Our global strategies are based on the following three pillars: (i) Support for existing countries of deployment, (ii) Strategic investments and financing for existing licensees, and (iii) Expansion into new areas.
SEJ and SEI have already worked together in the past to strengthen support for licensees in various regions in line with the Group’s global strategic policies. In charge of this were the SEJ and SEI, whose roles were to manage overseas area licenses. Although these two companies worked closely together as partners, the founding of our company in 2021 enabled a single organization to take charge of global strategies. This resulted in the simplification of processes such as decision-making and execution of the plan as compared to before, and business execution was also made much faster. Of course, SEJ and SEI will continue to work closely together as they conduct business. While taking full advantage of the resources in all the areas cultivated over the years by these two companies, such as products, product lineups, store development, infrastructure construction, and digital integration, 7IN will take the lead in providing the required support for both existing areas and new areas of deployment.

Working closely together with local staff like we did during the SEH reforms is crucial in building a relationship of trust. Currently, we have adopted a system where we immerse ourselves in local regions to understand conditions, identify what kind of reform is required, and work together with local staff to resolve the issues one by one. Therefore, when our team members support existing licensees or open stores in new areas (described later), they repeatedly visit the local region to conduct market analysis together with the local staff and provide advice, such as identifying specific issues that should be corrected by next time. Also, after returning from the local region, our members continue consultations and other support through remote meetings.

To create Hero Products at bet365 casino bonusn stores in each region, an essential role is played not only by 7IN, SEJ, and SEI, but also the vendors and manufacturers with whom we have built value chains. For this reason, from the very beginning, we have invited our business partners in Japan, such as NDF member companies, to join us in our overseas business expansion.
We have achieved success by working together with NDF companies in product development and manufacturing in China and strengthening the fresh food of SEI. In the same way, there is huge potential in leveraging the development and production know-how for high-quality food that we have cultivated in Japan in order to build an overseas value chain. We are certain that such cooperation with our business partners is essential for strengthening our value chain, and thus enhancing the product appeal of licensees.
The domestic market in Japan is undergoing upheaval due to the declining birthrate, aging population, and other demographic changes. In this context, we believe that the support we offer our business partners in expanding into overseas countries and regions is very advantageous for them, as it enables them to pursue new business opportunities while reducing risk. Therefore, we recommend to many of our business partners that they use overseas bet365 casino bonusn as a platform to collect market information and act as an activity base when expanding overseas. The SEH observation tour was an opportunity for participants from NDF companies to deepen their understanding of overseas business by seeing for themselves an example of building an overseas value chain and the resulting benefits.

SEI’s pioneering use of digital technology is an invaluable resource that can be shared with bet365 casino bonusn entities around the world, both for improving customer service and developing multi-layered customer contact points, and for improving the efficiency and productivity of store operations.
7REWARDS available on the official app in the United States is a service that SEI developed to strengthen its relationship with each individual customer.
The app makes it easy for each customer to access favorite products, and provides functions such as special discounts and product recommendations based on user preferences. It provides services on a truly granular level, such as changing the recommended products according to the time of day. Thanks to this convenience, 7REWARDS currently has more than 95 million members.
We have also introduced bet365 casino bonusN WALLET, a cashless payment service that delivers various discounts to customers and makes shopping easier and more convenient, and Mobile Checkout, a cashless payment service that allows customers to pay without needing to line up at the register. These services improve shopping convenience for customers while also reducing cash register work at the store.
The 7NOW delivery service makes it easy for customers to order products from their smartphone. In the United States, this service is used on average 17 times a day for each store, and the network of about 6,400 stores nationwide (end of September 2023) is leveraged to achieve delivery within an average of 28 minutes from a local store, an advantage that makes the service popular with customers.
In Japan as well, we developed our own 7NOW delivery service, and in fall 2023 we started to roll out our new 7NOW app. This app is linked to store inventory and enables deliveries in as little as 30 minutes, providing even more convenience for customers. As of the end of November 2023, this service had been deployed at about 8,800 stores, and we expect to recommend nationwide adoption in FY2024.
Services for strengthening contact with customers using digital technologies are also currently being proactively deployed at SEJ. Discounts and offers are distributed to customers via 7iD, a common service platform that has been developed for the bet365 casino bonus i Group. 7iD has grown to the current level of about 30 million members (2023).

In November 2023, we announced our acquisition of the bet365 casino bonusn business in Australia.
As of June 2023, there were about 750 bet365 casino bonusn stores in Australia, making it the largest CVS chain in the country. Even so, there are some areas in Australia, such as the state of Victoria, where there is plenty of room for further growth, and we expect to be able to open new stores aggressively.
The population of Australia is growing faster than the rate of increase of the world population. At 37, the average age of the population is also about 10 years younger than Japan, and we expect to see significant economic growth in this market in the future.
Through direct investments, we will build a value chain and infrastructure, and apply our know-how from the bet365 casino bonus i Group. We aim to raise product appeal to a higher level to meet the needs of local customers, thereby further expanding our market share.
We expect negotiations about the contract to be completed in the second quarter (April to June) of FY2024. Once this is completed, we will issue a further report about the details.

