7-Eleven Convenience Store’

Hey it's Cindy here. Finally this is my first post but honestly I have been a faithful reader to this blog. It's just that somehow I was unable to blog. This is something I wrote before the Winter Break.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let’s look at the big red seven on page 343 in our marketing book. What is ‘7-eleven’? According to the text, it is an example of convenience store, and I am going to share my experience of it and hopefully it gives you some picture in head. And hopefully some of you get really successful one day and bring 7-Eleven chain into Pakistan, because I miss it so much.

A. What does it sell?

Its aim is to satisfy whatever a resident might need in 5 minutes walking distance (otherwise it is not that convenient is it?) Any regular size has a mini bookshop with about 60 options of novels, books, comic books, magazine, maps, newspaper, CD, toys, and stationary. You can find about 20 types of bread, 10 types of sandwich or burgers. Hotdogs, spaghetti, macaroni, pizza, salads, tea eggs, fried or steamed dumplings with different flavors, lunch boxes and steamed buns etc. There are about 70 types of drink you can choose from, 20 types of ice cream. You can also find face wash, toothbrush, shower gel, socks…..and I guess I don’t need to talk about cookies, candies and all that, do I?

I often get very confused about what to eat so I usually go for whatever is on promotion, and I think 7-Eleven is a good place to learn about a company’s marketing strategy.

Last time when I visited it, it started to sell freshly brewed coffee and now it works with shipping company like TCS here and online shopping sites like eBay and online bookshops. So basically you can order something you want online, and select the nearest 7-Eleven. Later you’ll pay and collect the goods from 7-Eleven. Don’t ask me why Taiwanese people want to purchase things online, but if you are interested, leave a comment. You can also go there for concert tickets booking, government’s gas bill/ fine bill payment, DVD renting, ATM machine, fax and copy machine.

B. Why does it work?

First of all, 7-Eleven is everywhere and you can literally find 7-eleven shop every corner in a city! I tried to find a figure to show you how intense it is.

1) There are 4818 shops in Taiwan (35980 km²) so it means, in the same scale there should be 237 shops in Lahore(1,772 km²)! I am not sure how many Gourmet bakery shops we have in Lahore, but I am guessing it’s about 50 shops?

2) Or another way to make the estimation is there is one shop for average 4773 people (Population of Taiwan: 23 million) ! In that case there should be 2095 shops in Lahore! (Lahore population: 10 million), or 37,712 shops in Pakistan (Population of Pakistan: 180million) ! Isn’t that crazy? But it is what it is like in Taiwan, and please don’t forget 7-Eleven, even though it is the mainstream in Taiwan, still has 4 other similar convenience store chains competing with it!

C. What is the difference?

What differentiates 7-Eleven is that it is open 24 Hours a day unlike departments store, supermarket or super store. The definition given by the text is ‘A small store, located near a residential area, that is open long hours seven days a week and carries a limited line of high turnover convenience goods.’ I cannot recall how many times when all the shops were closed because of the typhoon, we bought our lunches and dinners from 7-Eleven stores. There we shop without having the idea ‘oh I need to go shopping.’ You simply just walk in, get confused by all the colorful products and the advertisement ‘Oh I like this, let me take one.’ Without realizing, you have already paid the money and left, because it is too convenient.

If you are interested to find out more, you can go to following links of 7-Eleven:

USA: http://www.7-eleven.com

Taiwan: http://www.7-11.com.tw

Japan: http://www.sej.co.jp

Hongkong: http://www.7-eleven.com.hk/

Thailand: http://www.7eleven.co.th/

Philipines: http://www.7-eleven.com.ph/

The link for the photos:
1. http://www.7-eleven.com
2&4 .
http://tw.image.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Ftw.image.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3D7-eleven%2B%25E5%258F%25B0%25E5%258C%2597%26js%3D1%26b%3D19%26ni%3D18%26ei%3Dutf-8%26y%3D%25E6%2590%259C%25E5%25B0%258B%26pstart%3D1%26fr%3Dyfp&w=500&h=375&imgurl=static.flickr.com%2F3026%2F3002428579_1932e111c1.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Fhey-gem%2F3002428579%2F&size=223k&name=interiors+5&p=7-eleven+%E5%8F%B0%E5%8C%97&oid=be540263dbb72402&fr2=&fusr=hey-gem&no=20&tt=256&b=19&ni=18&sigr=11g7je2i7&sigi=11g783g1q&sigb=14a4b15hu&type=JPG>
3.http://p7.p.pixnet.net/albums/userpics/7/5/587175/1217153961.jpg