Core Insights - The Canadian convenience store giant ACT has withdrawn its acquisition proposal for Seven & I Holdings (7&I), indicating that 7&I has lost a shortcut for rapid transformation through external capital and management expertise [3] - 7-Eleven Japan's revenue for Q1 FY2025 has declined by 0.7%, and operating profit has dropped by 11.0%, marking five consecutive quarters of negative growth [3] - 7-Eleven's growth rate since 2019 is approximately 5%, compared to 8% for competitors FamilyMart and Lawson [3] Group 1: Strategic Plans - 7&I's new president, Steven Hayes Dacass, acknowledged the company's complacency and lack of customer trust, stating that the company must change its approach [3][5] - The financial targets set by 7&I aim for operating income of 11.3 trillion yen (approximately 549.7 billion RMB) and EBITDA of 1.3 trillion yen (approximately 63.2 billion RMB) by FY2030, representing growth of 13% and 44% respectively compared to FY2024 forecasts [3] - The company plans to open approximately 1,000 new convenience stores in Japan and invest 300 billion yen (approximately 14.6 billion RMB) to upgrade over 5,000 existing stores, targeting an annual sales growth of 2% per store [5] Group 2: Operational Changes - 7&I intends to halve its sales management expenses from the current 81 billion yen (approximately 3.94 billion RMB) through focusing on core convenience store operations and organizational streamlining [7] - The company will accelerate its digital transformation to improve store operational efficiency, addressing its current lag behind competitors in this area [7] - 7-Eleven Japan has initiated its first store renovation projects, with a goal to complete 100 store renovations by 2025 and 500 by February 2027 [8][10] Group 3: Market Position and Challenges - Despite having a strong supply chain with 170 dedicated factories, 7-Eleven faces significant challenges in a saturated Japanese convenience store market [12][13] - The company’s daily average sales per store remain high at 692,000 yen (approximately 33,000 RMB), exceeding competitors by over 20% [12] - The shift from incremental to stock competition in the Japanese convenience store market presents both challenges and opportunities for 7-Eleven to reposition itself [18]