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【China】

AEON (CHINA) CO., LTD.

AEON Stores (Hong Kong) Co., Limited

AEON EAST CHINA (SUZHOU) CO., LTD.

AEON South China Co., Limited

AEON (HUBEI) CO., LTD.

BEIJING AEON CO., LTD.

GUANGDONG AEON TEEM CO., LTD.

QINGDAO AEON DONGTAI CO., LTD.

【ASEAN】

AEON ASIA SDN.BHD.

AEON CO. (M) BHD.

AEON BIG(M) SDN.BHD.

AEON INDEX LIVING SDN. BHD.

AEON VIETNAM Co., LTD

AEON（CAMBODIA）Co., Ltd.

AEON (Thailand) CO., LTD.

DONG HUNG INVESTMENT DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANCY JOINT STOCK COMPANY LIMITED

PT.AEON INDONESIA

AEON CO. (M) BHD. (AEON or the Company) was incorporated on 15 September 1984. AEON was set up in response to the Malaysian Government’s invitation to AEON Japan to help modernise the retailing industries in Malaysia. The ‘AEON’ name today is well established among Malaysians as well as foreigners, especially due to its association with the international AEON Group of Companies. AEON has established itself as a leading chain of General Merchandise Stores (GMS) and supermarkets. AEON’s constant interior refurbishment of stores to project an image designed to satisfy the ever changing needs and desires of consumers is clear evidence of this. The Company’s performance has been further enhanced by the management’s acute understanding of target market needs and the provision of an optimal product mix. AEON’s stores are mostly situated in suburban residential areas, catering to Malaysia’s vast middle income group. The AEON Group of Companies consists of AEON Co., Ltd. and about 300 consolidated subsidiaries and affiliated companies.

In addition to its core GMS plus its supermarket and convenience store operations, AEON is also active in specialty store operations, shopping centre development and operations, credit card business and services. The AEON Group of Companies is an integrated Japanese retailer and is active not only in Japan but also throughout ASEAN and China. At all times, in every market, AEON’s activities are guided by its unchanging ‘Customer First’ philosophy. Its aim is to surpass expectations by combining excellent products with unique personal services that enhance the shopping experience to make customers smile every time they shop.

Principal Divisions: General Merchandise Stores; Supermarkets; Convenience Stores; Department Stores; Specialty Stores; Drug Stores; SC Development Operations; Financial Services; Food Services; Food Processing, Distribution, and Other Operations; E-Commerce Business.

Principal Competitors: The Daiei, Inc.; Isetan Company Ltd.; The Seiyu, Ltd.

The 1980s also saw the continued expansion of JUSCO's overseas business. In 1988, the Financial Times called it "one of Japan's most internationally-minded retailers." It opened outlets in various parts of Southeast Asia, formed joint ventures with overseas companies to trade both in Japan and elsewhere, and systematically developed foreign lines of supply. It also raised capital abroad, issuing its first Eurobonds in 1976.

JUSCO had opened its first overseas store in Malaysia in 1985. This was operated by Jaya JUSCO Stores SDN. BHD., a company originally jointly owned with Cold Storage (Malaysia) and three other local companies. It was the first time that a Japanese company had entered into a significant joint venture in the Malaysian retail industry. JUSCO assumed operational control of Jaya JUSCO in 1988.

Since the latter part of the 1980s, JUSCO's retail operations in Asia have grown to include another Malaysian superstore, four in Hong Kong--including Hong Kong's biggest store, opened in the Kornhill Complex in 1987--and five in Thailand. In 1990, a chain of Mini Stop convenience stores was launched in South Korea under an agreement with the Korean Miwon Group.

One of JUSCO's best-known European joint ventures formed during the 1980s was its partnership with British fashion manufacturer and retailer Laura Ashley. Laura Ashley was Japan's first store opened in Tokyo's Ginza district in 1986. The appeal of the brand's "traditionally English" style to Japanese consumers was so strong that by the end of 1990 there were 36 shops, two-thirds of them existing within department stores such as Mitsukoshi, and there were plans to open a further 11 stores in 1991. During 1990, JUSCO increased its share in Laura Ashley Japan from 50 percent to 60 percent, giving it overall control, and also announced the purchase of a 15 percent stake in Laura Ashley UK for £29.9 million, a deal that rescued the British company from a heavily indebted state.

