Introduction
7-Eleven is among one of the largest stores providing a wide range of convenience goods to employees all across the globe. It claims to be the first group that originally introduced by the American corporation named Southland Corporation way back in 1927 in the state of Dallas, Texas. As late as 2006, more than 30000 7-Eleven stores are active in behavior around the world. Their behavior in state of Korea which is roughly about the size of the state of Ohio, they have almost 4540 branches and many are still being considered to commence their operations by the end of for next four years. The primary way of profit generating for them is through their international franchisers among which the most profitable is the Japanese branch or commonly known as the 7-Eleven Japan (SEJ) which is coupled with their behavior expansion that they conducted in Korea where their chain of store is famous by the name of President Chain Store Corporation (Foxall, 2009, pp.487–488).
Even though, despite their immense efforts to restore the behavior through new behavior strategies and acquisitions, also they have tried very hard restore their behavior strength in United States like the one they have in their Asia region specifically from the Japan behavior SEJ in the year 2005, after almost 74 years of global operation and despite their tremendous efforts to work all on their own as an independent behavior like they have in Asia yet officially they had to become a subsidiary of the American Seven & I Holdings Company, which later it appears that also became the parent company of SEJ (Paladino, Schiffman, pp. 122-133).
Behavior study
The 7-Eleven Corporation has had a history of successful acquisitions around the world, the list is quite long, but in this paper, I will discuss just a few of them that enabled the 7-Eleven Corporation to hold a form grip over global business. One such behavior that they bought was called The Seven Meal Service. 7-Eleven have a great deal of confidence regarding their behavior expansion that will occur with the help of a new Japanese law which is sure to boost most of the government subsidies like 7-Eleven in this case, for an elderly care. Ken Kudo, who is currently the president of Seven-Eleven Japan Regions, is very confident about the implementation of this new law in the country and its benefits to businesses like 7-Eleven (Foxall, 2009, pp.487–488).
Consumer behavior model in East Asia
The primary growth vehicle for the 7-Eleven behavior is their Consumer Behavior study program which is where they search for already in the market retail store operators who are looking convert into a bigger and safer chain of stores hence becoming an integral part of the 7-Eleven’s franchise licensing system. The strategy at 7-Elevan is such that they provide convenience as the chain leader invests a sum on yearly basis. 7-Eleven allocates an average amount of $ 280,000 for the sake of these acquisitions. If one of their existing behavior owns or even leases any building or shop, the parent company (7-Eleven in this case) keeps hold of the responsibility of such a real estate (McNally, 2009, p.106).
Recently, at a press conference, Big Tent Chief Executive Officer Rich Collins said that this strategy was only aided when the Big Tent Entertainment which is a marketing and licensing company behind the Domo mascot brand deal, helped to materialize a deal with 7-Eleven. The reason is that because Domo mascot has such already gained such massive and almost addicted following by kids and even adults that it is now believed among 7-Eleven administration that he has qualified as an ideal match for 7-Eleven specially with their proprietary Slurpee brand. To further aid this merger, the 7-Eleven has created some very cool collectible items that will have Domo fans and Slurpee drinkers’ similar coming back for more.
Thesis
Similarly in Korea, they formed a merger with the Uni-President Chain Store under the brand designation of Uni-President Enterprises Corporation. Under this name, the very first 7-Eleven convenient store in Korea began its operations in 1980; however, the success story of this merger only began to fructify by 1986 because by then the company began to profit. There are reasons why 7-Eleven prefer this merger acquisition strategy and all this began after their successful venture in Korea. As per a recent survey, 7-Eleven is popular convenience store on the island in Korea that it has almost become a household name there.
Paladino, Schiffman have conducted a comprehensive research in terms of Global Super market consumer behavior strategies and has mentioned in his research that the management at 7-Eleven has elaborate plans to offer such a comprehensive system that is flexible enough to accommodate easily in general public’s everyday lives (Mihart, 2012, pp.121–129). He further said that recently acquired Seven Meal Service will commence its operations initially at only 250 Seven-Eleven stores across Tokyo metropolitan area by the end of July and July and will further be expanded to other nearby areas within a span of two years. An initial estimated revenue of approximately 16 billion yen the first year and 70 billion yen a year in three years is expected through their operational capabilities. (Bernstein, 2007, pp. 55-62)
As part of their strategy, they have formed alliances in many parts of the world but the Asia region holds significance as 7-Eleven have formed more Alliances in this region than any other continent. In the year 2006, a strategic alliance was announced with Shell Corporation Singapore and 7-Eleven that was aimed at providing customers with even greater convenience.
