Tomoyasu Marutani: "Evolution through Deepening" — A Recommendation for Community-Based Business

September marks exactly one year since the Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake, which caused a blackout across the entire Hokkaido region.

As the convenience store chain with the largest number of stores in the prefecture, our Seicomart operated 1,050 stores—95% of all locations—immediately after the disaster. We were praised and thanked by local residents and people nationwide for our "god-tier response."

Employees voluntarily opened stores and worked hard for the community and our customers. I am very proud of our employees who possess a sense of mission to contribute to the region, which I call "community loyalty."

Currently, the domestic retail industry is clearly over-stored, and companies are seeking growth through globalization within a shrinking domestic market.

In this environment, we are building a solid foundation in our home of Hokkaido and seeking to achieve "evolution through deepening" by further delving into the local market.

One of those strategies is the supply chain. By adopting a corporate structure that integrates everything from production and manufacturing to logistics and retail, we minimize middleman margins and improve manufacturing and logistics efficiency. This creates a lean corporate profit structure while providing high-quality products at reasonable prices to local customers.

If there is a request from the community, we cooperate with local governments to open stores even in depopulated areas with as few as 900 people. Opening stores in such areas is possible only because we have our own logistics network covering the vast Hokkaido region.

Furthermore, Hokkaido is rich in excellent food ingredients. In collaboration with the region, we utilize our supply chain network to turn characteristic local products into finished goods at our own factories. We sell these not only in our own stores but also to other chains. By combining these corporate initiatives with the close ties between store employees and the community, a deep relationship (deepening) is built. This "deepening" leads, albeit slowly, to our sustainable growth (evolution).

From the perspective of the Tokyo metropolitan area, Hokkaido is a region where depopulation and aging are progressing more rapidly. However, it is also a vast "production space" that produces 1.3 trillion yen worth of agricultural products and supports the diet of the Japanese people. The Secoma Group utilizes Hokkaido's excellent ingredients to supply many products to Honshu and overseas. This supports this vital "production space," which is inevitably becoming sparse, and expands new opportunities.

To coexist with the community—that is my "recommendation for community-based business."