Daybreak - 7-Eleven promised "Everything essential". It lost to India's corner shops

Episode Date: October 13, 2026

“Mile har cheez zaruri.” Everything essential, right here. That was the promise on the signs inside India’s first 7-Eleven, which opened in Mumbai five years ago, with India’s biggest retailer behind it.This September, the last 31 stores shut. In its last full financial year, the chain lost nearly ₹90 crore on just ₹92 crore of revenue. Nobody has said why the stores are closing. But this is a chain that thrives next to corner shops in other countries. So what was missing here? Host Rachel Varghese explores.This episode is edited by Arnav PrakashDaybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Mille her cheese that's Hindi for you can find everything essential and what the signs inside India's 7-Elevens claimed other signs made similar promises Rose ke lia, snacking kelly ch'chote buched

basically everyday items snacks and quick bites for when you're just a little bit hungry that was the pitch when the first 7-11 store opened in Mumbai on October 9th, 2021. It was also the model that had made the chain popular in places like Japan, Thailand and the USA localized for India. The hot food counter, in fact, was affordable as well, with a cup of

chai starting at just 10 rupees. So it made sense why there was genuine excitement when the first 7-11 store started opening. After all, it was the word's biggest biggest convenience chain. Owned by 7 and I, a Japanese company, as of August 2024, it had roughly 85,000 stores across 20 countries and territories. And its India partner, Reliance Retail. The biggest retail operator in the country operating more than 20,000 stores across India. Joe DePinto, the CEO and president of 7-Eleven at the time, said that 20,000, was an ideal time for the company to make its entry. Cut to five years later and Seven and I said last week

that Reliance had closed the final 31 7-Eleven stores in Mumbai and Pune on September 30th. Until the end of last year, there were actually 60 stores across India. So, it's likely that the remainder were closed over the course of this year. Before the chain even finished five, years in the country. So, what happened? Honestly, neither 7 and I or Reliance have offered

a clear answer for the closures yet. Some reports claim it was local competition, Kirana stores and quick commerce. Another said that it was more of a reset for 7 and I than an exit strategy. But 711

has thrived for years in countries where corner shops and street stores are popular. So why couldn't the world's biggest chain, backed by India's biggest retailer, make it work in India? Welcome to Daybreak, a business podcast from the Ken. I'm your host, Traitor Regis, and every day of the week, my co-host, Singda Sharma and I will bring you one new show that is worth understanding and worth your time. Today is Wednesday, the 14th of October. I think many of us who know about 7-11 from Western media recognize the iconic slurpees.

They are icy, sugary, carbonated drinks that 7-Eleven exclusively sells in the US. They even give them away for free on July 11th, because the date is 7-Eleven and the company estimates that it has given away millions of them over the last 60 years. So, when 7-Eleven came to India, Reddit had one question. Would they have slurpees? In fact, one user even said, if they don't have slurpees, it's not a real 7-Eleven.

We riot. But as soon as people actually started visiting the store, the answers started disappointing everyone else. One shopper went to the store hoping for a slurpee and found masala lemonade. Another said that their nearby stores were lacking in the essentials all the signage claimed to have. No rice, eggs, milk or even maggie. just coolers filled with drinks and frozen food and aisles filled with snacks and imported ramen packets. So what would a shopper even walk in for?

Experts told CNBC that this is something that small store in India struggle with in general. So one thing an Indian would walk into a 7-11 for is warm food. The counter in most stores sold samosas, small pizzas, sandwiches, biryani and more. Everything was quite pocket-friendly as well, with most items being under 170 rupees, with a samosa costing as little as 15 rupees. But it was not significantly cheaper or better than street food.

And while people seemed to like it, there weren't exactly rave reviews. It wasn't something that people would walk into the store for, which brings us to two. Reliance claimed that their stores were hygienic and they offered an air-conditioned spot for people to sit and eat in. In fact, a sign in one store called it AC Wali Ghaogali, an air-conditioned street food alley.

But that claim lost standing as well last year when a video of a rat eating ice cream in a Mumbai 7-Eleven went viral on Reddit. You see, 7-Eleven actually had an adult. coming to India much later than the other markets. Several people recognized the name and brand from media and several were curious about what they had to offer. Where they messed up was ironically localizing too hard. They were not really offering the stuff that people were actually excited to try,

like the Slurpees, for example, or the ramen-making stations in some Asian countries, where you can basically buy a cup of ramen, add water and toppings like cheese or egg or seaweed, right inside the store. Which is why 7-Elevens have probably taken off well in countries like Thailand. Out of the 20,000 big chain outlets in the country, 14,500 are run by 7-Eleven. That's in a market where street food stalls make up 65% of the food outlets. In Indonesia, the 7-Eleven's local counterparts, Indomart and Alphamart, also sell ready-made meals.

the owners of Warang's, which are basically equivalents to our Kiranhas, aren't feeling threatened, according to a report from Jakarta Post. Meanwhile, Kiranhas in India still account for about 91% of the country's grocery sales, according to a Red Seaer report. They offer store credit and refunds and allow buyers to customize their orders. You can literally just walk in and pick up a couple of eggs, onions and tomatoes, and go off to make, say, an omelet. You don't have to buy by the dozen or buy weight.