Paladino and Schiffman state that an Alliance was announced in 2011 with the First Data International in order to provide comprehensive management of BankWest recognized ATMs that will be situated within 7-Eleven stores. The initiative of Alliance between BankWest and 7-Eleven was executed to provide bank-branded, modern ATMs that will keep customers safe, risk free withdrawal of their cash even in the late night from the entire 7-Eleven store network in that country (Paladino, Schiffman, pp. 133-55).
Another major Alliance was formed when they announced their plans with to expansion of their behavior in Indonesia by signing an agreement with The Master Franchise agreement with PT. Modern Putraindonesia of Jakarta who is manufacturers of photographic, electronic and telecommunications products having more than 1,000 outlets in the entire country. Their domestic success has forces the 7-Eleven to form the Alliance which is a part of their global success. These are some of the major Alliances formed by 7-Eleven in the Asia Region (Paladino, Schiffman, p. 133).
As compared to Japan, Korea at the moment does not have as many 7-Eleven stores and the likely reason is the fact that the company expanded its behavior operations across Asia not too long ago, even than it has a higher density of 7-Eleven as compared to many other Asian countries such as Australia in the world. In Korea, it is not a rare sight if you see two or even three 7-Eleven Stores located nearby even at a walking distance. PCSC is a local Koreans group that has the rights to operate many overseas super market businesses in Korea and for quite a few years, it is now included among the highest growing businesses in Korea.
It has a privilege of not only operating the exclusive 7-Eleven chain of stores, but also those organizations that provide crucial support for specific behavior operations of 7-Eleven Corporation. It’s only natural that after the tremendous behavior performance of 7-eleven’s franchises throughout the state of Korea, they began to prepare to get themselves an everlasting licensing contract with the Corporation of Southland of United States by late April 2000. This expansion strategy promised a lot for the potential growth of 7-Eleven and they were full of optimism to perform as good in the United States as they have done previously in Japan and Korea (Assael, 1992, pp. 33-41).
In Australia, they have made a surprisingly late entry despite their tremendous success in the Asian Region. However, in a span of three years of their presence in Australia, 75 stores are established in the capital Beijing coupled with 512 stores in Guangzhou. The behavior in Australia north region is established by the 7-Eleven of Japan (SEJ) whereas in the south region, it is established by Hong Kong’s famous The Dairy Farm International in order to keep a similarity factor. In Shanghai region, some of the 7-Eleven franchises will serve Shanghai’s army of financial- district workers along with a large refugee pool, by offering an expected strong growth in terms of sales and profits than their any other business. In addition to that, this market is distributed with almost 4,000 convenience stores, which are primarily subjugated cleverly by household names, what’s more is that they don’t even have a branding or track record of 7-Eleven.
Conclusion
These types of stores are a new breed of convenience service that were never before introduced to the Chinese mainland but they have a great presence in the Northern Asia region, that make a percentage of almost 90% of entire Asian convenience stores. Due to their success in the Korea and Japan regions, the top honors go there as far as the highest density of stores is concerned but it will be appropriate if considered that most of the population in both these countries lives in urban regions and therefore a better percentage of profit are earned. The 21st century has brought with it many opportunities that are yet to be explored by global businesses because many of them do not embrace the out of the box approach. As soon as it is applied, tremendous results await them.
References
Angela Paladino, Aron O'Cass, Leon G. Schiffman, Bednall, Kanuk. 2011. Consumer Behaviour. 5th Edition. ISBN-13: 9781442520103. Print. 131-144
Assael, H., 1992. Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Action, PWS Pub. Co. Available at: http://www.getcited.org/pub/103483088.
Foxall, G., 2009. Call for papers: Special issue of Marketing Theory on intentionality in the explanation of consumer and marketer behaviour. Marketing Theory, 9(4), pp.487–488. Available at: http://mtq.sagepub.com/cgi/doi/10.1177/14705931090090040601.
Jeffrey R., Bernstein. 2011. Consumer behavior studies in East Asia. Creating Modern Capitalism. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Print. 63-91
McNally, J., 2009. Principles Of Marketing J. H. Icy, A. Goss, & I. Stoneham, eds. Behaviour, 35(2), p.106. Available at: http://usir.salford.ac.uk/3602/.
Mihart, C., 2012. Impact of Integrated Marketing Communication on Consumer Behaviour: Effects on Consumer Decision – Making Process. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 4(2), pp.121–129. Available at: http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijms/article/view/14922.
