Sales at convenience stores around Japan fell 1.8 percent in May from a year earlier on a same-store basis, marking the 11th consecutive month of decline, the Japan Franchise Association said Thursday.
The association blamed the falloff in sales on a decline in customer numbers, which resulted from the unseasonably cool and rainy weather in the middle of the month. Average spending per customer was also down, it said.
The number of customers fell 0.1 percent, and average per-customer spending contracted 1.6 percent.
Meanwhile, sales of confections increased as sales of beer and other alcoholic beverages declined.
Sales at all stores were up 2.3 percent to 573.55 billion yen, the association said.
The sales data covered a total of 36,656 outlets run by 14 major convenience-store operators.