– Seven & i Holdings and Seven-Eleven Japan agree to strategic partnerships with SoftBank, PayPay and LY Corporation, and with Sumitomo Mitsui Card
– Partners to combine physical and digital capabilities to shape next-generation customer experience and infrastructure for everyday convenience, guided by a shared aspiration to “uplift local communities and revitalize Japan”
– More than 20,000 stores and one of Japan’s largest combined user bases to unlock greater value at a scale only this partnership can deliver
– AI-driven transformation to power next-generation store services, making everyday shopping more seamless, more personal and more rewarding
– Seven & i Holdings to drive long-term execution through ¥300 billion capital partnerships, comprising ¥100 billion each with SoftBank and PayPay, and ¥100 billion with Sumitomo Mitsui Card
Seven & i Holdings and Seven-Eleven Japan today announced they have entered into strategic partnerships with SoftBank, PayPay and LY Corporation, and separately with Sumitomo Mitsui Card, to jointly shape the next-generation customer experience where physical meets digital and build next-generation infrastructure for everyday convenience. In addition, Seven & i Holdings has established capital and business partnerships with SoftBank and PayPay, and separately with Sumitomo Mitsui Card, (collectively, the “Capital Partnership,”) to reinforce their strategic partnership, provide a stable, long-term framework for joint initiatives, and deliver long-term outcomes.
Background, Purpose and Strategic Rationale
As consumer behavior and lifestyles become increasingly diverse, and digital services play an increasingly central role in everyday life, consumer expectations for greater convenience continue to rise. For convenience stores, seamlessly connecting physical stores and digital touchpoints to make everyday shopping easier, more engaging and more rewarding for each customer is essential to creating greater customer value, strengthening store performance, and driving growth.
Seven & i Holdings operates 7-Eleven, the convenience store brand with the world’s largest convenience store network. In Japan, Seven-Eleven Japan operates more than 20,000 stores with approximately 20 million daily customer visits. By combining this strong foundation with the partners’ digital technologies, data capabilities, and broad customer touchpoints, Seven & i Holdings aims to transform the customer experience and create new forms of convenience. These combined strengths will deepen customer engagement, enable smarter store operations, and unlock new revenue opportunities – enhancing the value its stores deliver, driving long-term growth, and reinforcing its position as customers’ first choice for everyday convenience.
Through this strategic partnership, the partners will bring together 7-Eleven’s store network and customer relationships; SoftBank’s capabilities in AI, robotics, data utilization, and IT solutions; PayPay and LY Corporation’s significant user network; Sumitomo Mitsui Card’s customer base; and PayPay and Sumitomo Mitsui Card’s expertise in cashless payments and loyalty points. By bringing these complementary strengths together, the partnership will broaden customer reach and create more touchpoints at scale. It will deliver more convenient, rewarding and personalized customer experiences, while enabling smarter, more efficient and more sophisticated store operations.
This partnership is designed to deliver greater customer value and drive stronger store performance of 7-Eleven. For the partners participating in the Capital Partnership, it provides an opportunity to integrate their technologies and services deeper into consumers’ everyday lives, strengthen engagement across customers and unlock new growth opportunities.
SoftBank, guided by its corporate philosophy of “Information Revolution — Happiness for Everyone,” is advancing the real-world implementation of advanced technologies. Through this Capital Partnership, SoftBank will deploy AI and digital transformation (DX) in retail, a sector deeply embedded in consumers’ everyday lives, across store operations, next-generation supply chains and beyond, creating value for society and business opportunities. SoftBank will lead next-generation store services through AI-driven transformation and build the retail infrastructure that will underpin everyday convenience in the years ahead.
PayPay operates one of Japan’s largest payment and loyalty platforms, serving approximately 75 million users and reaching a broad range of consumers. By connecting everyday shopping with payments, loyalty points and financial services, PayPay is enhancing the value of its digital financial platform. As part of this Capital Partnership, PayPay will bring its user base and payments platform closer to consumers’ daily shopping at 7-Eleven, leveraging its extensive payment data to deliver more convenient, rewarding experiences and deepen customer engagement.
