"Convenience Store Differentiation, The Weapon is Global" 7-Eleven Tightens Control by Year-End

Launch of 36 Popular Products from 5 Countries Including the US and Japan
Establishment of PB Development and Global Sourcing Teams, Project Kickoff
'2023 Global Seven-Eleven Food Festa' Underway

Seven Eleven is leveraging its global brand strength to launch a large-scale release of popular Seven Eleven products from five overseas countries, including the United States and Japan, in the domestic market. With over 50,000 convenience stores nationwide, this is a key year-end strategy to differentiate the brand. To this end, a PB Development·Global Sourcing Team was established earlier this year, undergoing a preparation process for over a year. The goal is to expand franchise store sales and strengthen product competitiveness by increasing the number of globally popular products and enhancing content that differentiates it from competitors.

Customers are looking at the representative products of the '2023 Global Seven-Eleven Food Festa'
[Photo by Seven-Eleven].

On the 31st, Seven Eleven announced that it will utilize the global Seven Eleven family network to directly source popular products from local Seven Eleven stores in five countries? the United States, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Japan?offering a total of 36 hit products. While there have been occasional introductions of popular products from specific countries, this is the first time such a large-scale planned launch has been made. Seven Eleven is the world's first global franchise convenience store brand, founded in 1927 in Dallas, USA. Currently, it operates over 85,000 stores in 20 countries worldwide, serving more than 60 million customers daily.

The globally popular products being introduced include 4 items from Taiwan, 3 from the United States, 4 from Thailand, 2 from Vietnam, and 23 from Japan. Representative products include Vietnam Seven Eleven’s traditional rice noodle soup "Biphon Dakgogi Rice Noodles," Thailand’s top-selling shrimp snack "Okusuno," Taiwan’s popular local beef noodle soup transformed into cup noodles "Manhandaechan," and Japanese must-buy convenience store items such as "Langue de Chat White Choco" and "Strong Saw Lemon." Prices range from 2,000 to 6,000 KRW.

The global product exchange expansion project began earlier this year with the establishment of the PB Development and Global Sourcing Team aimed at planning and developing differentiated strategic products. Along with team formation, exchanges with global Seven Eleven stores were expanded, focusing on collecting product information from each country, analyzing local consumer responses, establishing operational policies for domestic introduction, and assessing success potential. Expanding export channels for Seven Select private brand (PB) products made by domestic small and medium partners was also a key task. Prior to this large-scale launch, Seven Eleven had exclusively sourced the best-selling American Seven Eleven wine "Barefoot," Japanese Seven Eleven’s "Scotch Whisky Highball" in June, and Taiwan Seven Eleven’s fruit-flavored carbonated drink "Chuhai" in July.

'2023 Global Seven-Eleven Food Festa' Featured Products
Photo by Seven-Eleven.

To commemorate the introduction of global popular products, the "2023 Global Seven Eleven Food Festa" will be held nationwide at Seven Eleven stores throughout November. Customers paying with KakaoPay for global Seven Eleven products will receive a 10% discount. When purchasing five "Seven Premium" items, including Langue de Chat White Choco, customers will receive a free large hot Seven Cafe coffee. On this day, a pop-up zone celebrating the event will also be set up at the Seven Eleven Challenge Store in Songpa-gu, Seoul.

As the third-largest convenience store chain, Seven Eleven is aiming for a turnaround after acquiring Ministop in March last year, but is still focusing on integration efforts. Although sales increased by 13.06% year-on-year to 2.8207 trillion KRW in the first half of this year, operating losses continued at 27.9 billion KRW, marking a deficit for the second consecutive year. Choi Kyung-ho, now in his fourth year as CEO, plans to complete the integration process this year and focus on generating synergy starting next year. This direct sourcing of global popular products is also a measure to establish a unique Seven Eleven product MD operation system that distinguishes it from other brands ahead of next year’s leap forward.

Seven Eleven stated, "With the endemic phase (periodic outbreaks of infectious diseases) leading to the revival of overseas travel, demand for overseas food products is growing, especially among younger consumers. As a global brand, Seven Eleven’s strength lies in its ability to quickly acquire consumption trend information on products from various countries and easily directly source popular overseas products. We plan to leverage this as a core competitive advantage and expand related products in the future."

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