My cable TV is out for like two weeks, and I find I am actually spending
time watching the satellite TV Japan channel I had installed. Interesting
show tonight on 7-Eleven; which is apprently the #1 retailerof a) onigiri,
b) canned/bottled soft drinks, and c) magazines in the country (Japan, that
is). What I hadn't realized is that when you go up to the cash register, the
clerk not only punches in the amounts of your purchase, he/she also punches
in whether you are male or female, and your approximate age group. There are
a line of keys on the register especially for his. Anyone seen this?

With their real-time consumer surveying and marketing clout, 7-eleven has
carved out a new niche for itself; it tells various manufacturers what its
customers want and the manufacturers respond by producing the item, that now
gets co-marketed under the 7-Eleven trademark. So they replace the market
research and development function of the manufacturer. Apparently in-house
products now make up almost 50% of what 7-Eleven sells, so they have become
one of the largest (virtual) food/drink producers in Japan as well

Was 7-Eleven originally a Japanese company? I though it was American.....

-Marc