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Should the US’s 7-Eleven Match the Standards of Japan’s 7-Eleven?
Since its inception in 1927, 7-Eleven has transformed the concept of convenience shopping and is now a global brand with more than 84,000 stores across 20 countries.
The company boasts a variety of brands, such as Speedway, Stripes, Laredo Taco Company, and Raise the Roost Chicken & Biscuits in the U.S. 7-Eleven revolutionized shopping with innovations like coffee in to-go cups, round-the-clock service, and self-serve soda fountains. Iconic products like Slurpee and Big Gulp drinks have ingrained themselves into American culture. As the world’s leading convenience retailer, 7-Eleven has played a significant role in developing the franchise model and is consistently ranked as a top-10 Franchisor. Currently, 7-Eleven, Inc. is a subsidiary of Seven & i Holdings Co. Ltd.
7-Eleven’s mission is to “make our customers’ day a little more awesome by delivering fast, personalized convenience — when, where, and how they want it.” However, the public perception of this convenience store in America is not quite so positive.
According to Medium, this may in part be due to “the weary-looking hot dogs and taquitos on mechanical rollers, the trauma of Slurpee brain freezes and parking lot heartbreaks past, the strange prominence of its stores in local crime stories. In many parts, 7-Eleven is practically shorthand for communal microwaves, American Spirits, and bland corporate sameness.”
A recent Reddit post also stated, “Doesn’t matter where: LA, Chicago, Texas, or a random town in Utah. [Every time] I pull up to a 7-11, there’s sketchy people loitering outside, the store is old, has half-faded posters, and it feels like I’m going to get stabbed/robbed if I look the wrong way.”
So even though 93% of Americans have a convenience store like 7-Eleven within 10 minutes of their homes, the company has a lot of work to do to improve its reputation in the U.S. and live up to the 7-Eleven locations you can find in Asia. From Japan to South Korea, tourists rave about the bountiful food, cute merchandise, dining areas, and more.
7-Eleven is the reigning king of convenience stores in Japan in particular. When you’re in the country, you won’t miss these well-known stores that consistently impress customers with their top-quality offerings. You’ll likely be within a five-minute walk of a 7-Eleven, and you might even have three or four in close proximity to choose from.
As of Dec. 31, 2023, Japan is home to an impressive 21,488 7-Eleven stores, the most in any country in the world. And it’s not just a convenience store — it’s a vital part of Japan’s fast-paced lifestyle. With people often working long hours, the round-the-clock service offered by these stores is a perfect match. Whether it’s a snack for the road or a quick lunch, 7-Eleven is always there, ready and waiting.
But the appeal of 7-Eleven doesn’t stop with convenience. What has truly cemented its place in the Japanese lifestyle is the quality of food it offers. You might be surprised to hear that a convenience store can serve “a top-notch dinner,” but in Japan, it’s the norm. From sushi to noodles, the wide array of delicious food is a delight for both locals and tourists. Recently, a “7-Eleven store in Yokohama has chosen to stand out with a top-class selection of craft beers from around the world,” according to Nikkei Asia.
For travelers, 7-Eleven is particularly handy due to its ATMs. As Japan heavily relies on cash for daily transactions, these conveniently located ATMs are a boon. Tourists often find it easier to track down a 7-Eleven than a bank compatible with their debit cards. Customers can also book train tickets, “buy concert tickets, and download their Netflix queue over the high-speed Wi-Fi,” according to Medium.
While the look of 7-Eleven stores in Japan might remind you of those in the U.S. from the outside, with their familiar branding, they couldn’t be more different when it comes to what’s inside. Japanese 7-Elevens offer an exciting array of fresh and packaged food, vastly different from their U.S. counterparts, as well as household items, toiletries, and office supplies. Some are even equipped with printers, copiers, and fax machines.
Japan’s two leading convenience store chains, 7-Eleven and Lawson, plan to open an additional 10,000 stores in the Asia-Pacific region by the financial year ending in February 2026. Given the saturation of the domestic market in Japan, these companies are speeding up their expansion plans throughout Asia. The aim is to capitalize on the rising demand from a rapidly growing middle class, particularly in Southeast Asia. According to estimates, Lawson and 7-Eleven will operate more than 64,000 stores in the Asia-Pacific region by February 2026, up from last February’s count of about 53,000 stores.
