Convenience stores in Japan

Although originated in the United States, convenience stores developed tremendously in Japan. 7-Eleven Japan, while struggling to localize their service in 1970s to 1980s, evolved its POS-based business. Ultimately, Ito-Yokado, the parent company of 7-Eleven Japan, acquired 7-Eleven (US) from Southland Corporation in 1991. Japanese styled convenience stores (or konbini, as they call it) also heavily influenced those stores in other Asian nations, such as Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, and Mainland China.

Convenience stores heavily rely on POS system. Customers' ages, sexes, as well as tomorrow's weather forecast are important data. All orders are made on-line. As their store sizes are limited, they have to choose selling brands very severely.

In many cases, several same-chained stores exist in neighboring area. This strategy, called dominant, makes distribution to each store cheaper. It also makes multiple distributions per a day possible. Generally, foods are delivered two to five times a day from factories to each store. Since products are delivered as-needed, stores don't need large backyards.

It is disputed which was the first convenience store in Japan. Some says Mami in Toyonaka, 1969 is the first. Cocostore claims their store in Kasugai, 1971 as the first, while Seicomart makes the similar claim for their store in Sapporo, 1971. Others say the first 7-Eleven store in Japan, Kōtō (Tōkyō), 1974, truly began Japanese styled convenience store.

As of 2005, there are 43,667 convenience stores in Japan. Among them, 7-Eleven leads the market with 11,310 stores, followed by Lawson and FamilyMart.