Keio Department Store visitor survey: guests who knew it beforehand were ~3x likelier to come for dining
Allied Architects has published its analysis of about 2,200 inbound-visitor survey responses that Keio Department Store collected from January to August 2026. Visitors who already knew the store beforehand were roughly three times as likely to come for a meal as those who did not. The findings also show that what visitors want differs by country or region and by number of visits, which is useful for planning inbound outreach.
Key points
- Visitors who knew Keio beforehand were about 3x as likely to visit for dining as those who did not
- Taiwanese visitors strongly valued easy access; Hong Kong visitors more often asked for tax-free deals and discounts and more often wanted to buy apparel
- Chinese visitors on a first visit wanted to feel welcome; with more visits, the wish for better products at better value grew stronger
Background
Keio Department Store has posted on social media for various markets, including RED (Xiaohongshu) for Chinese-speaking visitors, but its decisions relied mainly on tax-free sales data by country and category, so it could not see what kinds of visitors came, why, or how often they returned. It began its own survey of tax-free counter shoppers in 2025, and this time multilingual answers and free-text comments were analysed with AI. The store says the high share of dining visits could be read as a sign that its ongoing restaurant posts on social media are working.
The analysis was done with the provider's own service and is based on one store's responses. It may not apply to other stores or areas and does not prove cause and effect.
What it means for shops
The case shows there is room to tailor inbound messaging by country or region and by first-time versus repeat visitors. Giving advance information on reasons to visit, such as dining, may help create visits. Even small shops can start by tracking their own guests' trends by country or region.
What shops should do
- Record visitor counts and visit purposes by country or region at the register, in bookings or via a short survey
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Summaries are written by Seiichi Studio based on the original releases. Always check the source for the exact details.