The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Policy Research Institute reports that there are 8.24 million elderly people who live more than 500 meters away from stores and have difficulty driving. It is also said that by the 2030s, there is a high possibility that the number of people with limited shopping skills will increase to more than 10 million. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of “shoppers” who find it difficult to make everyday purchases due to the lack of affordable stores nearby. If there are people in trouble, others will appear who will try to make it easier for them and turn it into a business opportunity. Among those who are vulnerable to shopping, there are also elderly people who have limited money to spend on food. If you can develop a sales method that will make a profit while also satisfying the elderly, you will have a fun business.
The number of elderly people who have difficulty getting around is increasing, and commercial areas are shrinking. Shrinking the commercial area will make it difficult to attract customers from a wide area as before. There are companies that have taken on this difficult challenge. Tokushimaru Co., Ltd. operates a mobile supermarket headquartered in Tokushima City, Tokushima Prefecture. This “Tokushimaru” has built a business model with the supermarket that supplies the products. They actively go to the places where consumers live and listen to their concerns. They believe that this will lead to the development of new products and services. “Tokushimaru” has increased the number of operating vehicles from two at its founding to over 1,000 in 10 years. Special vehicles loaded with food and daily necessities from supermarkets and other stores travel around mountainous areas. They are trying to preserve the joy of shopping, where customers who are less able to shop can choose products and enjoy conversation. “Tokushimaru” has built a business model in which individual businesses that drive and sell light trucks share profits.
Shopping is fun for the elderly. This fun suppresses aging and increases brain activity. A supermarket provided this opportunity for the elderly to use their bodies and minds. The supermarket teamed up with nursing care and welfare facilities to create a system to increase the amount of exercise for people in need of care. The supermarket created a special shopping cart for people in need of care, and created a system for them to shop. People in need of care moved around the store in special carts, trying to get what they wanted. People in need of care have learned the joy of being able to shop at the supermarket freely. As a result, there has been a change in the approach to rehabilitation at the facility. They actively engaged in rehabilitation, which resulted in improvements in their physical and mental functions. The story is that the weaker people had improved physical movement and brain vitality, and the store was able to increase profits.
