7-Eleven
7/11, to us, it’s about Slurpee and Big Gulp, and, oh yeah, lottery~ Course, never win much…
A drink or two after sport games, a place to gossip about school news, a site for sightseeing… Oh~ those wonderful times…
7/11 in U.S. is not much more than a small shop, full of items that seen to be useful, yet drinks, snacks, and cigarettes are its main source of revenue. Why? Because people shop from supermarket or warehouse store already, with cheaper price.
With the growing success of Walmart and Costco, these convenience stores’ market share is shrinking by day, and the typical customer in store time is less than 2 min; compare to about 25 min. or more in other retails. Course, this stays true for suburbs areas. With the similar distance of car drive, there’s no point to ‘shop’ at 7/11 on typical days.
So, how come convenience stores like 7/11 still making huge revenue? US$10,882 billion back in 03??
I believe it made its profit outside of United State, the land where it founded back in 1927. Those who live in the State would agree that 7/11 chains’ layouts are quite bore without any significance compare to QuickMart or any little stores.
As for stores outside of U.S., especially in Asia, tons of items and hot foods are required to be part of 7/11, without them, it’s not 7/11. Not to mention the endless of promotions and stuff animals like Hello Kitty collections in Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan lures customers’ desires.
The other function of 7/11 in Asia I found interesting is the collection of payments, from utility bills to parking fines, all sort of the things that turn the store into daily life necessities, which can’t live without them. That is a phenomenon created by Japan and spread all over Asia, just not U.S. By the way, 7/11 is a complete Japanese owned company back in 05.
So, the convenience store is not convenient in U.S., but in elsewhere… Part of the reason is the spread of land and its lack of market strategy, plus the franchise owners’ will. More promotion means more tasks, more items mean more stocks, and the customer base is uncertain, yeah, it’s hard.
Overall, these are not my problems, my issue is: when will U.S. 7/11 offer Tea Eggs??? Not just tasteless hot dogs…
By the way, they offer free slurpee today, “7-11 Day”, if you didn’t know…
First come first~ till supply drops~
7-Eleven: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-Eleven
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