7-Elevens in Japan are also expanding their use of generative AI. Beginning in the spring of 2024, Seven-Eleven Japan will implement the new retail strategy to expedite its product planning process by creating text descriptions and images for new products, leveraging insights gathered from store sales data and customer feedback on social media. This innovative approach is predicted to diminish product planning time by as much as 90%, ensuring that product distribution stays current with evolving trends and consumer needs.
Overall, 7-Eleven isn’t just a convenience store in Japan. It’s a lifeline for people leading fast-paced lives, a food court for those seeking quality meals on the move, a bank for those in need of cash, and an exciting food adventure for tourists. The omnipresence and multifunctionality of 7-Eleven make it an essential part of life in Japan. The question is, can and should the U.S. ever match these high standards?
Discussion Questions
How can 7-Eleven in the U.S. learn from the brand’s esteem and integrated role in daily life in Japan, and what specific steps could be taken to improve the public perception and overall quality of the American 7-Eleven stores? Considering the successful strategies implemented by 7-Eleven stores in Japan, how might these approaches be adapted or integrated into U.S. stores to enhance their appeal and customer experience?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Neil Saunders
Managing Director, GlobalData
David Naumann
Marketing Strategy Lead - Retail, Travel & Distribution, Verizon
I have experienced a 7-11 store in Japan, and I was shocked at how mush better it was compared to stores in North America. What’s curious to me is that, clearly 7-11 management knows how to create a terrific in-store experience as they’re doing it in Japan and elsewhere, but why not in the U.S.? The 7-11 store I visited in Japan wasn’t exceptionally different than the stores in the U.S. at first blush – but the closer I looked, the better it was. It was cleaner, had better layout, and better quality food choices as well as more variety. It was not a larger store than what I would typically see in North America, but it was just better. I have no doubt that if US consumers experienced what I did in Japan, they too would have a different impression of this iconic, but ignored brand.
Replicating Japanese standards in the US is a tall order. First, there is a massive cultural difference in the work ethic of staff and the standards they adhere to. Second, convenience stores are a much bigger part of Japanese consumer society so tend to be superior in terms of the ranges they offer – especially in freshly prepared foods. Third, the Japanese tend to place a much greater emphasis on cleanliness in general which applies as much to convenience stores as it does to the streets of Tokyo. 7-Eleven in the US can certainly learn from its Japanese counterpart, but ultimately retail is a local business.
Perfectly described, Neil.
Thanks Gene. I find Japanese culture, and how it influences the consumer world, absolutely fascinating!
I would have approached this quite differently: rather than Reddit reviews, I would ask one, simple question, “are they profitable?” Only if the answer is “no” – or at least “yes, but not as much as they once were” – would I start looking around to reinvent the wheel. It’s not uncommon for an American brand to get exported to some foreign land, and end up in a quite different incarnation, and the fact that 7-11 Japan offers white glove service strikes me as a curiosity more than a business plan.
I was recently in Thailand, where 7-Eleven is as ubiquitous as in Japan. I found the same as described in Japan.
The idea that the American stores should follow the Japanese model is a quick plan to put 7-Eleven out of business. As Neil described so well, there are so many differences in the cultures of the two countries that the idea is foolish. The worst thing an international company can do is copy and paste its concept from one country to another.
The Asian 7-Elevens were built to serve Asian cultures. The American 7-Elevens were built to service the American culture.
BTW, it seems our friend from Reddit has been binge-watching too many detective dramas lately.
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To be fair, it really depends on the location of the 7-11. Yes, most of them look quite sketchy, but some, like the one and only one in Montauk, New York is very clean, organized and convenient, even in the summer when things are quite crowded. Given that the Speedways are much nicer looking and do not have the negative reputation of 7-11, why not convert more 7-11 stores to Speedway or at least make them look more like Speedway. Comparing the U.S, stores to Japan is a big leap.
In Japan, 7-Eleven stores are in closer proximity to consumers and ready to serve their everyday needs, including business needs.
7-Eleven stores in Asia offer a more welcoming, multisensory experience, encouraging customers to linger. The stores in Japan and South Korea exude cleanliness, comfort and care.
Lots of stores in Japan are cooler than they are in the U.S. but I’ll chalk that up to culture. Fortunately, I have not experienced a “parking lot heartbreak” at a 7-11 like the article states, but I have visited both nice and sketchy stores.