Sumitomo Mitsui Card serves as the core payments company of the SMBC Group, with a vision of becoming “The most innovative cashless company.” Sumitomo Mitsui Card has expertise in cashless payments and financial services, as well as a broad customer base, including V Point members. Through the Capital Partnership, Sumitomo Mitsui Card will make V Points easier to earn and use, enhance cashless payment convenience, and explore ways to leverage the partners’ customer touchpoints, including through the store network of the SMBC Group, to deliver greater convenience and grow its customer base.
Partnership Initiatives and Next Steps
Near-Term Initiatives — Delivering Bigger Rewards and Greater Convenience at Unprecedented Scale
1. Connecting User Accounts, Loyalty Points Programs and Offered Services to Deliver a More Frictionless and Greater Value Shopping Experience
– Create a shared customer base by integrating Seven & i Holdings’ common membership platform, 7iD, into PayPay user accounts.
– Introduce PayPay Points and V Points as 7-Eleven’s store points, enabling customers to earn and redeem points more easily.
– Launch large-scale promotions and campaigns in collaboration with each partner, including discounts and reward points for SoftBank telecom service users, PayPay users, LINE and Yahoo! JAPAN users, and Sumitomo Mitsui Card payment service users.
The companies are considering a range of exciting initiatives designed to make everyday shopping at 7-Eleven even more rewarding. Examples include attractive ways for customers to get more value from their PayPay Points, such as exchanging 100 PayPay Points for a 7-Eleven product voucher worth ¥150, preferential point reward rates for LYP Premium members, and coupons that make selected products available at special value.
The above are examples of initiatives currently under consideration. The timing, conditions, details, and other terms of each initiative have not yet been determined and will be announced once finalized.
– Expand digital touchpoints and enhance convenience through 7-Eleven mini apps available through PayPay, LINE, and Sumitomo Mitsui Card.
Next-Phase Initiatives — Shaping Next-Generation Store Services Where Physical Meets Digital
Through the strategic partnership, the companies will continue discussions and explore the following initiatives.
2. Using Data to Generate Deeper Customer Insights and New Business Opportunities
– Combine the partners’ extensive and diverse data linked to user accounts with their physical and digital touchpoints to deliver more personalized experiences across customers’ everyday lives.
– Expand customer convenience and reach by leveraging combined customer touchpoints, including store networks and bank branches, through Seven-Eleven Japan’s partnerships with PayPay and Sumitomo Mitsui Card.
– Use this data platform, together with SoftBank’s technologies, including AI, to create new revenue streams, including through data marketing and retail media.
3. Transforming Store Operations through AI and DX
– Deploy SoftBank’s AI and DX capabilities to streamline and enhance store operations, optimize store management, and strengthen data-driven operations – with potential applications ranging from customer traffic analysis to greater efficiency across the entire supply chain – empowering franchise owners and employees to spend more time on customer-focused tasks.
4. Building Next-Generation Infrastructure for Everyday Convenience
– Deploy SoftBank’s AI, communications, security, green transformation (GX) and other technologies and solutions to enhance store operations, next-generation supply chains and energy.
– Build on these capabilities to create new business opportunities that deliver value for consumers, stores and the supply chain and build next-generation infrastructure for everyday convenience.
Through these initiatives, the partners will redefine convenience by delivering next-generation store services that seamlessly connect the physical and digital experience, while advancing next-generation customer experience and the store platform. Guided by a shared aspiration to uplift local communities and revitalize Japan, the companies will combine their strengths to build next-generation infrastructure for everyday convenience.
Comments from Company Representatives
Steve Dacus, Representative Director, President & CEO, Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd.
This partnership is an important step in further accelerating our Group’s growth strategy to become customers’ first choice for convenience. By combining Japan’s largest physical store network and everyday customer touchpoints with our partners’ digital platforms and expertise in AI, DX and data utilization, we will create new customer experiences where physical and digital work together seamlessly. We will make everyday shopping more convenient, rewarding and personalized, while using technology to help franchise owners and employees spend more time on customer-focused tasks. Through these efforts, we will redefine what convenience means for each customer and accelerate innovation across the Group.
