Dive Brief:
- 7-Eleven experienced an uptick in consumer spending inside its convenience stores last quarter in North America, parent company Seven & i Holdings revealed in its fiscal Q3 earnings update last week.
- According to the report, average spending per customer increased year-over-year, primarily driven by 7-Eleven’s fresh food initiatives, which helped offset declining traffic. The increased spending resulted in a boost in merchandise sales at 7-Eleven’s North American stores, most of which are in the U.S.
- 7-Eleven has struggled with profitability the past few years in North America amid a difficult operating environment. The recent sales uptick is a much-needed win as the company looks ahead to an IPO for this division in the coming months.
Dive Insight:
7-Eleven has spent the past year rolling out its large-format, food-focused c-stores in the U.S. to combat profitability headwinds and improve consumer perception of its products. These stores are about double the size of a standard 7-Eleven and offer an expanded food and beverage selection in addition to seating for up to 20 people.
It’s no secret that the company has banked on this experiment to spark a rebound. 7-Eleven’s latest merchandise sales boost signals that the new store format might be working.
This past quarter marked the first time since fiscal Q2 2023 — about two calendar years ago — that 7-Eleven’s merchandise sales were positive in North America, according to its earnings reports. The uptick coincided with a continuing decline in fuel sales, which in the quarter "deteriorated due to market conditions,” the company said last week.
Seven & i said it’s also continuing to implement cost-cutting measures across the business. This has included closing hundreds of stores in North America due to underperformance. The company’s updated North America store count at the end of fiscal Q3 was 12,765 — nearly 200 less than it had at the end of 2024, according to its latest report.
This all comes just days after 7-Eleven lost two of its top executives in North America. Longtime CEO Joseph DePinto retired after 20 years with the company, while executive vice president and chief marketing and sustainability officer Marrissa Jarratt left for undisclosed reasons. Both departures occurred in the first week of January.