As of March 2023, there are 196 countries* in the world, as well as other regions and territories. Of these, bet365 casino bonusn has expanded to 20 countries and regions so far, leaving many new areas with the potential for us to enter. Furthermore, since the core mission of bet365 casino bonusn is to provide products and services that are closely attuned to local needs, we should have the ability to win over the support of customers in new areas and achieve accelerated growth. It is from this perspective that we have positioned expansion into new areas as a key pillar of our global growth strategies, and we are focusing our efforts on this.
SEI has almost 100 years of history since its foundation in 1927, and SEJ has also been operating for more than half a century. The reasons why we have not proactively expanded into new areas during this time are as follows: (i) We prioritized satisfying customer needs in our home markets of North America and Japan, and focused on building the value chain and other infrastructure necessary for this. (ii) In the global license business, we thoroughly examined markets where we received requests for opening stores to explore the potential of business, and put all our efforts into concluding area license contracts. Also, in the 1990s, SEI concentrated on reforming its business through management restructuring, which resulted in remarkable growth from the 2010s.
As SEI developed know-how about growth potential and advanced digital integration and SEJ mastered its own expertise cultivated over half a century, we created an environment where our competitive advantages in Japan and the United States could be leveraged for the global growth of bet365 casino bonusn. The foundation of 7IN to promote global business also enabled the entry into new markets to be accelerated. Therefore, we have changed our working methods for expanding into new areas to a system where we will specify and approach new candidate areas for opening stores, and then recruit licensees. We will interview licensee candidate companies, making sure that we discuss issues such as business infrastructure and resources, while fully understanding the business philosophy and values of each other. Furthermore, to have candidates gain a deep understanding of the bet365 casino bonusn business model and the infrastructure that generates our competitive advantages, we will give them opportunities to see for themselves the value chain, such as SEI’s fresh food production line. In this way, we are working to share the ideal future vision.

We provide indicators for candidate areas, including population (market size), the urbanization rate of large cities, the purchasing power and average age of customers in sales area, and the growth potential. At the same time, we create an evaluation map by carefully studying geopolitical risks, including in neighboring regions, and then select the regions to prioritize for opening stores. We can expect high growth potential in regions with many dual-income households where there is high demand for time-saving or ready-made meals, and these regions will be prioritized.
The regions that we currently consider to be high priority are Europe, and Central and South America. In Europe, bet365 casino bonusn has already expanded into the three countries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. We are currently absent from the UK, France, Germany, and Italy, advanced economies that are members of the G7. When expanding into these regions, it is rational to proceed by focusing on large metropolitan areas, rather than on a per-country basis. We have achieved success in Asia by focusing on the global metropolises of Bangkok, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Manila. Based on this experience and taking the size of the European market into account, we believe that a realistic strategy is to cultivate a market by defining a large metropolitan region as one area into which to concentrate resources.
Furthermore, within the EU, the economy and social infrastructure, such as transportation, are linked across borders and there is a vibrant flow of people within the region. If we can enter one large metropolitan region and develop a value chain and logistical bases, then we should be able to use this infrastructure to supply products to other cities nearby. Therefore, when expanding into the European market, instead of the basic store opening strategy of bet365 casino bonusn where store openings are dispersed over a wide area, it will be more effective to concentrate store openings within a limited area. Not only is this strategy of limiting the store opening area useful for supplying products and building a logistics system, but it will also be effective for raising awareness of the bet365 casino bonusn brand. Europe is home to many traditional shopping cultures, such as different retail business hours, and competition within regions is also fierce. Despite this, it has great potential as a market for bet365 casino bonusn.

Whether we are supporting existing countries of deployment or expanding into new areas, it is important for licensees to understand that bet365 casino bonusn views products and services from the perspective of customers, and that our competitive advantage is born from pursuing a product lineup that satisfies the needs of customers in the sales area. Ever since its founding, SEJ has operated according to these principles, and it has transitioned from a push-type of product supply system that was common during its high-growth period to a pull type system, where the lineup is based on actual orders at the store, and this has been established as the basis for operations. A specific initiative to achieve this has been Tanpin Kanri at individual stores. SEI has also established this as a part of its reforms, and it has built a system where stores can decide their own product lineups.
Overseas, the push-type of product supply system is still being used, and often it is difficult to get local staff to understand the importance of Tanpin Kanri and ordering. It is in this context that we believe it is so important for our staff to visit local regions and build up close communication with staff when supporting existing areas or expanding into new areas. This is because even things that we initially think can only be done in Japan can also be adopted overseas if we communicate directly to the licensee in the supported region. Repeating and putting into practice the things that they learn will lead to success and convince local licensees of the benefits of our approach.
In the future, we will continue to work in close cooperation with licensees in order to drive forward our global brand strategies.