Tomohiro Akutsu, President & Representative Director, SEVEN-ELEVEN JAPAN CO., LTD.
This strategic partnership is a powerful growth opportunity for 7-Eleven to deliver a shopping experience that is more convenient than ever, more rewarding, and more personalized for each customer. By combining our nationwide network of more than 20,000 stores with our partners’ large customer bases and digital touchpoints, we will move decisively to integrate user accounts and points and deliver promotions at an unprecedented scale. We will also harness AI and robotics to simplify and streamline store operations, while better supporting our franchise owners and store teams. We will keep giving customers new reasons to wonder, “What’s in store at 7-Eleven?”, while creating greater value for our franchise owners. Through these efforts, we will bring to life our purpose: making the people of the town happy through this convenience store.
Junichi Miyakawa, President & CEO, SoftBank Corp.
Our Group is driving its growth strategy, “Activate AI for Society,” by unlocking the potential of AI across all our businesses and accelerating its adoption throughout society. Through this strategic partnership with Seven & i Holdings and Seven-Eleven Japan, we will bring together 7-Eleven’s nationwide store network and customer touchpoints with SoftBank’s advanced technologies and expertise in AI, robotics and digital marketing to create new customer experiences where people live, work and shop every day. SoftBank will lead the development of next-generation store services that connect physical and digital experiences through AI transformation, helping build next-generation infrastructure for everyday convenience in the retail sector.
Ichiro Nakayama, President & Representative Director, CEO, Corporate Officer, PayPay Corporation
As one of Japan’s largest digital financial platforms, PayPay is creating new value by bringing together payments, user accounts, data and points. Through this strategic partnership, we will bring together leading physical customer touchpoints and payments platform to further enhance the customer experience while expanding our customer reach. Over the longer term, we will leverage AI and data-driven customer insights to deliver more personalized experiences, while expanding PayPay’s global reach and driving growth.
Takeshi Idezawa, President and Representative Director, CEO, LY Corporation
Under this strategic partnership, we aim to combine the digital customer touchpoints we have built through LINE, Yahoo! JAPAN and other services, reaching more than 100 million users, with 7-Eleven’s physical customer touchpoints to create a more convenient and rewarding shopping experience. By leveraging campaigns for LYP Premium members, LINE Official Account and LINE MINI App, we will deliver benefits and services that bring value to customers in their everyday lives, while creating new marketing opportunities. These efforts will connect physical and digital touchpoints and create seamless customer experiences that naturally fit into customers’ everyday lives.
Toru Nakashima, President and Group CEO, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc.
The SMBC Group has been transforming its retail financial business through Olive, its integrated financial services offering, while leading the shift toward cashless payments. To unlock the full potential of this landmark strategic partnership between a major convenience store operator and one of Japan’s leading financial groups, we will deliver even more convenient and rewarding cashless payment services centered on V Points. We will also create new customer-centric value and experiences by connecting and leveraging the partners’ store networks and customer touchpoints, including bank branches.
Appendix: Overview of Disposal of Treasury Shares Through a Third-Party Allotment in Connection with Capital and Business Alliance
Based on capital alliance agreements, SoftBank, PayPay and Sumitomo Mitsui Card will acquire common shares of Seven & i Holdings through the disposal of treasury shares (the “Treasury Shares Disposal”) through a third-party allotment to be conducted by Seven & i Holdings. Each company will acquire 48,309,178 common shares of Seven & i Holdings for a subscription amount of ¥100 billion each, or ¥300 billion in aggregate. (For details regarding the Treasury Shares Disposal through a third-party allotment by Seven & i Holdings to SoftBank, PayPay and Sumitomo Mitsui Card, please refer to Seven & i Holdings’ announcement released today, “Notice Regarding Capital and Business Alliance and Disposal of Treasury Shares Through a Third-Party Allotment.”)
