Sales at supermarkets open for at least one year fell 2.1 pct in March from a year earlier to 1.12 trln yen, dropping for 24 of the last 25 months, the Japan Chain Stores Association said.
The figures are based on the combined sales of 88 supermarket chain operators running a total of 8,733 outlets. The data have been adjusted to facilitate comparison on a same-store basis.
Including sales at stores newly opened during the past year, revenue rose 0.7 pct from a year earlier.
The Japan Chain Stores Association said supermarket sales last month fell in four out of five product categories Sales of food -- the largest category, accounting for 60.0 pct of overall revenue -- declined 2.2 pct from a year earlier. Sales of household products -- the second-largest category, accounting for 20.0 pct of overall revenue -- rose 0.7 pct. Sales of clothing -- the third-largest category, at 12.8 pct of the total -- were down 0.3 pct. Sales of miscellaneous goods -- the fourth-largest category, accounting for 6.4 pct -- were down 11.6 pct. Revenue from services -- accounting for 0.8 pct of the total -- were off 4.0 pct.