As Japan was baking in record-breaking temperatures last summer, supermarket chain Maruyasu introduced what it called the mōsho-wari, or “extreme heat discount,” to lure shoppers wary of stepping out of their homes into the scorching sun.
On days when Yahoo! Weather’s maximum temperature forecasts for each of the seven Maruyasu stores across Tokyo and neighboring Saitama Prefecture exceeded 35 degrees Celsius as of 9 a.m., the shops offered a discount based on the last digit of the temperature — a price cut of 5% if it was 35 C; 7% if it was 37 C and so on.
“We’ve launched the same campaign this summer to draw back falling customer traffic,” says Yukiko Matsui, one of the two founders of the business, which sells discounted products nearing their expiration dates or with damaged packaging in an effort to tackle food loss.