Daiso or The Daiso (Daiso Japan) is the largest franchise of 100-yen shops in Japan owned by Daiso Sangyo Corp. Kabushiki gaisha daiso sangyo, headquarters: Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture . Daiso has a range of over 100,000 goods, of which over 40 percent are importedgoods, many of them from China. Many of these are own-brand goods.
Daiso sets itself apart from other 100 yen shops by choosing not to sell closeout or factory second merchandise. Instead, they keep prices low by purchasing directly from manufacturers in very high volume, a strategy often compared to that of Wal-mart.
Daiso often uses such locations as previous pachinko parlours for its retail outlets. They spend a lot of money on shelving and fixtures to help the stores compete with more high-end retailers. The stock of items retailed at each shop is varied frequently in order to increase repeat customers.
Daiso categorizes all its own-brand items on sale using the morpheme za , the Japanese representation of the English word “the”, plus a category. For example, za hanabi is the category for fireworks, and za purasuchikku is the category for plastic items such as plastic buckets or trays.In 2004, Daiso also started selling items priced at multiples of 100 yen, such
as 200, 300, 400 or 500 yen.
www.daiso-sangyo.co.jp/english