The first convenience store in the United States began operations more than 70 years ago. The first one in Japan appeared in 1969. In 1974, a large Japanese retailer, Ito-Yokado Co., Ltd., joined forces with the Southland Corporation of the United States to launch the first Seven-Eleven store in Japan. Since then, convenience stores have opened one after the other throughout the country-there were about 10,000 in 1980 and over 20,000 in 1992. Today, the franchise chains alone operate more than 38,000 outlets.

But before convenience stores could achieve this phenomenal success in Japan, they had to introduce management practices from the U.S. and invent their own business techniques. Two major reasons that their position in Japan's retail market is so strong today are their innovative products and unique distribution system. For example, the stores developed their own recipes for two traditional foods, o-nigiri (rice balls) and o-den (simmered foods). Employing a comprehensive, highly adaptable sales system, they began delivering refrigerated packaged meals and other food products to stores several times a day. In addition, the Point of Sales (POS) system, first introduced by Seven-Eleven in 1982, gives stores hands-on control over inventory, product ordering and deliveries.

The wave of store openings reached its peak in the second half of the 1980s. This was also a time of intense competition among chains. Many of them worked hard to establish a dominant presence in certain areas, in a bid to raise delivery efficiency and attain greater visibility among local consumers.

Japan's speculative economy faltered and the "bubble" burst in the early 1990s, pushing the nation into recession. Even so, new convenience stores kept opening up, and the industry is still growing. The stores are able to respond to shoppers' demands for convenience, and continue to change consumer habits in Japan.

The convenience store chains are not limiting their activities to Japan. They began investing overseas around the end of the 1980s, with FamilyMart opening up stores in Taiwan and Seven-Eleven Japan penetrating the Hawaiian market. Convenience stores began in the United States and developed in new ways in Japan, and the Japanese model is now spreading to other countries. Techniques honed over a period of 30 years-for example, establishing a dominant presence in certain areas, and using distribution and inventory management systems that pay close attention to detail-are now succeeding in other countries as well. Today, there are more than 1,000 FamilyMart stores in Taiwan, and o-nigiri rice balls packaged the convenience-store way are becoming a popular light meal in the Republic of Korea. In a recent development, FamilyMart announced in August 2001 that it would begin expanding into China in three years.