Customer service in Japan is a stuff of legends. Even so, if you crave for sushi, would you think of going to a convenience store to get some? As we learned, yes – you should go straight to 7-Eleven.

Convenience stores - konbini – first appeared in Japan about 50 years ago. The country’s first c-store was a 7-Eleven store in Tokyo’s Toyosu district. Today, there are about 8,000 c-stores in Tokyo known for their high-quality fresh foods and sushi.

In fact, the quality of food in Japanese convenience stores is so outstanding that many people prefer to eat convenience store food over traditional restaurant options.

If you would like to experience the amazing world of Japanese c-stores, the upcoming 2025 NACS Convenience Summit Asia is the place to be. It takes place on February 25-27 in Tokyo, Japan.

But even if you will not be attending this event, there are some lessons directly applicable to the US convenience store market, where we see the importance of good food offering in a friendly setting growing rapidly across the range of stores, from individual stores to small and medium chains, to the top ten c-store chain operators.

These lessons are simple but important:• Operational excellence: pay attention to detail, assure that everything is 100% correct;• Make it fresh: Japanese c-stores receive multiple daily deliveries to ensure fresh stock. If the food is prepared in-house, it’s a winner;• Know your customers’ tastes: offer the food (and other items) most popular among the regulars, and try to test new items to find alternative favorites.

Nobody would say these tasks are easy. But they are achievable, especially with the help from the experts.

Ticon knows a thing or ten about the art of KYC (Know Your Customer). In retail, KYC means knowing the things about your customers that will help you better satisfy their needs and wishes.

In addition to traditional demographic reports by address, you can now also get Traffic Flow Demographics, a set of data describing the drivers in the flow of traffic that passes by your store.Ticon’s new product is available with nationwide coverage and high granularity, at Ticon’s industry-leading accuracy and precision.

So, if you want to be ahead of the game, give us a call to talk about product selection optimization with Ticon’s highly granular data.