7-Eleven’s Egg Salad Experiment

About this episode

The episode discusses 7-Eleven's attempt to introduce egg salad sandwiches in the U.S. and the associated business challenges.

7-Eleven has been working on a big comeback for a while. Their first big attempt at reinvention might surprise you: egg salad sandwiches. While quite popular in Japan, 7-Eleven’s big gamble on egg salad sandwiches throughout United States stores is head scratching. In this episode, our panel wonders what led to this decision, discusses the larger business challenges at play, and proposes our own fixes for what 7-Eleven should do next. Along the way, we unpack convenience store culture, customer behavior, retail psychology, operational execution, and take a hard look at how brands can misfire when they try to import global trends without adapting them locally. The team also debates: ● Why Japan’s 7-Eleven experience feels completely different than anywhere else ● Whether North American consumers trust convenience store “fresh food” ● Why the U.S. $5.50 sandwich may already be positioned incorrectly ● How pop-up experiences and cultural immersion could help revive the brand ● Why iced coffee might actually be a smarter gateway product than egg salad ● How brands can retrain customer behavior instead of chasing viral moments Plus, Chino gives a firsthand review after testing the…

People in this episode

Guest: Chino

Topics covered

• convenience store culture
• customer behavior
• retail psychology
• business challenges
• global trends
• food ecosystem

Keywords

• 7-Eleven
• egg salad
• convenience store
• customer trust
• retail
• food trends
• Japan
• North America

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: 7-Eleven, Toronto

Products: egg salad sandwiches, iced coffee

Places: Japan, United States

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