7-Eleven Japan wants to refocus on being affordable, will expand budget-friendly food line

Ureshii Ne expansion is happy news for anyone who thinks convenience stores have gotten too expensive to be worth it.

Japanese convenience stores remain a great place to grab food and drinks, in the sense that they’re still stocked with a wide selection of tasty items available in convenient locations. However, prices for convenience store fare have been steadily creeping up for more than a year now. It’s gotten to the point where putting together a meal at a convenience store can often be more expensive than getting something to eat at a casual restaurant with table service, making a combini run to pick up lunch or dinner a much less appealing option than it was not so long ago.

7-Eleven Japan is looking to undo that change, though. On Tuesday, the chain said it’s going to be putting a renewed focus on affordability by lowering prices to expand its “Ureshii Ne” (“Happy Price”) line of budget-friendly foodstuffs.

In July, 7-Eleven lowered the prices of two of its most popular onigiri (rice ball) varieties, salmon and tuna mayonnaise, to 138 yen (US$0.95), leading to a 10-percent increase in total onigiri sales for the chain. In August, there were 20 items in the Ureshii Ne line, and it’s scheduled to more than triple in size to roughly 65 items by the end of this month, with 7-Eleven dropping the price of its fried rice plate, mapo tofu rice bowl, and butter chicken curry from 399 yen to 348 yen as of September 3.

7-Eleven says that it’s been able to make these lower prices viable through improvements to its supply chain and manufacturing processes, implying that it isn’t trying to achieve them simply by shrinking portion sizes. “We want to wipe away the perception that convenience stores are expensive,” said Nao Haishi, head of 7-Eleven Japan’s Products Division, explaining that it hopes that by offering items that represent a good value, customers will make more frequent trips to the chain’s stores.

In addition to foodstuffs such as onigiri, bento boxed lunches, and pre-made side dishes, 7-Eleven is also planning to add household supplies such as toilet paper and dish soap to the Ureshi Ne line.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun via Jin
Top image ©SoraNews24
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Credit: