Top Japanese retailers beef up omnichannel segment

The stores are expanding delivery services as more consumers work remotely.

Japan’s top retailers have been strengthening their omnichannel presence, with 7-Eleven strengthening its delivery and pick-up services whilst FamilyMart is mulling to ramp up its Amazon Hub lockers, a report from IGD revealed.

FamilyMart has expressed plans to expand the number of its outlets with Amazon Hub parcel lockers to about 350 by February 2022. Currently, the lockers are available at around 50 stores for customers to pick up items they purchase on Amazon Japan.

Meanwhile, 7-Eleven Japan has been shifting its strategy, from focussing on market concentration to slowing down expansion and strengthening its delivery and pick-up services. This has been accelerated by the pandemic, with proximity to customers becoming a less significant factor as more consumers work remotely.

The company currently offers home delivery, collection at a 7-Eleven store or pick-up from a locker for online purchase. For home delivery, the retailer may introduce a joint logistics system delivering merchandise from different stores owned by 7&i.

“This will offer new insights on how many orders they have in one area and potentially allow it to introduce dynamic pricing to offer reduced delivery prices when there is lower demand. The retailer may also install lockers in locations such as in offices, nurseries and apartment buildings to offer further convenience,” IGD’s senior retail analyst Charles Chan said.

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