7-11 has a big perception issue, as this article clearly points out, and not all of it is deserved. I am team glass half full, but it would take far more than emulating the Japanese version to turn that around.
This is not a solvable problem. I, too have been in 7-11’s in Japan and in agreement with Mark Ryski, they ARE much better. I have also been in Department stores in Japan where associates in business dress handle the elevators. None of this would ever happen here. Completely different markets, different buying patterns, different everything. The U.S. stores could be cleaner, certainly (disclaimer, it has been a long time since I have been in one, there used to be a 7-11 right next to Wrigley Field that I used but we are talking late 90’s) but even that is hard to replicate here.
If I was tasked with facilitating a meeting to discuss bringing up our standards in the US, I would ask the following questions:
1: What is it about the 7-Eleven in Japan that is different from what we do? (We need to be very clear about these differences.)
2: Which of these differences could work here in the US?
3: If we plan to do any of these “differences,” which ones do we start with? (In other words, make a list and prioritize.)
Once you make the list, focus on just three at a time. Make one of them easy. Check back frequently to see the progress.
Finally, what we think will work may not, so don’t go big until you test.
7-Eleven could definitely elevate the customer experience in the U.S. but it might not be cost effective to match the level of service in Japan. 7-Eleven has its niche in the U.S. as a no-frills convenience store and it doesn’t attempt to compete with the premium convenience/gas stores like Sheetz, Wawa and Buc-ee’s. They definitely need to be selective of what premium services they might want to infuse in their stores and test a few concepts to see what, if anything, drives greater revenues and profits.
But it is possible in the USA to staff and operate a chain consistently and profitably like Wawa, Buc-ee’s, or Kwik Trip – if 7-Eleven US just got its operation up to that standard they’d be just a step or two behind Japan. Private-label recipes, logistics programming, and store procedures can be ported over; no need to reinvent the wheel.
It’s important to keep in mind that different brands carry different reputations depending on the country. The positioning for 7-11 is so drastically different here vs Japan, I think it would be incredibly challenging (and not necessarily the right move) to attempt to shift positioning that much here. That said, I’ve been impressed by 7-11’s app and digital presence, and I do think it would serve well to elevate the brick and mortar enough that consumers feel very safe there and see the food as a choice they want to make versus need to because they’re on the road.
It is simple. In Japan, where the owning company is based, they have stronger oversight and better management. They execute better and supervise more closely. Just like in the US, the stores in Japan are under an operator/franchise model.
I am quick to blame the terrible US Stores on the fact that most are under an operator/franchise model but it is more than that. The management in the US is poor. They have low operating standards for their stores. A couple new build 7-Elevens opened in my area in the past two years and they are actually quite nice stores but they are immediately operated by franchisees who run dirty old stores elsewhere in town, and guess what, within a few weeks of opening, those new stores were dirty and messy too. Multiple of the new drink machines were already broken or out of product. Gas pumps filthy, never cleaned, nothing to wash windows with outside, no receipt printing at the pumps, just a few weeks after opening. They also took about three months before they quit allowing public restroom use (blocking the doors with boxes and a sign) in those new stores.
The plan was to rebrand Speedway starting in 2021 or 2022. Basically they were going to remodel all of the stores into the 7-Eleven format and rebrand. So far as far as I know they have done zero rebrandings. I think they know 7-Eleven is terrible in the US and they wisely did not go forward with rebranding Speedway.
7-11 stores in these two markets can’t be more different! In Japan stores are an integral part of the community and essential to commuters, neighborhoods and tourists’ lifestyle. In the US they were once unique and fresh (think: slurpees, opening hours, gas) but now many are stagnant, stale and even unsafe.
There are a handful of 7-11s within a 5 minute walk from me in downtown SD, and I never go there (except to buy an occasional lottery ticket). When traveling in Japan I often go in a 7-11 several times a day.
I have been to many Japanese 7-11 stores, as well as those in China, the USA, and many other countries on my many international trips. Yes, the Japanese stores are better in many ways, but also don’t offer the same things that the American stores offer (like gas pumps). In general, I agree that Asian stores are cleaner and offer higher quality foods, but they are also more expensive. Comparing both of these formats, even though their name is the same, is not a good reflection on developing ways to improve 7-11 in the USA.