Following its purchase of am/pm just over a year ago, convenience store chain Family Mart has completed negotiations to take over its subsidiary’s 120 Kansai region branches from March. Following the Tokyo area Family Mart is preparing now to switch Kansai and Kyushu stores to its own brand from the next fiscal year, as part of a nationwide adsorbing of am/pm into the Family Mart chain.
[Image courtesy of jpellgen on Flickr.]
Up till the takeover Family Mart actually had more branches overseas than in Japan due to aggressive expansion in Asian territories like Taiwan and Thailand. However, its aims are set on domestic rivals and now has a combined number of nearly 10,000 stores with the new purchase. In terms of sales and market share it still trails Lawson and Seven-Eleven, which also both have more stores, leading to assumptions that indeed strength of numbers is paramount.
Convenience stores are known for their eponymous convenience of course, as well as their ubiquity. They are indeed seemingly everywhere but how important are individual brands to average consumers? Despite their attempts to create brand identities and differentiate themselves — e.g. Family Mart’s range of MUJI products, Mini Stop’s popular summer ice creams — do we really pay that much attention to which chain we are buying our snacks in? Will am/pm be missed?
