There's No Salt at 7-11 (China)

I love 7-Eleven. I literally grew up drinking slurpies. But the 7-11I love, isn’t the 7-Eleven in the US. Rather, I love 7-11 in Beijing China. While not as good as the 7-Eleven Japan, it’s still pretty awesome. 7-Eleven consistenly teaches me about Chinese people and retailing. One of the reasons I decided to start this blog is so that I could write about 7-Eleven!

Compared to other convenience stores in China, 7-Eleven is a paradise that sells everything. But it doesn’t sell everything. The other day, I overheard the following conversation at the register:

“Where’s the salt?”

“We don’t sell salt.”

“Oh.”

Yup. 7-Eleven doesn’t sell salt. Why not? Low margins. Salt is the same price everywhere. 7-Eleven is all about selling unique items and creating a unique store experience. Salt is way too boring for 7-11. One day, they might have a special display where they sell Andean sea salt or something crazy like that, but they’d never sell regular salt. There’s no salt at 7-Eleven.