Seven-Eleven Japan Co. is set to cut the prices of soft drinks at its chain of some 11,000 outlets across Japan, company officials said Friday.
The move by the nation's leading convenience store chain operator signals a change in the industry's conventional strategy of maintaining maker-suggested retail prices for their merchandise, analysts said.
"We would like to attract consumers with affordable prices as well as convenience," one of the officials said.
The officials said Seven-Eleven Japan will cut the prices of seven kinds of soft drinks in 500-ml plastic bottles by 15 percent from Saturday.
Industry analysts said other convenience store chains may follow suit to compete against supermarkets that stay open late at night.
The seven products include Coca-Cola, whose price will be lowered to 125 yen per bottle from 147, yen they said.