Redefining Convenience, 7-Eleven Expands Delivery Options

Now it’s not enough for 7-Eleven to be one of the world’s most convenient brick-and-mortar retail chains. The convenience-store pioneer and leader is pivoting heavily into delivery services as it also plots forays into other digital initiatives designed to create more options and convenience for customers.

7-Eleven is now testing the 7-ElevenNOW app for delivery or in-store pickup in Dallas, Texas, piloting a new mobile app that it expects to roll out to other US locations in 2018. The goods on offer include a wide variety of snacks, cosmetics, gift cards, home goods, beverages and other products.

“Today’s digitally savvy consumer expects a wide range of options right at their fingertips and 7‑Eleven is delivering on that promise,” Chief Digital Officer Gurmeet Singh said in a press release. “We continuously ask our consumers how we can make their lives better, and 7‑ElevenNOW is a proprietary solution to their on-demand needs. The app will enable our customers to get the products they want, when and where they want them, quickly and conveniently. This is redefining convenience.”

When ordering items through 7‑ElevenNOW, 7‑Eleven customers can choose to receive direct delivery to their location or pick up their prepared order at the participating store of their choice within the 7‑ElevenNOW footprint.

As part of a corporate commitment to innovation, previous delivery tests include a trial with DoorDash, a specialist in food delivery for restaurants, in five U.S. markets in 2015. More recently, 7-Eleven offered free delivery of select items over the U.S. Thanksgiving with Postmates, an ongoing partner.

While working with vendors and enhancing its omnichannel offer, 7-Eleven is engaged in what it calls “a full stack digital transformation, which includes the technology (that) customers experience, as well as the technology that works behind the scenes to ensure seamless and effortless interactions.”

To that end, it’s refining its app-based customer loyalty program, testing a bot on Messenger within Facebook, developing a drone delivery model, speeding up in-store checkouts, expanding digital payments and using voice-activated IoT devices to better meet customers’ evolving needs.

“7-Eleven is already a leader in convenience,” Singh told CSNews.com. “How can the digital team at 7-Eleven redefine convenience? These experiences will be inside the store, but they will be outside the store as well. We want to bring the store to the consumer wherever and whenever they need us.”

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