The personas of convenience store users from app data

Each of the three major convenience stores, 7-Eleven, Lawson, and FamilyMart, have released their own official apps. Here is a brief introduction of their features.

The “7-Eleven App” features a badge system that offers more benefits the more you use it. When you buy eligible products, your rank gradually rises to bronze, silver, gold, or platinum, and you can receive various benefits according to the rank you have earned.

As can be seen from campaigns such as "Buy 10 cups of Seven Cafe and get 1 free coupon" and "Buy 10 rice balls and get 1 free gift," the “7-Eleven” is characterized by the benefits of repeat use. In addition, app members also have the advantage of unlimited use of the free Wi-Fi service "Seven Spot”.

The "7-Eleven App" works in conjunction with nanaco points, allowing users to earn the aforementioned badges, nanaco points, and Seven Miles.

The most distinctive feature of the "Lawson App" is that it has a wide variety of coupons. Coupons are distributed daily, and coupons that can be used immediately, such as "20 yen off all Uchicafé sweets," "50 yen off all pasta," and "50 yen off all boxed lunches from Machikado Kitchen are displayed. Coupon information is also distributed daily via SNS such as Twitter.

The Lawson app can be linked to "Ponta points" and "d-points".

Since “Famipay” is a payment service developed independently by FamilyMart, it has a system that offers discounts when used at FamilyMart, but compared to other companies, it seems to be modest in terms of coupons and campaigns to attract users.

Another advantage is that by presenting the barcode once at the checkout, payment, coupons, and various point credits can be completed at once.

Let’s now take a closer look at the app users of the three major convenience store companies using the app analysis feature of “Dockpit”, which was released in May 2022.

First, let's compare the number of registered app users.

During the most recent one-year period, the 7-Eleven app had the largest number of users. Lawson had the highest number of installed users. Comparing the average number of days per month the "Lawson app" had the most days per month with 11.9 days, followed by "Famipay" with 11.0 days, and "7-Eleven app" with 10.3 days.

All of the apps are running approximately once every three days in a month, indicating that they are using the combination apps on a daily basis.

Looking at the number of users over the last two years, all three companies saw a slight drop in April 2022, but the overall trend shows an increase.

A comparison of the number of installed users over the last two years also shows the strong performance of the “7-Eleven App” since March 2021.

Next, we compare the user attributes of the “7-Eleven app”, “Lawson app”, and “Famipay” app.
The male/female ratio is almost equal. The majority of users are in their 40s for all three apps.

Comparing the gender of users, the "7-Eleven app" and "Lawson app" had an almost equal ratio of male and female users. In the “Famipay” app, 56.7% of users were male.

There was almost no difference in age among the three apps, with the largest number of users in their 40s, followed by users in their 50s and 30s. Compared to the age composition of all app users, the combination app users were relatively older, in their 50s and 60s.

While the actual number of convenience stores is likely to have a large impact on the prefecture where users live, regional characteristics are also well represented in the number of app users.

We see that the majority of users in the Kanto region use the “7-Eleven app”, while users in parts of Kansai, Tohoku, and Hokkaido use the “Lawson app”.

To learn more about user personas, let's find out what other apps they are interested in.

In addition to each app, we analyze user characteristics from the apps that are used frequently.
Since no significant differences were found in the rate of combined use, a comparison was made in terms of feature values (*).
As a result, the following characteristics were found.

“7-Eleven app”
-Frequent users of apps regarding food
-Use tools and work efficiency apps such as Wi-Fi finder.

"Lawson app"
-No special features, but it has antennas in a wide range of genres.

Famipay.
-Interest in finance
-Beauty and cosmetics apps are also distinctive.

So far, we have looked at the functions of the official apps of the three companies, the number of users, and user attributes, but it is difficult to see the differentiation of corporate strategies within the same business category of convenience stores as a whole.

Under such circumstances, each company is planning its next move with the following strategies.

Strengthening the handling of everyday items such as Ito-Yokado's "Vegetables with a Face" and starting to handle Daiso products.
source: https://diamond-rm.net/sales-promotion/166355/2/

Started selling MUJI products at its stores nationwide. Plans to introduce the product in approximately 5,000 stores in the Kanto Koshinetsu area in about six months and expand nationwide by the end of 2023.
source: https://webtan.impress.co.jp/n/2022/05/02/42723

Unattended payment stores and vending machine convenience stores are performing well, partly due to the Corona pandemic, and the company plans to open approximately 1,000 unattended payment stores by the end of FY2012.
source: https://www.jiji.com/jc/article?k=2021091001277&g=eco

There are also examples of stores attracting attention with unique initiatives or grabbing fixed customers with their community-based approach.

This time, we analyzed the personas of app users of the three major convenience store companies (7-Eleven, Lawson, and FamilyMart) using the app analysis function newly added to "Dockpit," and analyzed the features and differences in targeting.

The features of the official apps of each company are as follows.

“7-Eleven app”
-The more you use it, the more you save.
-Linked to nanaco points

“Lawson app”
-Coupons are plentiful
-Linked to Ponta points and d-points

“Famipay”
Present the bar code to settle the transaction. Coupon discounts and various points can be completed at once.

Next, we analyzed the app users of each company in detail.
Comparing the number of users, the "7-Eleven app" ranked first in both the number of users and the number of installed users over the most recent year. The “Lawson app” had the highest average number of days per month that the app was activated. The number of users is steadily increasing for all companies.

The user demographics were almost equally split between men and women, and there was little difference in age among the three apps, with the largest number of users in their 40s, followed by users in their 50s and 30s. Compared to users of all the apps, users of the combination apps were older.

Furthermore, when we looked at the apps used in conjunction with each of the apps, we found the following

-“7-Eleven app” users often use food apps
-“Famipay" users often use beauty and cosmetics apps

It remains to be seen how app users will react to the convenience store companies' next strategies.

The data in this investigation is from “Dockpit”, an analysis tool with online behavior log data and user demographic information under the permission of panelists in Japan presented by VALUES, Inc.

※The numbers of users are estimated by the data in the monitor and the internet population in Japan.