7-11 Taiwan - Part 3: Payment

President Chain Store Corporation has storefronts and logistics well covered, but payment is arguably the only piece of puzzle that still has some room for improvement.



icash is a prepaid card issued by 7-11 in Taiwan, sort of like pocket money used for micro-payment mainly in 7-11. It has a point accumulation system and benefits like cash rebate to promote spending.

icash has reached an important milestone this year after launching a co-branded "iu card" (icash悠遊卡). Important in the sense as this contactless card is not only limited to 7-11s, but it can be used for public transportations and selected stores like Starbucks, Sogo, Muji etc.

However, you cannot use icash to pay online yet, with the exception of their own online store - 7net. Obviously, this is the missing puzzle and something for President Chain Store Corp to work on.

7-11 Taiwan - Part 2: Logistics

Logistics, it seems like a simple single word but it contains many aspects - warehousing (storage), location, packaging, labeling, invoicing, delivery, acceptance, tracking, reporting et al.

It's definitely a burden for small-medium-businesses. But in Taiwan, SMBs can rely on 7-elevens, or precisely Wisdom Distribution Service Corporation (大智通文化行銷).



Online merchants can store their goods in WDS's warehouse, and they will be distributed to 7-11s all over Taiwan. Its distribution service benefits not only B2C stores but also C2C sellers.

Let's say while confirming a transaction on Rakuten Ichiba, the buyer has specified a 7-11 outlet (for example outlet B) for collection. Seller will then print the packaging slip online or via the ibon kiosk and handover the item to 7-11 in his area (outlet A). WDS will deliver the item from outlet A to outlet B and the item is ready to be picked up and paid by the buyer.

This helps minimize the fraud and risk of pay first and collect / receive later.

7-11 Taiwan - Part 1: Storefronts

We all know that convenience store, well is just for convenience. You can't expect a huge selection of products there. It's different in Taiwan though.

More than 4,000 of 7-11 outlets + online stores (under President Chain Store Corp) + in store catalog book (for pre-order) + various complimentary services = Super Store!

Knowing that by just having the 7-11s is insufficient, President Chain Store Corp has gathered a few online storefronts under its umbrella since the past 10 years.



They started with investing in the Amazon of Taiwan - books.com.tw (博客来网络书店) back in year 2000. At the moment, around 90% of orders being made online have preferred to pay and collect at 7-11s, heavily rely on the physical storefront. This at the same time has also encourage sales of other products in the convenience store.