日本7-Eleven与日本第三大服装零售商And ST（Adastria）合作，9月25日起在全国门店铺23款服饰配件，目标吸引年轻女性客群

TOKYO -- Japanese convenience store chain Seven-Eleven Japan on Tuesday unveiled its apparel item strategy, partnering with a major clothing retailer to offer a limited section of 23 items such as hand towels, hair accessories and socks at its 7-Eleven stores nationwide, as the company seeks to strengthen its appeal among younger consumers.
"Apparel is a category that allows us to connect with customers' lifestyles. With an eye toward attracting the next generation of core customers, we decided to partner with And ST on fashion accessories and related initiatives," Seven-Eleven Japan's senior merchandiser Junko Watanabe said at a news briefing on Tuesday.
The company is working with And ST, Japan's third-largest apparel retailer behind Fast Retailing and Shimamura. Seven-Eleven will offer items from And ST's brands such as Niko And and Lowrys Farm, as part of its effort to attract women in their 20s to 40s.
Japan's largest convenience store chain will begin selling 17 regular and seasonal items from Sept. 25, including towel handkerchiefs priced at 660 yen ($4.23), and loose, or baggy, socks aimed at younger women for 880 yen. It sells black T-shirts priced at around 2,000 yen and black sweatshirts at around 3,300 yen.
It will also introduce six collaboration items with And ST, with Hello Kitty items such as hoodies priced at 5,390 yen featured in the first collection from Oct. 23. Seasonal and collaboration items will be rotated regularly to keep the product lineup fresh.
"This initiative with And ST has allowed us to offer bright, fashionable and charming items that Seven-Eleven has traditionally found difficult to carry," Watanabe said. "Young women are often the ones who drive buzz and amplify trends on social media. With that in mind, we developed this lineup with them at the center of our strategy."
"Our hope is that they will become fans of Seven-Eleven and ultimately, long-term customers in the years ahead," she added.
The company conducted a sales trial in some of its stores last year. Seasonal products and other merchandise were rotated during the six-month period, and apparel sales as a whole more than doubled from a year earlier. Women made up more than 70% of customers and the share of younger customers was more than 1.5 times higher than the overall customer base, demonstrating the initiative's success in attracting new customers.
Seven-Eleven Japan plans to expand these apparel items to around 22,000 stores nationwide though it depends on its franchise owners' preferences. Plans for expansion to overseas stores have not been determined yet.
The company does not disclose an exact figure but hopes to double apparel sales from the fiscal 2025 level through its partnership with And ST.
The move comes from the retailer's customer demographics. Seven-Eleven's core shoppers are aged 50 and above, accounting for around 40% of its customer base, while those under 30 make up only about 17%. "In order to sustain long-term growth, attracting younger customers is essential," Watanabe said.
Last year, parent company Seven & i Holdings unveiled its first strategic plan through the fiscal year ending February 2031, acknowledging that Seven-Eleven Japan's brand image had weakened among younger consumers in Japan. It pledged to rebuild the brand through a coordinated approach to product development, store initiatives, and communication. The apparel initiative is a part of these efforts.
The company has also been stepping up efforts to attract younger customers by offering character merchandise through product lottery campaigns, launching collaborative goods and expanding its cosmetics lineup.
According to the Japan Franchise Chain Association, Japan had 56,054 convenience stores at the end of 2025. The store count has remained flat at roughly 55,000 in recent years, with the market becoming somewhat saturated.
Other Japanese convenience store chains are seeking to stoke new demand as well, taking the lead in differentiation with FamilyMart's Convenience Wear apparel brand, directed by fashion designer Hiromichi Ochiai. Convenience Wear sales have grown steadily, surpassing 20 billion yen ($125.8 million) in fiscal 2025. The company aims to increase sales by 50%, to 30 billion yen, in fiscal 2026. Lawson also sells cosmetics developed jointly with South Korean beauty brand Rom&nd, which have proven popular among younger consumers.