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In Taiwan, the 7-ELEVEN is one of the most popular convenience stores. Even though there are other convenience stores, these stores all try to compete with 7-ELEVEN which remains the top one in the convenient store market. The first store opened in 1978 and since then has grown more than 4,600 stores. The area of Taiwan is small, 13,900 square miles, but Taiwan has highest density of 7-ELEVEN stores in the world, with stores everywhere, from mountains to ocean-side. There are only 23 million people in Taiwan, but over four million consumers visiting 7-ELEVEN each day. Location
Location is one of the important factors. Good locations not only can bring many customers but also can bring a higher profit. In general, stores don’t like to set up stores at an intersection, near the traffic signals and a corner. However, the feature of the 7-ELEVEN stores are that they set up their stores in intersections. Intersections are 7-ELEVEN’s favorite locations and are usually located in there. The 7-ELEVEN company thinks it much more obvious and also can catch consumers’ eyes. If a store is set up in ordinary location, it just can attract consumers from one direction.
Besides, to expand their territory, 7-ELEVEN also sets up in subway stations, schools, hospitals, and rest areas of highways. Besides, almost every community has one 7-ELEVEN store. Sometimes, it is not an unusual scene for two 7-Eleven shops to stand face to face across an intersection. Therefore, 7-ELEVEN is everywhere; consumers can reach it easily even in Taiwan. Product 7-ELEVEN is the market creator of 24-hour shopping, bill collection service, ATM, fresh food service, pre-order, and proprietary brands.
In addition, 7-ELEVEN utilizes team merchandise and international procurement to launch foreign top sellers, and has developed a range of beverages and foods that contain strictly selected ingredients to strengthen product structure. The 7-ELEVEN stores offer over 3,000 products meeting consumers’ daily needs. They not only have daily products, but also create unique products, such as lunch boxes, breads, coffee, noodles, smoothie, sandwiches, and so on. The target of these convenient foods is that people prefer not to spend time waiting for their meals, such as students, young people and business men and women.
Besides, their food-products will follow the seasons and occasions to change the flavor to meet customer needs. For example, during winter, 7-ELEVEN provides some hot beverages and offers cold noodles in summer. Furthermore, when time approaches the festivals, 7-ELEVEN will sell products that are related to each festival. For example, Happy Mother’s Day is coming and it is selling cakes and greeting cards. Service It is their ultimate goal that making 7-ELEVEN stores into Community Service Center for people in the vicinity. They believe modern convenient store cannot satisfy consumers by only selling products.
They have established different kinds of service-based products to promote Community Service Center concept. With the combination of financial service and information, 7-ELEVEN have launched the “Bill Payment Service” allowing customers to pay their public service bills. They hope that Community Service Center can simplify people’s daily routines through the stores around the province. The following is 7-ELEVEN stores’ various services catering. ServicesService Item Convenient Services? Photo development ?Digital image printing ?Bill collection service ?Takkyubin ( similar to UPS) ?Facsimiles transmission Direct marketing shopping service ?Duskin rental service ?Pre-order service Retail service ?International calling cards ?Telephone cards ?Booklet for College Examination center ?Booklet for entrance exam to technological college ?Bus fare cards ?Stamps ?envelops ?Post cards Others? Pre-ordered purchases, photocopying, worldwide express service, free calls for ringing up radio taxi etc.. ?Launch i-cash President Chain Store Corp. (2005) Besides, 7-ELEVEN develops demand strategy such as reservation system by which customers are able to get popular products using online ordering in advance. -ELEVEN Taiwan hoped that it would become everyone’s necessary good neighbor and provides a wide and ever-changing of service depending on environment and market trends. Marketing Strategy Innovation plays an important role in the marketing market because consumers’ buying habit and buying behavior are always changing. 7-ELEVEN has been always creating various strategies and understand how to attract consumers. 7-ELEVEN uses television commercials to reach their consumers and there are many famous stars in their commercials. Customers can very often watch their commercials on television.
Besides, they have created two slogans “7-ELEVEN always open” and “It’s nice to have 7-ELEVEN” in their advertising which are easily able to be memorized and understood by the public. It created a strong organization image. 7-ELEVEN follows seasons and occasions to have different kind of commercials and provides sale promotions as well. In addition, they have created a cartoon character on July, 2005 to represent them. The character is Open-jiang and he has a hair band on his head which is 7-ELEVEN’s mark-orange, green, and red. Open-jiang has his own products, commercials, blog and songs.
He has become a popular character in Taiwan. To increase their profits, the 7-ELEVEN stores had the Hello Kitty magnet marketing project in 2005. When consumers spent over $2. 50 U. S dollar, they obtained a free Hello Kitty magnet with a free coupon. There are many different Hello Kitty magnets. This promotion attracted a great deal of people and resulted in the Hello Kitty magnet effect. People were crazy about it, not only children, but young people, and adults. In order to gain and collect magnets, customers bought over $2. 50 U. S dollar’s in products, even though they didn’t really need them. Without knowing the styles of
Hello Kitty magnets in packages, consumers probably obtained the same one more than once and would kept on spending over $2. 50 U. S dollars. Due to this marketing strategy, 7-ELEVEN stores had a turnover increase of 36% and income became $10 hundred million in a few months in 2005. There are other convenience stores that imitated 7-ELEVEN; however, they were not as successful. In order to enhance consumers’ loyalty, 7-ELEVEN provides i-cash card which is like Starbucks’ Stored-value card. I-cash card enable customers to conduct transactions faster and easier. Customers acquire various promotions as well.
For instance, when consumers deposit $15, they gain free drinks. Buying some products with i-cash card can have discounts. Furthermore, consumers can purchase i-cash of various designs online and can also make personal i-cash card. In conclusion, 7-ELEVEN stores open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and offer more 3,000 products and various service in order to satisfy consumers’ daily needs. 7-ELEVEN is top service organization in Taiwan, and there are over four million consumers visiting 7-ELEVEN each day. It meets consumers’ needs and has been innovated new products and marketing strategies depending on environment and market trends.
Therefore, 7-ELEVEN is the most popular convenience store in Taiwan and it has become everyone’s necessary good neighbor. 7-ELEVEN has built a good image and brand loyalty in consumers minds. References President Chain Store Corp (2005). 7-Eleven. Retrieved April 27, 2008 from http://www. 7-ELEVEN. com. tw/en/ Yang, M. L. Innovation of 7-Eleven in Taiwan. Retrieved April 27, from http://www. books. com. tw/activity/gifticash/inside3-1. htm Chen, H, X. & Huang, Y. T. Marketing strategy of 7-Eleven. Retrieved April 27, 2008 from