Against the backdrop of an increasingly saturated convenience store market and intensified competition from e - commerce and drugstores, Japan's three major convenience store brands, 7 - ELEVEn, FamilyMart and Lawson, have all started to lay out plans for the "next - generation convenience stores". 

The latest data shows that in the first quarter (March - May) of the 2025 fiscal year, Lawson's total store sales were approximately 34.2 billion yuan (the same unit below), a year - on - year increase of 5.0%. The operating profit was 1.26 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 4.2%. The average daily sales per store reached 27,000 yuan, sing for the fifth consecutive year. In the Chinese market, the total number of Lawson stores has increased to 6,760, with a net increase of 140.

As Japan's third - largest convenience store chain giant with more than 14,600 stores, Lawson has always been known for its proactive pursuit of changes. On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the first "future - type store" was officially unveiled.

Breaking the Traditional Boundary of Convenience Stores as "Goods Sellers"

On June 23, 2025, Lawson opened its first "future - type store" in Tokyo, Japan - Real × Tech LAWSON.

This store is jointly built by Lawson and its controlling shareholder, KDDI, a Japanese telecommunications giant. It aims to address social issues such as Japan's declining birthrate, aging population and labor shortage, and explore the development model of the next - generation convenience stores.

The store is located on the 6th floor of THE LINKPILLAR 1 NORTH Building in KDDI's new headquarters campus. It is open to the public from 7:00 to 21:00. In addition, KDDI has added a branch on the staff - only floor to further test the new model.

In terms of space planning, the entire store has a "back" - shaped layout. The entrance and exit are respectively set at both ends of the outer glass wall. The straight corridor between them is equipped with a number of self - service facilities, which have both rest and operation functions. At the same time, it serves as the starting point of the circular moving line to improve space efficiency.

From left to right, the central area is divided into the frozen/refrigerated area, bread and pastry area, leisure snack area, daily grocery area, daily chemical + medicine area and self - service coffee area. Commodities are arranged in strips according to their functions, and associated displays enhance flexibility and practicality.

Defining "Convenient Digitalization" from the Customer's Perspective

The biggest innovation of this store does not lie in the simple addition of commodity types or service items, but in the interactive space system centered on "electronic display screen + customer behavior recognition".

Take the dessert shelf as an example: when a customer reaches out to pick up goods, the camera immediately captures the "pick - up action" and triggers the electronic screen above to switch from static information to "MACHI CAFÉ" drink recommendations, aiming to promote the combined consumption of desserts and drinks. It is worth mentioning that the system does not identify specific individuals or commodities, but uses "behavior nodes" as the trigger mechanism to achieve precise guidance.

A similar mechanism is also applied to the prepared food areas such as rice balls. The horizontal electronic screens equipped on the shelves will display contents progressively according to the customer's stay time: the first 15 seconds show "product characteristics"; after 30 seconds, they switch to "matching recommendations"; after 45 seconds, they push "coupon information"; and finally, they guide customers to receive electronic coupons through the Lawson APP to form a consumption closed loop.

In this process, customers have transformed from passive recipients to "behavior triggers" and participate in the retail logic. This kind of dynamic information push based on behavior scenarios is different from traditional static shelves and is also better than interactive methods that rely on scanning codes or manual work. The underlying logic is that KDDI obtains non - specific attributes such as customer gender, age group and stay time through cameras and sensors to achieve "non - sensory data collection".

In terms of business model, the digital signage system shows the potential for expansion in retail media. Take the "sustainable commodity display shelf" as an example. The environmentally friendly brand "Happy Elephant" cleaning products displayed on it are equipped with touch - sensitive devices. When customers click, the screen above will play brand videos and jump to e - commerce pages. These commodities are not sold in the store and are purely for advertising display, marking that convenience stores are transforming from "sales terminals" to "brand communication platforms".

The store has introduced the intelligent wall system "MIRROR GREEN", which uses image generation AI technology to change the screen display content and atmosphere in real time according to different time periods such as morning, daytime and night, as well as the customer's visit status, so that customers can get a unique visual experience when they come to the store at different times. At the same time, the electronic screens support space - linked demonstrations and can switch synchronously on multiple screens during new product launches or activities to strengthen the overall perception.

The functions of the screens are not limited to this. Relying on the local smart city system, the large screens in the store can display real - time regional information such as weather, transportation, tram delays, energy consumption and passenger flow, truly becoming a "block information hub".

