Division Strategy

The Retail & Consumer Service Division, with its multiple contact points with consumers, is committed to developing its businesses based on the customer’s perspective. This commitment guides us in advancing a diverse range of businesses aimed at enriching and bringing convenience to people’s lives. Our focus going forward will be responding to trends such as the diversification of consumer tastes and needs and the pursuit of more enriched and convenient lives in emerging countries as well as the changes to industry structures seen in developed countries as a result of rising health consciousness and increased interest in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We will go about this by expanding services businesses founded on market needs in order to build a quality asset portfolio oriented toward steady growth.

As we accelerate efforts to build a quality asset portfolio to fuel future growth, we will also move forward with drastic reforms to our operations through means such as withdrawing from businesses suffering from diminished earnings power or viability.

The operating environment for the Retail & Consumer Service Division is changing rapidly. Understanding that change is a constant, we should remain cognizant of the fact that change presents opportunities for us to seize upon. Speed and time will be constant areas of focus when formulating action plans for accomplishing our targets. A strongly entrenched PDCA cycle will be imperative for ensuring the effective implementation of these action plans. With these goals in mind, I will act with a strong sense of personal commitment to guarantee that the division can achieve its targets.

Strengths of the Division

External Environment

Businesses

Business Map

■Retail Businesses

We are developing retail businesses that meet the needs of ASEAN countries based on their stage of development. Our focus is on developing four businesses in Vietnam: processing and production of prepared food, four-temperature controlled logistics (ambient temperature, fixed temperature, chilled, and frozen), wholesale food and consumer goods, and retail (convenience stores). In addition, through the capital and business tie-up formed with Royal Holdings in February 2021, we aim to develop a more diverse and broader range of businesses catering to consumers in Japan and overseas.

■Shopping Center Management Business

Sojitz Commerce Development Corporation, as the core of the shopping center management business, has continued to utilize its solid track record in operating and improving the value of shopping centers since its founding in 2001. Going forward, we will work to help invigorate local communities by utilizing digital technologies to energize the shopping centers that function as a central component of communities.

■Food Distribution Businesses

Sojitz acquired all shares of marine food processing company The Marine Foods Corporation in March 2022 and then invested in Tastable Co., Ltd., a company that develops, designs, and sells NIKUVEGE plant-based meat, in June 2022.

In this business, we supply consumers around the world with safe foods by calling upon the expertise of numerous Sojitz Group companies. These companies include Sojitz Foods Corporation, which boasts the leading domestic share of frozen beef imports from North America; Sojitz Tuna Farm Takashima Co., Ltd., a tuna farming company; and Meat One Corporation, a marketing company that merges the expertise and functions of multiple companies involved in the procurement, sales, processing, and distribution of meat products.

■Domestic Real Estate

As part of its ownership and development of residential housing, office buildings, hotels, and other real estate, Sojitz has created a value chain encompassing asset management and operation of these assets, and thereby has fostered a balanced earnings foundation. In March 2022, an agreement was reached with Goldman Sachs to establish a new joint venture company for developing operations for adding value to rental housing. As a major player in Japan’s rental residential housing market, we aim to provide more comfortable living environments while also offering a wide range of investing opportunities.