licensed to fast-moving consumer goods brand Radha Exports<\/a> to operate, effective Wednesday (Aug 19). Radha Exports also owns DD, which operates a separate dollar store brand, Value Dollar (Valu$).<\/p>\nJapan Home\u2019s losses after tax and total comprehensive loss stood at S$2.3 million for its financial year ended Apr 30, 2025 \u2013 up by more than two times from S$858,596 in the year before, based on Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) records.<\/p>\n
No data on its latest financial year results ended Apr 30, 2026 was available; BT has sent queries to Japan Home and Radha Exports.<\/p>\n
Prior to 2024, the company\u2019s profits had declined for three years.<\/p>\n
Why physical dollar stores struggle<\/p>\n
Lee Swee Siong, vice-president of the Association of Small & Medium Enterprises (ASME), told BT that the margins were likely \u201cjust too thin\u201d for Japan Home \u2013 which probably forced the closure of some outlets.<\/p>\n
\u201cPhysical stores need to maintain margins to be viable \u2026 but competing (simply) on low-price items continues to be challenging,\u201d he said. \u201cSales volumes would have to be sizeable in order to cover their rental costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that typically, rental and labour costs are a major weight on dollar stores, on top of general utilities expenses; already, the Iran war has caused an indirect impact on those which rely significantly on shipping, logistics and cargo deliveries.<\/p>\n
Other factors behind tough in-person competition include more budget Chinese brands such as Miniso appearing in the Republic; the upcoming Johor-Singapore Rapid Transit System Link is also set to make cheaper products in Johor even more accessible to Singaporeans.<\/p>\n
But the largest factor for the disruption of Singapore\u2019s dollar stores flagged by market watchers is the rise of e-commerce platforms.<\/p>\n
The likes of Taobao, Pinduoduo (PDD) and TikTok Shop do not require an in-person shop front to operate, which reduces their overhead costs significantly; such platforms also provide consumers nearly the same amount of convenience as physical stores, including same-day delivery options.<\/p>\n
Lee said: \u201cSuch online shops rely on the direct manufacturers to fulfil orders \u2013 that kind of competition is hard to beat when physical stores still deal with inventory and rental costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daiso, a budget shop favourite among Singaporeans, was also named as a chain hit by e-commerce sites. It has so far closed three outlets in 2026 \u2013 at 100AM mall in Tanjong Pagar, Tampines 1 and Sembawang Shopping Centre.<\/p>\n
Song Seng Wun, economic adviser at fintech company SDAX, said: \u201cOperating costs (for these stores have) clearly gone up in recent times \u2013 but it is fundamentally about whether revenue is keeping pace with such costs \u2026 and if (product) turnover has been kept in line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Business strategy ahead<\/p>\n
Commentators BT spoke to were split on the future of in-person dollar stores in Singapore and the region.<\/p>\n
ASME\u2019s Lee said sky-high overhead costs make low-cost business retail near impossible to do in-person these days.<\/p>\n
He noted that the 7-11 chain has been able to stand the test of time \u2013 despite pricing many of its products above those in supermarkets \u2013 because 7-11\u2019s attraction lies in its convenient locations across Singapore.<\/p>\n
This question mark hanging over the future of dollar stores is not specific to Singapore; e-commerce platforms such as PDD and Taobao are also \u201cseverely disrupting the business model\u201d in Malaysia.<\/p>\n
But Song thinks there is a sliver of hope for the in-person business model \u2013 if physical dollar stores manage their manpower better.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat becomes crucial is tracking what sells and what doesn\u2019t \u2013 especially when the business is operating with thin margins already \u2013 so it\u2019s down to how the purchasing manager buys the stock (for the store),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Data analytics can give these businesses an edge in this tough environment, so they can reduce manpower costs or help employees make more cost-effective decisions, he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The outlook seems dim, but better manpower management and data analytics may sharpen their edge, they say [SINGAPORE]…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[217,215,11350,214,216],"class_list":["post-79456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-business-of-japan","tag-consumer-goods","tag-japans-business","tag-japanese-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}