Business

Japan’s fussy food shoppers finally go online amid pandemic

Published

6 years ago

June 30, 2020

TOKYO (Reuters) – The coronavirus has forced Japan’s notoriously fussy food shoppers to abandon doubts about online grocery stores, sending retailers such as Aeon Co (8267.T) scrambling to meet a surge in delivery demand.

Although Japanese shoppers aren’t alone in going online during the outbreak, the shift is remarkable for a country that had been expected to take years to embrace online food shopping because of a zeal for fresh and perfectly presented produce.

“I think that this pandemic has triggered an inflection point in the adoption of grocery e-commerce,” said Luke Jensen, executive director of Ocado Group (OCDO.L), hired to build a grocery e-commerce business for Japanese retail giant Aeon.

Most companies won’t disclose numbers, but retail executives and analysts estimate internet sales now account for about 5% or more of Japan’s total grocery sales, compared with 2.5% before the pandemic.

Although that is still lower than some pre-crisis estimates of 15% in China and even 7% in broadband laggard Britain, it challenges a long-held belief that Japanese shoppers will always on shopping daily and in person, checking the goods first-hand.

Yuri Ohtaka, a graphic designer living in Tokyo’s western suburbs, began ordering from multiple online supermarkets in March after seeing shoppers emptying shelves at a nearby store.

Although fears of shortages have subsided, online deliveries have made it easier as she works from home, making three meals a day for her family, including her 3-year-old son. She’s also happy to avoid stores amid fears of infections.

“There’s no need for face-to-face, dealing with registers, or standing in line,” she said, adding that she’s also persuaded her parents to go online. “They were shopping every day in the supermarket, and I really didn’t want them to.”

As more households have two people working, analysts say, people want to spend less time shopping. But they still have exacting standards for service and produce quality, which have perplexed previous foreign entrants such as Carrefour (CARR.PA) and Tesco (TSCO.L).

Such changes are closely watched as Japan is one of the world’s most valuable grocery markets, worth over 50 trillion yen ($466.42 billion) a year. Per capita, only countries such as Switzerland, Norway and Israel spend more on food.

Sudden demand

Major Japanese supermarkets, despite talking about online services for years, have only recently begun large-scale spending on e-commerce infrastructure.

Most have struggled to meet the spike in demand, and would-be-shoppers on Twitter have complained of difficulty securing delivery slots throughout the crisis.

Aeon hired British online grocery pioneer Ocado in November to build state-of-the-art robotic warehouses, aiming to fend off rivals such as Amazon (AMZN.O), Seven & i Holdings’ (3382.T) Ito-Yokado and a venture between Walmart-owned (WMT.N) Seiyu and e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc (4755.T).

But the first of those warehouses won’t start operating until 2023. In the meantime, Aeon said it is hiring more staff to help pack online grocery orders, although it is having difficulty hiring more delivery drivers.

Despite such constraints, Aeon expects online grocery sales to grow 50 percent and account for about 10 percent of sales by the end of its financial year ending next February, according to company executives.

That is not an official target unveiled to investors, but the company confirmed President Akio Yoshida, who was appointed to the top job in March, set it as a goal.

Executives expect the shift to last.

“When people increase their use of online, they stay with it rather than going back. In Japan we’d expect there to be a step up in the growth of e-commerce,” said Ocado’s Jensen, who is also chief executive of the group’s Ocado Solutions technology business.

Smart warehouses vs. Mom and pop

Analysts say the shift is also likely to favour bigger retailers who can invest in high-tech warehouses capable of handling large volumes rather than just having store staff pick items from retail shelves and package them for delivery.

That could put smaller supermarkets and mom-and-pop stores, already struggling to match the likes of Aeon and Ito-Yokado in pricing, at a further disadvantage.

But Violetta Volovich, who has researched global grocery industry trends for e-commerce consultancy Edge by Ascential, said remote and costly high-tech fulfilment centres were not the answer for all retailers.

Instead, she envisions many retailers adopting automating more jobs in existing brick-and-mortar stores and embracing features such as “click and collect”, in which shoppers pick up online purchases at the stores.

She also said the rise in food e-commerce didn’t mean an end to traditional grocery shopping.

“Just because people get pizza delivery doesn’t mean they will stop going to pizza restaurants,” she said.

($1 = 107.2000 yen)

Reporting and photo: Reuters

Business

Feydhoo Hall opens at dusitD2 Feydhoo Maldives as new event space

Published

3 weeks ago

February 16, 2026

m@ldives

Dusit International, one of Thailand’s leading hotel and property development companies, has announced the opening of Feydhoo Hall, a landmark event venue at dusitD2 Feydhoo Maldives, redefining the possibilities for meetings, celebrations, and destination events in the Maldives.

Designed to bring scale, flexibility, and creativity to island gatherings, Feydhoo Hall represents a bold step forward in positioning the Maldives as a dynamic destination for conferences, weddings, and large-scale social occasions.

Feydhoo Hall offers a versatile event complex designed to accommodate a wide range of gatherings, from corporate meetings and conferences to weddings and social celebrations.

