Seven-Eleven Japan

Seven-Eleven, Inc., founded in 1927 in Dallas, Texas, was the world’s largest operator, franchisor, and licensor of convenience stores. As of 2004, it had 22,648 units worldwide, serving 6 million customers a day (www.7-eleven.com). Of these stores, approximately 8,600 were located in Japan and operated or franchised by Seven Eleven Japan Co., Ltd. (SEJ). Most of the remaining stores were located in North America. This case describes Seven-Eleven Japan’s logistics and information systems, and how they support its retail strategy. Seven-Eleven Japan tracks hourly sales trends for individual items and replenishes and changes its assortment of products throughout the day to match its offering with customer demands. The case also explore 7dream.com, an innovative electronic commerce initiative with the goal of integrating “clicks” and “mortar” by allowing customers to order from a large pool of products on the website of 7dream.com and pick up their orders at an SEJ store two or three days later.