Read this article from the October 21st issue of The Japan Times
‘Conbini’ coffee wins praise, profit for convenience stores
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/10/21/business/conbini-coffee-wins-praise-profit-convenience-stores/#.VEjrgr6rKDo
"Conbini" (convenience store) operators are competing in a famously cut-throat industry, and one product has come up on top of the market’s top players — coffee.
Millions and millions of cups of it.
Inspired by a popular ¥100 blend launched by McDonald’s Holdings Co. (Japan) in 2008, Seven-Eleven Japan Co. touched off a boom in conbini coffee last year, lifting Japan’s long-stagnant coffee market and rankling rival businesses.
Late last month, Lawson Inc. became the latest convenience store chain to offer ¥100 coffee, a move that its president says has already increased sales.
Coffee, more than anything else, attracts both new and repeat customers, who typically also spend money on other items, convenience store executives say. Like other fast-food items, it also carries relatively high margins.
“The impact of coffee on customer traffic is huge,” Lawson President Genichi Tamatsuka said recently.
As convenience store coffee heats up the nation’s ¥1.3 trillion coffee market, Starbucks Coffee Japan Ltd. is planning to step up its premium teas and ready-to-drink products.
Convenience stores have been serving machine-made coffee for years, but it never caught on due to quality reasons.
Lawson changed that in January 2011, starting its over-the-counter drinks service with a menu ranging from blends to lattes to teas. FamilyMart Co.’s self-service espresso machines were launched in late 2012, offering coffee, lattes and frappes.
But it wasn’t until January 2013 that Seven-Eleven gave rivals a jolt with black coffee that was not only low-priced but also considered high quality. The ¥100, grind-on-the-spot all-Arabica “Seven Cafe” started a coffee war that has intensified as FamilyMart and Lawson matched the price.
The popularity of conbini coffee pushed coffee consumption in the world’s fourth-biggest market up 4 percent in 2013 to a record 446,392 tons, according to the All Japan Coffee Association. Seven-Eleven alone aims to sell 600 million cups in the year to next February.
“At ¥100, conbini coffee is very attractive for consumers,” said Toyohide Nishino, the coffee association’s executive director. “Everyone else has to be feeling an impact, ” Nishino said.
Industry insiders say canned coffee, which typically costs more than ¥100, has been hit hardest: about 30 percent of Seven Cafe drinkers have switched over, the company says.
“It’s a step up from canned coffee,” said Hengtee Lim, a contributor at coffee website sprudge.com, calling conbini coffee “serviceable.”
“Starbucks will be fine — their audience is less about coffee and more about dessert drinks and a place to hang out.”
Indeed, Starbucks Coffee Japan last month raised its earnings guidance, citing brisk sales of fruit frappuccinos.
Meanwhile, Seven-Eleven is refining its coffee further with a process called husking to remove the silverskin layer that carries a bitter and rancid taste.
“No other convenience store does this, and neither does Starbucks or Tully’s,” said Seven-Eleven director Yasushi Kamata.
The new blend has boosted daily sales in Kyushu — its first market — by about 15 cups per store already, and will be available nationwide by month-end.
FamilyMart, for its part, hopes to draw customers away from Seven-Eleven and attract more women by adding a chocolate latte next week.
Is it a matter of time before Seven-Eleven offers its own lattes?
“I can’t tell you that,” Kamata said, smiling cryptically. “We first wanted to get the taste of black coffee right.”
Questions to prepare answers for in writing for November 7 class
1. What are 2 things you learned from this article?
2. Research the coffee business in Japan - it starts long ago with kissaten - and maybe even before that. Write what you found and where you found it. Make sure to paraphrase, not copy!
3. Imagine that you will survey people around you - in Gakushuin or on the street outside Gakushuin or online - about their coffee consumption, including where they buy coffee. Make a list of 10 questions you would ask. We will study about survey making next month, but for this homework, try it on your own. Make sure the questions and answer choices are clear. They should be closed answers - true/false, yes/no, or pick an answer from a list of choices. (Open answers are when each person gives a free answer in their own words.)
