Seven Eleven Opens Future-Oriented 'Signature Store'... CEO Choi Kyung-ho: "Different from Mere Unmanned Stores"

Seven-Eleven Unmanned Smart Store 'Signature DDR' Opens
Reducing Labor Costs, Maximizing Sales... Focusing on Developing New Growth Engines
CEO Choi: "We Will Continue to Expand Stores"

Kyeongho Choi, CEO of Seven Eleven

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] As the convenience store industry faces fierce competition in a saturated market, Choi Kyung-ho, CEO of Seven Eleven, has presented a new solution. CEO Choi's plan is to maximize profitability per store by introducing nighttime unmanned stores as road shops in downtown areas.

◆ "Different from so-called unmanned stores" = On the 1st, Seven Eleven opened the 'Signature DDR Store' on Supyo-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul, applying Lotte Group's self-developed unmanned store solution 'Signature 3.0' model. The DDR store features enhanced security and safety management technologies that utilize Lotte Group's IT capabilities to enable safe unmanned operation even in regular street stores. It operates with staff during the day and unmanned at night, reducing labor costs while maximizing sales.

Visiting the DDR store, CEO Choi said, "This is different from 'so-called unmanned stores' that simply install self-checkout counters and claim to be unmanned." He emphasized that although it is only a pilot store, there are plans to continuously expand such stores in the future as a new franchise model. CEO Choi showed great interest in the business by visiting the DDR store twice, in the morning and afternoon, and staying for a long time. Seven Eleven explained that this reflects CEO Choi's strong emphasis on 'store operation efficiency.'

Due to the rapidly rising minimum wage every year, 24-hour convenience stores are disappearing. This is why expectations for DDR stores are high. Operating unmanned stores at night allows franchisees to reduce labor costs and increase profits. Currently, Seven Eleven operates a total of 22 Signature stores nationwide. Among them, 20 are franchises, indicating that this new franchise model has already been established.

◆ Goal to establish the convenience store 'Big 3' = CEO Choi is a convenience store expert who joined Korea Seven in 1992 and has experience as head of sales and head of product divisions for 27 years. Since taking office last December, CEO Choi has introduced numerous initiatives over the past seven months. His main focus has been on improving store operation efficiency through the development of new franchise models. A representative example is 'Food Dream,' a food-enhanced store.

Food Dream is a larger store of about 132㎡ (40 pyeong) compared to regular stores, selling mainly ready-to-eat meals, home meal replacements (HMR), fresh foods, and daily necessities. It has successfully established itself as a franchise model, with food sales more than doubling. Seven Eleven plans to expand Food Dream stores to 500 by the end of the year.

Additionally, the introduction of the 'Last Order' service, the industry's first closing discount sales, is a business aimed at improving store operation efficiency. CEO Choi is expected to focus on establishing Seven Eleven as one of the convenience store 'Big 3' alongside CU and GS25 by emphasizing store operation efficiency strategies.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.