Japan's discount-seeking shoppers drove some retailers into the red last quarter as an uncertain economic outlook persuaded consumers to tighten their purse strings.
Supermarkets and clothing stores will probably cut prices more to spur sluggish sales, which caused Aeon Co., the nation's biggest retailer by sales, to report its worst first quarter in eight years — a ¥6.3 billion ($62 million) loss. Seven & I Holdings Co. posted operating profit that missed analysts' estimates as its department store business that includes retailer Sogo & Seibu widened its operating loss to ¥1 billion.
Aeon joined Fast Retailing Co. in pledging to offer cheaper products — a strategy that may drag down spending and frustrate Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's effort to fight deflation and revive the world's third-largest economy. Last month, Abe postponed a sales-tax increase by two years to avoid further declines in consumer spending.