7-Eleven's U.S. business nearly died until Japanese owner Ito Yokado took over in 1990 and imported Japan's playbook: compact stores, fresh food focus, and restocking twice daily using customer data. Food sales now drive the turnaround.
7-Eleven would be out of business if it wasn't for Japan? Well, here's why. It all starts in 1990 when 7-Eleven declares their second bankruptcy filing and then swoops in Ito Yokado, a Japanese supermarket chain, to bail them out. But it's not a random acquisition. Ito Yokado runs all the 7-Elevens in Japan, and those stores are doing incredibly well. But when they buy out the US operations, they suddenly realize things are an absolute mess. They're the same company but operating with entirely different business models. Great entrepreneurs know that what works in one market won't always work in another. Here's a 7-Eleven in the US and here's one in Japan. Notice the difference? American 7-Elevens rely on gas and cigarette sales, and the sales of those two things are tanking. Japanese 7-Elevens are tiny with lots of fresh food. American 7-Elevens send big dumb restocks twice a week, and Japanese 7-Elevens have super sophisticated customer tracking and restock their merchandise twice a day. Nitori Yukado takes everything that's working great in their Japanese stores and overhauls the US chain completely. And now all of those US locations are bouncing back and making an absolute killing on Food.
