This blog post is commenting and expanding on the idea’s presented in Chelsea Choi’s blog post entitled “7 Eleven’s New Health Heaven”
Within her blog post, Chelsea provides some great insight in how the addition of new and healthier products will affect 7-Eleven. I agree with chelsea and that this decision will be valued by a niche group in the market because of the recent uprising in popularity of wholesome foods (consumer preferences) . However, I don’t think the healthy eating market trend Chelsea talks about in her post is something that applies to the market segment 7-Eleven targets.
Take for example my recent experience as a 7-Eleven customer. Just last week I found myself craving a late night snack. As it turned out, the only place open at the time was 7 Eleven so I preceded in treating myself to a couple of 99 cent donuts, which had more trans fats than the combined total of all the food I’d eaten that week. What I think this example brings to light is the job that 7-Eleven completes for it’s customers. I believe this job or purpose is to be a convenient way to satisfy a craving late at night. Thus, I think adding healthier products won’t add any value to current 7-Eleven customers.
Chelsea acknowledges that the phrases like “fast and convenient” are associated with the firm’s identity. She also states that “7-Eleven may find changing its image so radically (to be) be difficult”. I agree with her and would go further to say that trying to change the perception surrounding 7-Eleven would be so difficult that it would not be worth the effort. If consumers are concerned with their health, I don’t believe they’d make a habit of shopping at 7-Eleven when their are alternatives like Whole-Foods, who’s current image is already based on health. Although you could argue that 7-Eleven’s long operating hours and lower prices would give them an advantage over businesses like Whole-Foods, I think the size of the market segment they’d attract wouldn’t be large enough to earn any real profit.
7-Eleven is not the first to experiment with offering healthier menu items. Companies such as Burger King and Dairy Queen have done the same in the past. In both cases, these healthier items were discontinued because they were not popular enough to remain on the menu. That is why I agree with Chelsea that this move is “risky”, so risky that I think 7-Eleven should not indorse this change.
Link to Chelsea Choi’s Blog : here
Link to Chelsea Choi’s Blog post entitled “7 Eleven’s New Health Heaven”: here
Image sources :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-Eleven
https://www.7-eleven.com/Hungry/Off-the-Shelf/Fresh-Bakery/Glazed-Donut