Seven & I is determined to make its GMS and department store businesses more profitable. It has already invested in upgrading key department stores, while converting others to hybrid SC operations, and last month announced the closure of 20% of Ito-Yokado stores. Key to future profit will be the rapidly expanding range of brands sold […]
Japan’s network of 55,000 convenience stores, 80% of them run by just three companies, is an ideal delivery system for online sales. The growth in online retailing in general is a tremendous opportunity for domestic and overseas brands alike, with expanded market access and lower cost distribution options of particular interest to overseas firms. The […]
Two years after announcing its much vaunted omnichannel strategy, Seven & I is launching the first stage in its integration of both offline and online sales channels, introducing large scale ‘click & collect’ to Japan for the first time. While Amazon can provide same day delivery in some areas, Seven & I is about to […]
Seven & I now owns two brands serving the home market, Loft and Bals, and it also sells a plethora of household products through Ito-Yokado. It is now forming synergies between these disparate businesses. The first result is a new specialty chain called Bon Bon Home, designed specifically to exploit the growing demand for home […]
Seven & I has been busy recently. As well as launching a new home fashion chain (see page 7) and making Barney’s Japan a full subsidiary, it has found time to negotiate a deal with Jean Paul Gaultier for a new apparel line to be sold through both Sogo Seibu and Ito-Yokado. After so many […]
As predicted for some time, Itochu has brokered merger talks between Familymart and Circle K Sunkus (CKS). As if the possibility of a merger between the number three and number four convenience stores wasn’t tantalising enough, Familymart may go all the way and merge with Uny, CKS’s parent company. Negotiations are ongoing, but failing a […]
Seven Eleven has long propped up its sister companies in Seven & I Holdings, but the situation is getting worse rather than better. While the convenience store posted another record profit for the first nine months of FY2014, Ito-Yokado and Nissen, both important for the group‘s omnichannel strategy, suffered major dips in performance yet again. […]
Sales of Seven & I private brands already exceed ¥700 billion a year. The company is now expanding the number of lines dual branded with major manufacturers, ranging from apparel to food and across its empire from convenience stores to Sogo Seibu. This seems like a win-win situation, giving Seven & I access to well-established […]
FY2013 retail results were heavily influenced by both renewed consumer confidence and increased spending spurred by the pending tax increase, but they also represent a new benchmark for the industry. Whereas a decade ago, the high performing retailers stood out as the exceptions, last year the opposite was true, with just a small number of […]
Apparel e-commerce is an intensely competitive business and getting tougher. This is making life harder than ever for the main catalogue businesses, helping explain Nissen’s decision to accept the embrace of Seven & I Holdings. Competition from big players in apparel e-commerce is intensifying. As well as the old catalogue firms and pure online players, […]
2014 could be a rough year for some – but problems with consumer confidence could be yet another reason pushing retailers towards greater consolidation. Last month saw what is the most significant merger in retail history between H2O Retailing and Izumiya. There have been bigger mergers financially speaking, but this is the largest between two […]
Build a store and the customer will come. But what if the store is a virtual one online? Given its clear aim to develop Japan’s first store-to-web omnichannel, Seven & I has taken the first step by entirely reorganising its advertising and promotion strategy. It will increase the volume of online advertising 10 fold in […]
Seven & I Holdings has a problem. In FY2012, Seven Eleven still accounted for 81% of the group’s net profits. It’s not surprising then that the group’s chairman, Toshifumi Suzuki, is keen to find new alternatives. This is the main thrust to four separate acquisitions announced in December, with the long-term goal of creating the […]
