More convenience stores in Japan offer pickup services for e-shoppers

A growing number of convenience stores in Japan are offering a service that allows shoppers to pick up their purchases from unaffiliated online shopping sites such as Amazon.

The service allows customers to shop online without having to wonder when they will be at home to take delivery of the item, which appeals to those who are frequently away from home, as well as those who prefer to not be bothered with accepting deliveries in person.

By offering the service, major convenience store chains have successfully attracted people who tend to frequently be away from home, such as those who live alone or married couples who both work, according to the three biggest convenience store chains in Japan: Seven-Eleven Japan, FamilyMart and Lawson. They add that the service appeals to women who are uncomfortable speaking with deliverymen at their front door.

About a dozen online shopping sites, including Amazon and Rakuten Books, offer pickup services with the three major convenience store chains. Once items are ordered on these sites for in-store pickup, they are addressed to a convenience store selected by the customer and then delivered by courier. The delivered items are handed over after the customer gets a receipt for them from an in-store terminal and presents it.

Many online shopping sites offer convenience store pickup free of charge, but some charge a fee. Some items offered by these sites are excluded from the service because of their size or other factors.

Major convenience store chains began to offer full-fledged in-store pickup services with unaffiliated online shopping sites about seven or eight years ago. In 2007, FamilyMart became the first to offer the service when it began taking book orders for Rakuten Books, which was followed by Lawson taking orders for Amazon in 2008.

Lawson plans to have its stores take on orders for as many as five new companies in fiscal 2015, including online shopping sites serviced by Sagawa Express Co.

In addition, starting this summer, FamilyMart is expanding its in-store pickup services to include several online retail shops run by Rakuten Inc.

As of now, Seven & i Holdings Co. and the pickup services offered by its Seven-Eleven shops and other stores strictly focus on affiliated online shopping sites. However, a company spokesperson said, "We may partner with other online shopping sites outside of our company in the near future."

Both convenience stores and couriers benefit. By expanding their in-store pickup services, convenience stores can expect to see an increase in their customer base. Couriers and transporters can increase distribution efficiency if they curtail their redeliveries by focusing on delivering to convenience store locations.

Redelivery due to absent recipients was necessary in 20 percent of about 4.1 million items surveyed in 2014 by Yamato Transport, Sagawa Express, and Japan Post Network.

Following an increase in online shoppers, the number of items handled by domestic courier services rose to about 3.64 billion in fiscal 2013, which is approximately double the amount delivered 15 years earlier, according to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry. In June, the ministry began to look for further cooperation between online shopping sites, courier services and the major convenience store chains in the hope of creating more measures to decrease redeliveries. In light of this, in-store pickup services will likely only expand.