Leading Japanese convenience store chain

Over four weeks in February we observed in-store behaviour in a leading convenience store chain in Japan - and we interviewed franchise managers and their customers. From the research insights gained we defined six clear opportunities to improve both store efficiency and customer convenience.

In a further five weeks we prototyped and live tested two propositions to reduce queuing and optimise sales during busy city centre lunchtimes: one involving collection, the other delivery to local office buildings.

Rapid prototyping of in-app order and payment - for collection or delivery

Convenience stores struggle to differentiate and - open 24/7 - find it difficult to recruit and retain staff: labour is at a premium. At lunchtimes the stores are overwhelmed by customers queuing for bento and rice; others turn away, deterred by the crowds. We discovered that by flattening out the lunchtime peaks we could optimise use of staff resources and maximise sales potential.

We built a pre-order app with in-app payments and two modes: one to pick a collection slot, the other to arrange delivery direct to your office floor. Working with local franchise managers we prototyped the entire customer experience and operational fulfilment for both pick-up in a city centre store and delivery to an office building in Tokyo’s financial district.

Continuous improvement over three iterations

Creating a working app using real store inventory took less than two weeks. We then ran three tests of increasing size and fidelity, making product improvements each time.

We established that both propositions gave clear benefits to customers and franchisees, were operationally feasible and had the design qualities and product fit necessary for successful implementation.

New value from real time customer data

The impact for the business was not simply reduced queue times and improved customer throughput and sales.

The app gave the store the opportunity to make personalised offers direct to consumers. Their order history and preferences will enable stores to make precise demand forecasting and improve product assortment.

For the parent brand, the products also promised to give opportunities to aggregate understanding of store demand by location and to share experience of product marketing and improvement across the network.

Business impact

The result: in just 9 weeks the business understood in detail how to make two propositions that would increase store efficiency, improve revenues and create a mine of valuable customer data and marketing opportunities.

For more on how we can help your organisation, see our framework for Rapid Business Innovation