Major convenience store chain Lawson Inc. and Internet portal Yahoo Japan Corp. will link up in offering home delivery services of food and daily goods for customers placing orders online starting in January, sources said Tuesday.
The delivery service, to be offered via a joint venture that will be set up by the two firms, seeks to tap demand in new customer bases, including elderly shoppers with limited mobility, the sources said.
The venture will open a website for the home delivery service and offer more than 10,000 items, including prepared foods, beverages and other daily necessities that can be ordered via personal computers or smartphones, they said.
The goods will be delivered once a week at a time designated by customers, they said. The venture will aim to post ¥100 billion in sales in fiscal 2015, the sources said.
Lawson and Yahoo Japan have been jointly offering online marketing services since last year, and the latest move is aimed at widening the scope of their cooperation.
Convenience store chains have been looking to expand their services amid a nearly saturated market in which competition has intensified in terms of opening new outlets.
Against this backdrop, another major convenience store chain, FamilyMart Co., is set to start home delivery service of daily necessities by teaming up with a group company that delivers prepared meals. The service is expected to kick off later this month in some areas of four prefectures — Aichi, Hyogo, Okayama and Kagoshima — and Tokyo.