In addition, the most distinctive feature is the remote consultation service room, which realizes unmanned reception through virtual characters. It not only supports the purchase of OTC drugs, but also provides consulting services related to various daily life such as communications, medical care, finance and housekeeping. This service area adopts a closed structure to ensure the privacy protection of customers during use.

In other words, this store is building a convenience store experience at the perceptual level: customers continuously receive gentle guidance; information dissemination has changed from static to dynamic; and it has both digital advertising and local media functions.

It Will Reduce the Store Operation Burden by 30% in the Future

Compared with the changes in customer experience, the logical reconstruction on the operation side is equally important.

As we all know, Japan's aging problem is becoming increasingly serious. Regardless of size, retail enterprises are facing the challenge of labor shortage. Therefore, the core goal of Lawson in building this experimental store is to break through the traditional "labor - intensive" operation mode through robot and AI technology and build a replicable, quantifiable and sustainable automation system.

In terms of robots, the store has deployed three types of core robots: (1) Beverage replenishment robot: automatically completes the shelving of refrigerated drinks; (2) Ground cleaning robot: performs regular inspection and cleaning tasks; (3) Fried chicken nugget cooking robot: with functions such as automatic turning and frying, and anti - sticking.

On July 22, Lawson also launched the "automatic stir - fry robot" in its characteristic experimental store "Kitazuka 1 - chome Store". This robot can automatically complete stirring, heating, cooking and pot cleaning, and can accurately reproduce dishes such as fried rice and fried vegetables, and the operation process is very simple.

Although the current operation efficiency of robots is not as good as that of manual labor - for example, the speed of beverage replenishment is slow - their continuity, stability and all - day operation ability, especially in special periods such as night or bad weather, show significant advantages.

More importantly, it is the data collection function integrated with robots. Take the fried chicken nugget cooking robot as an example. It not only automatically completes processes such as heating, shaking and heat preservation, but also can record data such as output quantity and heating time. The real - time collection of these operation data provides a quantitative basis for cost accounting, replenishment prediction and food quality management, and opens up a new dimension of data - based operation that traditional convenience stores have never touched.

In terms of AI, the store has built a "workload visualization system" to achieve refinement and standardization of personnel management. The system can integrate multi - dimensional data, such as employee behavior trajectories collected by wearable devices, shelf status monitored by security cameras, and sales dynamics reflected by the POS system. Through intelligent analysis, the system can accurately predict passenger flow changes and task loads, optimize scheduling plans, task allocation and operation bottleneck diagnosis.

In the past, store decisions on key issues such as replenishment timing, display efficiency and manpower allocation mostly relied on experience judgment. Now, with the help of AI - assisted analysis, these "hidden processes" have become explicit and standardized. Operational capabilities no longer depend on the personal experience of a few skilled employees, but are transformed into replicable system knowledge.

At the same time, the employee experience has been given new value connotations. Lawson has clearly put forward the goal of "reducing store operation burden by 30% by 2030", emphasizing that by reducing repetitive labor, employees will have more time to interact with customers. Under this concept, robots take on basic mechanical labor, AI is responsible for process monitoring and optimization, and employees focus on the essence of service - emotional connection, which can not only improve customer satisfaction, but also help improve employees' work enthusiasm.

In the view of Masaki Shiba, a former senior executive of Itochu Corporation of Japan, this store has three major highlights: first, relying on "Shop Media" to carry out personalized product recommendations and precise promotions for in - store customers, improving consumer satisfaction and experience, and then laying the groundwork for the "Wanlian" supported by KDDI to further strengthen the core role of convenience stores as social function hubs; second, the introduction of automatic fried food robots has significantly improved the meal delivery efficiency and product quality of the "in - store kitchen" and increased the average customer price; third, through robot replenishment and AI ordering systems, it has reduced the labor intensity of employees, improved work efficiency, optimized ordering accuracy, reduced losses, and strengthened store profitability.

In short, Lawson's innovation is not a single breakthrough, but a systematic response to the overall social transformation. Facing structural challenges such as the intensification of declining birthrate and aging population, urban labor shortage and rural population loss, convenience stores are gradually upgrading from traditional "daily shopping stops" to "comprehensive social service platforms".

As a benchmark project for Lawson's strategic transformation, "Real × Tech LAWSON" has deeply integrated cutting - edge technology, human factors engineering design and cross - industry collaboration resources, and redefined the business model of "store as a service".