Discount chain Trial Go takes aim at 7-Eleven in Japan with $2.50 tonkatsu
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The Fukuoka-based Trial Holdings opened its first Trial Go store in Tokyo.
PHOTO: X/TRIALCOMPANY
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TOKYO – Discount-store chain operator Trial Holdings is mounting a challenge to Japan’s convenience store giants, betting that compact, low-cost outlets operating around the clock can attract shoppers in the country’s densely populated capital.
The Fukuoka-based retailer, which acquired supermarket chain Seiyu for 380 billion yen (S$3.2 billion) from KKR, Walmart and Rakuten Group earlier in 2025, opened its first “Trial Go” store in Tokyo on Nov 7, with more outlets planned, according to a statement.
The new outlet resembles Aeon’s “My Basket” chain – often dubbed a convenience-store killer with wider product range and lower prices – and targets price-sensitive shoppers with a streamlined selection of high-turnover essentials and private-label goods. Its prices are well below those of competitors, thanks to technology and minimal staffing.
Its signature dish – a breaded pork loin cutlet over rice called Tonkatsu – goes for 300 yen (S$2.50), roughly half the 600 yen price tag for a similar but larger version at Seven & i Holdings’ 7-Eleven stores. Prices of meals are automatically marked down at checkout as they near expiration dates. Customers can pay using facial recognition after verifying their identity and linking the store’s app or a prepaid card.
Rising cost of living and sluggish real wage growth have pushed Japanese consumers to increasingly seek out bargains. That’s weighed on traditional players including Lawson and Familymart, which are already grappling with weak demand from a declining population. Seven & i cut its full-year profit forecast in October, citing rising costs and waning demand. Such shifts are now spawning new store formats that challenge convenience store’s dominance in Japan’s retail industry.
Seiyu, which has about 244 outlets mainly across the greater Tokyo area, will serve as the logistics hub for the new “Trial Go” outlets, supplying fresh food and enabling efficient inventory coordination. Trial already runs about 50 Trial Go outlets mainly around Fukuoka.
Trial traces its roots to a secondhand goods shop founded in 1974. It later developed retail tech systems and opened its first superstore in 1996.
Seiyu, once part of the Seibu conglomerate, was owned by Walmart for about a decade before the US retailer sold its majority stake to KKR and Rakuten in 2021. Trial completed the full acquisition in July. Bloomberg
