A visit to the Famima store in West Hollywood tells the story. Wide aisles are neatly stocked with organic instant oatmeal, expensive artisanal teas and French stationery, alongside convenience-store staples like diapers and dog food. A huge prepared-foods section displays ready-made sushi, crab cakes and dishes like beef with curry sauce, that, to be honest, looked better than they tasted in a recent sampling. Customers can also take advantage of the digital photo enlarging services. Sato says the store targets people between 21 and 44 whose household incomes top $80,000.
The Japanese face tough hurdles in the crowded U.S. market. But they believe their edge lies in their mastery of information technology, which, at least at first, will be used mainly behind the scenes for managing inventory and tracking customer preferences. Family Mart is surveying its American customers to gauge interest in the sort of in-store Web services it offers in Japan–including a system that enables customers worried about identity theft to use cash instead of credit cards to pay for online services.
In the meantime, U.S. customers will have to settle for smiling faces behind the cash registers, soothing light and rigorous cleanliness. Family Mart actually turned away applicants for U.S. managerial jobs who said they would not clean toilets with the rest of the employees. “We believe that everyone must be equally committed to offering hospitality to our customers,” explains Family Mart executive Takehiko Kigure. Now there’s an idea.
