2. What factors accounted for Seven-Eleven’s continuing success in Japan? The growth of shopping via the Internet had been viewed by Japan’s Seven-Eleven convenience store chain as an opportunity rather than a threat. Because of conditions in the Japanese marketplace, Seven-Eleven Japan was not likely to be able to sell its own food and other products over the Internet. The company could, however, provide a service for the large number of Japanese who do not have credit cards or who do not have strong aversion to providing credit card information over the telephone. With over 10,000 outlets in Japan, Seven-Eleven has stores within a short distance of most of its customers and, in fact, of most Japanese.

Their customers tend to visit the stores frequently for relatively small purchases.

Thus Seven-Eleven Japan developed a plan to serve as a distribution point for the products of other companies that were selling over the Internet. Customers who wanted goods from an Internet marketer could order the goods over the Internet, and the Internet marketer would ship the goods to a Seven-Eleven store near to the customer. The store would then give the goods to the customer when he or she came in, accept payment in cash (as most Japanese customers prefer) or by credit card, and remit the money to the shipper. The ubiquitous and efficient delivery services available in Japan would facilitate quick delivery to the stores, which would, in fact, be easier than locating the often difficult-

to-find address of individuals. Seven-Eleven would collect a small fee for this service. More importantly, the stores would bring in additional potential customers, or bring in regular customers for additional visits. These customers might buy some of Seven-

Eleven’s own products in addition to picking up their Internet order.