In the United States, JUSCO had made an important acquisition in 1988. The Talbots Inc. was a chain of fashion stores belonging to General Mills Inc., a Minneapolis-based corporation that had decided to focus on its core business in the food industry. JUSCO's purchase of The Talbots for $325 million was the first noteworthy foray by any Japanese firm into the U.S. retail business. JUSCO made a point of leaving the existing management in place and said that it hoped to apply the retailing expertise of its new subsidiary to its domestic operations. The chain grew rapidly in the United States after the takeover. The Talbots stores were also introduced in Japan: the first six establishments opened in 1990, against a five-year plan to open 50. JUSCO and General Mills's relationship predated the Talbot deal. Since 1982, they had been running a joint venture in Japan that proved to be one of JUSCO's most popular catering operations.

In 1990, a wholly owned JUSCO subsidiary, the AEON Forest Co. Ltd., was created to become head franchisee within Japan of The Body Shop. This U.K. company specializing in "environmentally friendly" toiletries was an ideal partner for JUSCO, which was increasingly seeking to be seen as a "green" enterprise. Japanese consumers had been becoming increasingly environmentally aware during the late 1980s, and the popularity of the first Body Shop in Tokyo solidified JUSCO's plan to open 50 stores in five years.

JUSCO was not just jumping on a "green" bandwagon. Co-founder Takuya Okada had always been interested in conservation and had encouraged a range of conservation projects such as tree-planting. The "JUSCO: in tune with the Earth" conservation project was launched shortly after the Body Shop tie-up, and JUSCO would soon begin experimenting with recycling of packaging in its own stores.

Throughout the 1980s, JUSCO was expanding its buying activities in the so-called Newly Industrializing Economies (NIEs), following a "develop and import" strategy whereby JUSCO would establish links with NIE companies--for example, City Knitting, a knitwear manufacturer in India, in 1988--with the aim of developing products suitable for the quality-sensitive Japanese consumer.

In 1987, The Economist noted that although 15 years earlier the top Japanese retailers had been department stores, the five biggest were now supermarket chains, with JUSCO in fourth place. The writer attributed the supermarkets' success in large part to their rapid adoption of information technology. For JUSCO, the second half of the 1980s in particular saw a sustained drive to harness the power of information technology to all aspects of the business. TOMM (Total On-Line Merchandising and Management) was an in-store system implemented in 1986 as part of a corporate information system due to be completed in 1989.

Company Perspectives:

Customers prefer to shop at ÆON because they believe there is no better source for their daily necessities that so thoroughly addresses very real concerns for product reliability and food safety. Our private-brand TOPVALU products are carefully selected with all of these customer needs in mind, to support a healthy, worry-free and enjoyable lifestyle. The brand encompasses 2,400 products in the food, clothing, recreational, housewares and home-furnishing sectors. For nearly 10 years, ÆON has worked to bring the full force of its buying power and cost efficiency to TOPVALU products so as to deliver consistently low prices at an unswervingly high level of quality.

Formerly known as JUSCO AEON Co., Ltd. is the largest retailer in Japan. Through ownership, joint ventures, and investments, AEON controls approximately 4,000 stores worldwide. Under the AEON corporate umbrella are 460 JUSCO superstores, 2,600 Mini Stop convenience stores, 665 supermarket stores, and 1,900 AEON Welcia drug stores. The company owns 60 percent of the women's apparel chain The Talbot and owns all of the U.K.-based apparel chain Laura Ashley.

1. NAKAGAWA, M. (2018). Aeon looks for more restructuring after ending Laura Ashley tie-up. [online] Japan. Available at: https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Japan-Update/Aeon-looks-for-more-restructuring-after-ending-Laura-Ashley-tie-up [Accessed 6 Dec. 2018].

(Nakagawa, 2018) https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Japan-Update/Aeon-looks-for-more-restructuring-after-ending-Laura-Ashley-tie-up

2. thejapantimes (2009). Aeon to unload Talbots stake. [online] Available at: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2009/12/10/business/aeon-to-unload-talbots-stake/#.XA2gSuhKhyw [Accessed 3 Dec. 2018].

(thejapantimes, 2009) https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2009/12/10/business/aeon-to-unload-talbots-stake/#.XA2gSuhKhyw

3. Nordqvist, J. (2014). AEON Co., Ltd. – Company Information. Market Business News. [online] Available at: https://marketbusinessnews.com/aeon-co-ltd-company-information/16275/ [Accessed 30 Nov. 2018].

(Nordqvist, 2014) https://marketbusinessnews.com/aeon-co-ltd-company-information/16275/

4. Aeon Report 2017. [online] Available at: https://www.unglobalcompact.org/system/attachments/cop_2018/461169/original/AEON_Report_2017.pdf?1519191993 [Accessed 29 Nov. 2018].

(Aeon Report,2017) https://www.unglobalcompact.org/system/attachments/cop_2018/461169/original/AEON_Report_2017.pdf?1519191993