Lawson/Family Mart/Circle K/Sunkus form a dark alliance to take down 7-11
Japanese Convenience Stores
Crisscross news reports:
TOKYO — Three major convenience store chain operators have agreed to jointly develop and market soft drinks to cut procurement costs and compete with industry leader Seven-Eleven Japan Co, sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
The three — Lawson Inc, FamilyMart Co and Circle K Sunkus Co — have second, third and fourth places in terms of market share in the industry with a combined network of 21,000 retail outlets.
Major conbinis joining together to take down 7-11? I wonder what effect this ‘cooperation’ will have on the variety of soft drinks one can now find at such stores. Will all convenience stores in Japan become horribly generic, endangering blogs such as Konbini Life?