At its core is the 390 sqm Main Hall, capable of hosting:

Up to 300 guests in theatre-style setup
Up to 240 guests for dining and banquet-style events
Up to 200 guests for cocktail-style receptions
Up to 144 guests in cluster-round configuration

Enhancing the flexibility of the venue are additional dedicated spaces, including:

A 110 sqm Veranda Terrace, ideal for welcome receptions, breakout sessions, and pre-event gatherings, accommodating up to 100 guests for cocktail-style events.
A spacious 1,000 sqm Lawn Space, perfect for large-scale outdoor celebrations, destination weddings, and open-air events, accommodating up to 400 guests for cocktail receptions and up to 350 guests for dining setups.
The 55 sqm Ekugai Meeting Room, designed for smaller meetings and executive sessions, accommodating up to 30 guests in theatre or dining setup and 24 guests in cluster-round format.

Together, these integrated spaces create a seamless indoor-outdoor event experience, allowing planners to design dynamic and personalised event journeys.

True to the dusitD2 brand’s lifestyle-driven philosophy, Feydhoo Hall introduces a fresh approach to meetings and events — where productivity meets creativity in an inspiring island setting.

The venue offers flexible meeting formats designed to suit different event needs, including:

Half-Day Meeting Package (4 hours) — ideal for focused sessions, executive meetings, and creative workshops.
Full-Day Meeting Package (8 hours) — designed for immersive conferences, extended workshops, and large-scale corporate gatherings.

These thoughtfully structured packages provide planners with the flexibility to create impactful and seamless experiences, whether hosting intimate strategy sessions or dynamic full-day events.

Located just seven minutes by speedboat from Velana International Airport, dusitD2 Feydhoo Maldives combines accessibility with vibrant lifestyle energy, offering event planners and guests a rare balance between convenience and tropical escape.

With the introduction of Feydhoo Hall, the resort strengthens its position as a versatile destination — not only for leisure travellers but also for international conferences, creative retreats, luxury weddings, and large-scale social celebrations seeking something refreshingly different in the Maldives.

Business

BBM expands retail presence with new Hulhumalé outlet

Published

3 weeks ago

February 16, 2026

m@ldives

Bestbuy Maldives (BBM) opened a new wholesale store in Hulhumalé Phase 2 on Monday.

The outlet is located on the ground floor of Lot 20286, Nirolhu Magu, and is intended to improve access to BBM’s imported goods for residents of Hulhumalé Phase 2 and for businesses operating in the area.

According to the company, the opening forms part of its plan to expand services closer to customers in line with population growth in Hulhumalé.

With the opening of the new store, BBM’s full range of imported and distributed products will be available at the Hulhumalé Phase 2 location. These include consumer goods from international brands such as Lifebuoy, Vaseline and Unilever.

The store will also stock wholesale food products from brands including Daily, Cavin’s and Redman.

BBM has supplied goods to resorts, hotels and retail outlets across the Maldives for several years.

Action

Ataraxis Grand & Spa hosts integrated work-and-dive corporate retreat in Fuvahmulah

Published

1 month ago

January 29, 2026

m@ldives

Ataraxis Grand & Spa recently hosted a week-long, closed corporate offsite in Fuvahmulah for a US-based artificial intelligence company, highlighting the island’s growing suitability for integrated work-and-experience retreats. The retreat brought a group of 36 international professionals to the property, which was reserved exclusively for the programme.

Designed as a private company offsite, the stay combined structured daily work sessions with guided diving and beginner-friendly surf experiences, creating a balanced format that blended focused collaboration with physical reset.

A notable component of the programme was dive training and certification. During the retreat, 17 participants completed their Open Water certification, while a further six undertook the Advanced Open Water course, with training and dives scheduled alongside work sessions as part of the integrated itinerary.

Throughout the week, participants worked on-site using dedicated shared spaces supported by reliable high-speed internet, allowing meetings, informal collaboration and scheduled activities to take place within a single, uninterrupted environment. This setup enabled teams to move seamlessly between work periods and organised ocean activities without leaving the property.

Fuvahmulah’s natural and operational advantages formed a key part of the retreat’s appeal. As one of the Maldives’ largest inhabited islands, it offers immediate access to pelagic dive sites, internationally recognised shark diving and surf breaks suitable for instruction, alongside the infrastructure required to support extended group stays.

The offsite reflects a growing preference among technology and knowledge-sector teams for small-scale retreats that prioritise concentrated work environments and team cohesion over traditional conference formats. Such programmes typically involve longer stays and higher per-capita spend, aligning with sustainable, quality-driven tourism models.

The retreat also demonstrates how locally operated properties such as Ataraxis Grand & Spa are supporting this shift by delivering unified environments where accommodation, workspaces, connectivity and curated experiences operate as a single programme rather than separate services.

As organisations continue to explore alternative formats for strategy sessions, team resets and creative offsites, Ataraxis Grand & Spa’s experience positions Fuvahmulah as an increasingly viable destination for integrated corporate retreats.

Ataraxis Grand & Spa offers work-and-dive retreat programmes in Fuvahmulah that combine accommodation, dedicated workspaces, high-speed connectivity and organised diving and surfing.