At your Convenience

Seven-Eleven. Lawsons. Family-Mart. Mini-Stop. Daily Yamazaki.

What may sound like the line-up of the Grand National are in fact the names of the largest “Konbini” chains in Japan.

Konbini or Convenience Stores originated in America, but the Japanese have taken them to their collective hearts. Japanese Kobini differ from their American counterparts in that they don’t sell petrol, lottery tickets or car supplies, but they do have that Japanese twist. Coming from a country like the UK, the closest thing we have is Spar, but it doesn’t come close to the myriad of foodstuffs and home supplies you can find in the Kombini.

Ice-cream, ATM’s, Alcohol, soft drinks, snacks, magazines, cleaning supplies, bathroom toiletries, bento (Japanese style lunchboxes), milk, onigiri (rice balls), tobacco and cup noodles are just a few things that the Kombini sells.

“ Convenience stores rely heavily on the point of sale. Customers’ ages, gender, as well as tomorrow’s weather forecast, are important data. Stores place all orders on-line. As their store sizes are limited, they have to be very careful in choosing what brands to sell. In many cases, several stores from the same chain do business in neighboring areas. This strategy makes distribution to each store cheaper. It also makes multiple distributions per a day possible. Generally, foods are delivered to each store two to five times a day from factories. Since products are delivered as needed, stores do not need large stock areas.

According to the The Japan Franchise Association, as of August 2009[update] (data pertaining to the month of July 2009), there are 42,345 convenience stores in Japan. Among them, 7-Eleven leads the market with 12,467 stores, followed by Lawson (9,562) and FamilyMart (7,604). Most items available in larger supermarkets can be found in Japanese convenience stores. In addition, the following additional services are also commonly available:

• Courier and postal service.
• Photocopying and fax service.
• Automated teller machines.
• Payment service for utilities and other bills and taxes.
• Ticket service for concerts, theme parks, airlines etc. “

Taken from Wikipedia.com