In Zama City, Kanagawa Prefecture, on the former site of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.’s Zama plant, an enormous distribution centre named GLP Zama has been completed.
It boasts favourable access to the Tomei Motorway, which links two of Japan’s major urban areas—Tokyo and Nagoya—and the nearly completed 300km Ken-O Motorway encircling the greater Tokyo metropolis. The facility, scheduled to begin operation in July, boasts floor space of some 130,000m2 and represents an investment of ¥20.9bn.
The 750m external circumference, reports Weekly Toyo Keizai (6 June), takes nearly five minutes to negotiate. The spiral vehicle ramp that gives delivery trucks direct access to five levels will be a boon to the multiple tenants expected to lease space.
GLP Zama is not the largest such facility, however. That is MFLP Hino in western Tokyo, which has floor space of 212,000m2. Operated by Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd., the logistics facility also opened in 2015. Between now and 2017, no fewer than 39 new distribution depots will be completed in eastern Japan, in addition to 13 in the greater Kansai area.
The key factor pushing this growth is the burgeoning spread of e-business, which in turn is leading to strategies, such as the tie-up between 7-Eleven convenience stores and publications distributor Tohan Corporation.
Since 2013, Tohan has supplied the convenience store giant with books and magazines directly. It is also responsible for handling not only its own unsold merchandise, but also other goods. Thus, for example, if a customer finds that a pair of shoes purchased from a Sogo-Seibu department store—part of Seven & I Holdings Co., Ltd.—don’t fit, they can take the shoes to a 7-Eleven shop for return to the sales source via Tohan’s distribution network.
Yodobashi Camera Co., Ltd., an electronics mass retailer that operates shops in major cities, has expanded its range of product offerings on the Internet to more than 3.6mn items, including foodstuffs, such as organic vegetables, beverages and books.
Yodobashi, which competes aggressively with Amazon Japan, prides itself on speedy response times to orders.
“If your old refrigerator breaks down at midnight, we can ship you a new one by 9am the next day”, said Yodobashi’s Executive Vice-president Kazunori Fujisawa. The arrival times for orders may vary slightly but once payment is confirmed, delivery is expected to be within six hours.
Customers can select the delivery firm—Yamato Transport Co., Ltd. or Japan Post Co., Ltd.—but Yodobashi does not charge for the deliveries. In addition to its five major distribution centres in Japan, the retail outlets themselves ship directly when stock is available.
Weekly Toyo Keizai’s 42-page special on logistics also reserved space to voice a warning of Japan’s looming shortage of truck drivers. The squeeze, brought on by a combination of age demographics and stricter licensing requirements, is expected to cut into transport industry profits in a variety of ways, such as through wage increases or lost business opportunities.