Japan’s three biggest convenience retailers to trial joint delivery service

The three brands: 7-Eleven, Family Mart and Lawson, in concert with Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, will run a joint one-week test in August sharing drivers and delivery vehicles to replenish stock, according to Monocle.

The trial will be conducted across 40 of the three brands’ shops in the country’s capital of Tokyo and could help mitigate a shortage of delivery drivers in Japan, while also reducing the number of vans on the roads by as much as 30%.

The three convenience store giants have more than 50,000 outlets between them across the country, with more than 7,000 in Tokyo alone.

The trial comes after 7- Eleven, Japan’s largest convenience store group, announced last week it had embarked on a major review of what its typical store looks like.

The retailer said it would replace its “one-size-fits-all” model across Japan, giving more autonomy to store owners and franchise holders to redesign stores to better fit local clientele.

Nikkei Asian Review said this represented a “big turning point” for the convenience store retailer, which had “pursued the unified format throughout the half-century since the opening” of its first store.

The move has been prompted by changes in Japanese consumer behaviour due to the coronavirus. Many of the country’s restaurants and other hospitality venues have stayed open – albeit with some restrictions – throughout the pandemic, but customer fears of becoming infected have seen upticks in sales at convenience stores like 7-Eleven.

While changing store layouts will eat into costs, 7-Eleven said it would look to offset those rises by streamlining delivery costs.