With the convenience store wars heating up, its worth reviewing some numbers, and introducing the players behind the stores.
Mitsubishi Shoji have a 32% shareholding in Lawson and a 10% holding in ampm. The sale/merger of ampm with Lawson hit difficulties recently, but it is clear why Mitsubishi Shoji would be keen to see some amalgamation here.
Lawson is the number 2 store in Japan having 9,527 stores with revenue of 1兆5587億円, that is YEN 1,558,700,000,000 or about USD 15 billion.
7 Eleven, owned by Ito Yokado owner, Seven & I Holdings Co., still holds the number 1 position.
Wikipedia has the numbers as follows:
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).
Which is your favorite convenience store? Do you think it is good to have amalgamation and mergers in this market?
Note: I booked my return ticket for Japan today. I leave on Wednesday. Glad to be heading back to the world of conbini’s.
http://shibuya246.com/2009/10/19/conbini-monday-wk24/
Sometimes mergers are the only way to survive, but as with larger companies people loose their job. According to wikipedia, Lawson started out as a store in Ohio, by a farmer to sell his milk. All of the conbinis here in the states, especially 7-11 are all equiped w/gas pumps. Alot of the gas stations around here have some type of small conbini attached to them. But the products they sell are way over priced, so much for convience.
Last week I went to the 7-11 conbini to purchase the Domo-Kun Slurpee and matching figure straw. All they had were the cups,no straws but were selling metal straws fo $.99 USD=yen100. Was very dissapointed, spent $3.25USD on the drink and straw. Bummer.
Good to see that you’ll be heading back to Japan Wed. Seems like you’ve been gone forever.
This domo promotion seems badly organized. My 711 had the domo straws but not the cups (but had a poster for the cups). 711 is still my favorite US conbini for thier slurpees. I haven’t spent enough time in Japan 🙁
Lawson’s by far in my opinion…. their food (esp. fresh food) was the best and I practically lived off Lawson’s in Kyoto and Hirsohima! (esp. Kyoto)
It is easy to live out of a conbini isn’t it? I am surprised how fresh their bread seems with deliveries 2 or 3 times a day
True! Traveling with school kids meant we didnt eat out together much as the kids wanted to save their money for gifts etc so Lawsons became a staple for us! (plus the eateries around the stations and shopping centres were a little pricey if you just wanted something small and quick to eat)
The staff at Lawsons we frequented in Kyoto got to know some of us by first names by the 3rd day which I thought was quite impressive (though the two T’s in my name threw some!) though also a sad indication of how much time we spent there!