Kirana orders also usually stay between 100 to 200 rupees in order value. So, 7-Eleven couldn't really compete on price over there either. A consumer was unlikely to shift to a 7-Eleven based on price alone, when their usual order was already cheap, especially when the selection at 7-Eleven didn't particularly stand out well. In fact, Indonesia was actually a warning. 7-Elevens over there managed to draw crowds with the cheap food, seating and free Wi-Fi. But while it became a popular hangout spot for teenagers, that was not the demographic that turned into repeat spenders. And while 7-11s could not

give Indians a reason to pick it over local Kiranhas, its survival became even more difficult with the popularity of a new arrival. Stay tuned. 7-11's tie-up with Reliance was not its first attempt in India. In 2019, it had signed up with Future Retail, the company behind Big Bazaar, to open 1,000 stores, starting in Mumbai. But two years later, Future ended up opening zero stores and missed out on paying franchisee fee payments as well. So, it ended the agreement with the chain in 2021. Two days later, Reliance signed on as 7-Eleven's new partner, and that's when the stores began to open in India for the first time.

That delay ended up costing 7-Eleven. Because by the time the first store launched in October 2021, Zepto had cut its delivery time to less than 10 minutes just a few months before. And by December, Blinket had also pivoted to quick deliveries. So, before 7-11 could get around to disrupting the local Kiranhas and build a new habit for Indians, quick commerce came and disrupted both competitors. As we all know, these apps deliver the same products and a far wider variety of what urban consumers want in just minutes. Even delivery from Reliance's own retail division, GeoMart, delivered in slots at the time

and was not really offering much competition to Quick Commerce. Also, Quick Commerce companies had also raised huge sums of money that they were billing to burn at losses, considering the cost of building a nascent market. Swiggy's Instamart, for example, opened more stores in 1, 2025 quarter than in the previous 8 combined. At the time, it was seeing widening losses. But by June 26, its losses had narrowed to nearly 800,000,

kroar rupees from almost 1200 crore rupees a year earlier. Istramat also reached contribution break even this May, which means the burn paid off for them eventually. 7-11's cushion though was much thinner.

A report from Inside Retail Asia had an analyst that said that the store was paying for high rents with full staffing, cold chain costs and even royalties. All this with low sales at each outlet. Bharat Bila, an executive director at Anandrati Investment Banking, confirmed this when he told CNBC that small stores bear high rents and full staffing costs but generate relatively low sales per outlet.

The first 7-11, for example, was a 1700 square feet two-story cafe. The cost started showing in the company's financials eventually. The CNBC report mentioned that 7-11's losses had been widening since FY 2020. with its latest numbers from March 26, showing that it lost almost 90 crore rupees against a revenue of roughly 92 crore rupees. Now, to be fair, Reliance did try the density approach. Basically, it tried to put 7-Eleven in every corner, just like Kiranhas. 49 out of its 55 stores were in Mumbai alone by July 24.

But by FY26, the company's revenues revenues. stayed very close to its losses, which likely means that density was not enough to increase its per store sales. The store count didn't really scale much either. There were only 60 stores in just five years, and only half that when the final shutdown happened. A report noted how that was just 0.15% of Reliance's total physical network. So either Reliance couldn't scale 7-11, or it decided not to. The franchisee model may have been partly the reason why. The CNBC report I mentioned earlier states that that's exactly the model that Seven and I is reconsidering. After all, it has failed twice now. Its goal so far in India was to support localization, while in Japan, the company

arranges real estate construction for its franchisee partners. The thing is, even Reliance is redirecting its money towards hyper-local commerce according to its F-526 results. Also, it's canceling much of its experiments before its upcoming IPO, which is possibly why it did not make sense for the company to be paying out hefty franchisee fees for 7-11 stores. So 7-11 didn't fit into the convenience that India already had and it couldn't quite match the convenience that was newly introduced in 2020 and 2021. It's still not done true. trying though. This weekend, representatives from 7-11 told CNBC that it is exploring more opportunities in India. It's especially important for it to do so right now because one of its major competitors

from Japan called Lawsons is also planning to open five stores in India next year. Lawsens is going to do it through a local subsidiary though, not a franchisee model. Analysts believe that is a path that 7-Eleven could also take in India. Maybe third time will be the charm. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of the Ken India's first subscriber-focused business news platform. What you're listening to is just a small sample of a subscriber-only offerings and a full subscription unlocks daily, long-form feature stories,

newsletters and podcasts. Head to the Ken.com and click on the red subscribe button on the top of the website. Today's episode was hosted and produced by me, Rachel Wirtkes, and edited by Arna Prakash. Thank you.