to buy time to boost the number of shops,” said Lawson’s president and COO Sadanobu Takemasu, according to Inside Retail Asia.
Data from Euromonitor International indicates Lawson has a 5.3 per cent share of Japan’s grocery retail sales, the second largest behind 7-Eleven’s 12.2 per cent share.
“In Japan, I want to focus resources on the existing businesses to strengthen them, so I’m not considering adding new businesses through mergers and acquisitions for now,” Takemasu explained.
