"marc" <spambots@eatthis.com> wrote in message
news:1_Mgb.703426$Ho3.154172@sccrnsc03...
> 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.....
>

Nice info.  I wonder if there's a 'gaijin' key.  I only ask 'coz I used to
have the distinct impression that anything I regularly bought - such as
'Snickers', 'Diet Coke' 'Funions' (spelling) would always soon disappear.
The most recent example of this was 'Canada Dry Tonic Water'.  My G & T
drinking mates and me bought about 50 500 ml bottles they had on display at
100 yen each (discounted from 130 yen) in about two weeks.  Then the item
just vanished.  I even asked the manager if he could special order a whole
case - the distributor wouldn't supply it to him!  So it's back to the
Suntory tonic in those 'chibi' cans at 90 yen each.  Tell me - where else
can the tonic water actually cost more than the gin?



-- 
jonathan
--
"Never give a G&T without the lemon to ducks"