7-Eleven Aims for Online Convenience 7-11便利店旨在线上便利业务

By newsdoug on February 6, 2012

7-Eleven set for cyber approach in China The convenience store phenomenon has had decidedly mixed results in China, which makes a new expansion plan by global leader 7-Eleven look quite intriguing. According to the plan, 7-Eleven, a relative latecomer to the China market, is aiming to do what few of its rivals have done to date and tap into the vast potential of China’s mid-sized to smaller markets by using an online approach. (Chinese article) First let’s look at the reality on the ground. For some reason, and I’m not entirely sure why, Shanghai seems to be the only city in China where the convenience store concept has truly taken off so far. Even Beijing has far fewer convenience stores than Shanghai, where just about every corner is home to a 7 Eleven or one of its many rivals, including names like FamilyMart (Tokyo: 8028), Kedi and Alldays. Perhaps Shanghai’s European heritage is a factor, as the city’s narrow streets lined with block after block of apartment buildings probably provide the ideal climate for convenience stores, unlike more traditional Chinese cities with wide avenues and more spread-out housing inside gated compounds. Whatever the reason, this new plan by 7 Eleven looks intriguing, aiming to draw on China’s growing fascination with anything e-commerce to bring the convenience store concept to the masses. There are just a few questions I would have on whether convenience store shopping is suitable for e-commerce. One is that many convenience store purchases tend to be impulse buys, often for bottled drinks, so I’m not sure that people would want to wait an extra half hour to have such a drink delivered to their home when they’re feeling thirsty. The other is cost, as the cost of delivering that bottled drink could easily turn the transaction into a money-losing one from a profitable one. All that said, convenience stores do indeed seem to be missing a great expansion opportunity in China, and the company that can find the right formula could easily find itself sitting on a goldmine. I would give this 7 Eleven initiative a 60 percent chance of success, in which case it could soon claim the title as the nation’s convenience store king despite its relatively late arrival to the market.

Bottom line: 7 Eleven’s plan to expand in China using an e-commerce model could be a smart way to bring the convenience store concept to China’s masses, with a 60 percent chance of success.

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