JUSCO Stores (Hong Kong) hopes to continue its aggressive cost-cutting programme by making use of more part-time employees and sourcing products directly from manufacturers.
Managing director Tatsuichi Yamaguchi said yesterday after the company's annual meeting that the use of man-hour management, a technique popular in Japan's retail sector, was an effective tool to deal with double-digit salary increases in Hong Kong.
''It's an important solution and our company doesn't have to cut salaries,'' he said. ''Individual salaries going up are no problem but our total payroll must be cut in Hong Kong.'' While Jusco maintains the main theme will be better allocation of employees, the most effective component is that the percentage of part-time employees will double from 15 per cent to 30 per cent this year.
Mr Yamaguchi said Jusco would also save $5 million this fiscal year by introducing a computerised point-of-sale system in September.
The new system would allow the general merchandise retailer to keep close tabs on all 140,000 items it stocked and improve control over inventory.
Mr Yamaguchi said Jusco had been able to offer consumers attractive prices by purchasing merchandise directly from manufacturers rather than using costly middlemen. About 70 per cent of the company's goods are sourced directly.
Direct imports from Japan accounted for about 30 per cent of sales in 1987 but have tumbled to 1.9 per cent because the strong yen and higher production costs makes prices too high for Hong Kong consumers.