American Fair 2013 at Fujisan Supermarket

Fujisan held its third American fair on June 22 and 23, 2013. Fujisan is a regional supermarket cha…

Fujisan held its third American fair on June 22 and 23, 2013. Fujisan is a regional supermarket chain headquartered in the prefecture of Hiroshima, the southwestern part of Japan. It started its business back in 1950 and is has been increasing its sales steadily decade by decade. Currently, it operates 23 stores in the prefecture with it annual sales amounting to $198 million in 2012.

The chain held its first American fair in July 2011. The success of the American fairs conducted by national supermarkets such as AEON or regional chains such as Spark encouraged Fujisan to try their own fair. Their first American fair was held from June 30 to July 6 2011, to coincide with the Independence Day of the United States of America.

Satisfied with the result of the first fair, Fujisan held its second American fair in June, 2012.

Following these two previous fairs, the chain held its third American fair in June, 2013. The detail of the fair is as follows:





ATO Role:

ATO Japan has been developing good relationships with supermarket chains around the country over the years. ATO also has cultivated good relationships with U.S. food cooperators by assisting their activities in Japan. These American fairs provide a solid platform for American food promotion in which many U.S. cooperators can work together in a consolidated way and compliment their individual work.

ATO Osaka assisted the Fujisan’s American fair as follows:

• Coordination with U.S. cooperators
ATO provided information on U.S. cooperators to the chain and facilitated the coordination between the chain and the cooperators.

•  Promotion of the fair
ATO assisted Fujisan in promoting the fair by providing a picture of ATO Japan Director and his message to be placed on the flier of the event.

Results:

Sales from the promotion amounted to a total of US$39,662.
Under the coordination facilitated by ATO, following U.S. trade associations provided support to the Fujisan chain.
The table below shows the main food items sold at the fair, their sales amount and the trade associations who supported the event.




Meat (beef & pork) comprised the half of the total sales with sales share reaching 49.8%. USMEF actively supported the fair by providing POP materials as well as in-store demonstration assistance. The sales of beef & pork went well beyond their expectations. Other cooperators such as Northwest Cherry Growers and Sunkist also supported the store with POP material as well.

Over all, the sales result met their expectation and the chain was satisfied with the result. They are planning to continue American fair next year.