To Open A 7-eleven?

[TheMatrix63]

Me and my Thai wife are currently living in Sweden and we will probably do so for a couple of more years. I am trying to learn as much Thai as possible so i will be prepared when we move to Thailand, beacuse that is what we will do.

We have been talking about to try to open a 7-Eleven shop somewhere in the Kingdom and this lead to a lot of questions. I hope i can get some input and good advice from this forum.

- How much would the initial investment be?

- How do the CP group give out the licenses?

- What demands do the CP group have on the owner?

- Anyone know somone who has already done it?

- Can you make some money on this? (I dont meen be rich, only make enough)

- Is it even realistic to try to get a licence?

Any tips and advice highly apprichiated! (Spelling?)

/ JH

[Yamantaka]

Hello!

I don't know if CP will even give a license to a non-Thai. I've never met a non-Thai who owned a 7/11 or a Family Mart. My guess is that it will never happen.

But there are other better business possibilities here if you take your time and look around.

[Amethyst]

Thousands of 7-11 in the country . Perhaps you should try other beusines

[kash]

"there are other better business possibilities...."

uhh, what is better than running a 7-11, no work needed whatsoever, all help can be outsourced easily.

[Pattayaman]

"there are other better business possibilities...."

uhh, what is better than running a 7-11, no work needed whatsoever, all help can be outsourced easily.

CP group will give a license to someone then not too far into the future give another license to someone else to open on your doorstep

[think_too_mut]

Me and my Thai wife are currently living in Sweden and we will probably do so for a couple of more years. I am trying to learn as much Thai as possible so i will be prepared when we move to Thailand, beacuse that is what we will do.

We have been talking about to try to open a 7-Eleven shop somewhere in the Kingdom and this lead to a lot of questions. I hope i can get some input and good advice from this forum.

- How much would the initial investment be?

- How do the CP group give out the licenses?

- What demands do the CP group have on the owner?

- Anyone know somone who has already done it?

- Can you make some money on this? (I dont meen be rich, only make enough)

- Is it even realistic to try to get a licence?

Any tips and advice highly apprichiated! (Spelling?)

/ JH

Your questions are reasonable but I am afraid you may hear what you did not expect.

- How much would the initial investment be?

40,000 US$

- How do the CP group give out the licenses?

They won't give it to you. May consider issuing it to your wife if she has at least high school or Uni and 3+ years experience in retail.

- What demands do the CP group have on the owner?

12% of the turnover

- Anyone know somone who has already done it?

No, but many like you have inquired.

- Can you make some money on this? (I dont meen be rich, only make enough)

Yes, if you are let in.

- Is it even realistic to try to get a licence?

Not realistic unless your wife is formally skilled and has retail experience.

What you did not ask is - CP decides who works in the shop. No way the family would creep in. Most likely, none of them would ever been hired to work there.

[Heng]

Well, it's not exactly as fixed as that, but yes, as mentioned above the franchisee needs to be Thai. There are a few different types of franchise plans with CP with various % royalties and initial investment.... for instance there is a significant difference in royalties/profit share if you own your location or if you are renting an existing location (from the experience of several colleagues, these are usually the poorest performing locations).

You might try asking them directly if you'd like specific answers.

http://www.7eleven.co.th/Franchise/franchise.html (you'll need to be able to view webpages in Thai)

[MarcHolt]

Me and my Thai wife are currently living in Sweden and we will probably do so for a couple of more years. I am trying to learn as much Thai as possible so i will be prepared when we move to Thailand, beacuse that is what we will do.

We have been talking about to try to open a 7-Eleven shop somewhere in the Kingdom and this lead to a lot of questions. I hope i can get some input and good advice from this forum.

- How much would the initial investment be?

- How do the CP group give out the licenses?

- What demands do the CP group have on the owner?

- Anyone know somone who has already done it?

- Can you make some money on this? (I dont meen be rich, only make enough)

- Is it even realistic to try to get a licence?

Any tips and advice highly apprichiated! (Spelling?)

/ JH

Why go for such a small business that has so much competition? Do your homework and investigate possibilities here very carefully. Seek expert advice. Talk to others in business here. Then select a business that you won't have to rely on Thais to conduct.

Read up on the new Foreign Business Act (FBA), as that is going to severely limit your options as soon as it is passed.

Edited March 12, 2007 by MarcHolt

[billaaa777]

In todays Bangkok Post, Family Mart states that it is going to sell some of company owned stores to private investors.

[WilliamCave]

Many are telling him about other business and not giving any examples. For 1 depends on were you plan on living see if the area has a good guest house, local pub that caters to western tastes.

What are of thailand do you plan on living in?

[Martin_F]

Hi JH:

If you are serious about a retail opening in Thailand and you say in the next couple of years you would like to relocate to Thailand then make the most of your time in Sweden and get retail experience, get you wife working in a retail store.

It is the same in the UK, my native land, people retire and say they want to open a pub in the South-west, the invest their hard earn savings and within 6 months they are bust because they have no business experience and only consider how enjoyable it is sitting on the other side of the bar.

Look at shops with your wife and see what ideas you can take from Sweden (sauna, spa, coffee shop,

Swedish restaurant, ikea, ...) and see what see says, maybe mosts of the ideas are completely no-no but maybe you come up with a idea that could be mangled into a workable profitable proposition (save for an XXX shop or casino which I would not recommend unless your wife is commected to the mafia).

In Thailand the operation should be in your wife's name as it would make the legal aspects a lot easier.

As other posters have said location location location is the important thing. It would be a complete waste of time, in my opinion, to open a fur coat shop in Roi Et, but an English school in Roi Et may work. Classy shops need to be in Bangkok and in premium positions (i.e. good shopping malls with good (=expensive fixtures and fittings).

Also do your homework on the financing requirements on a noddle stall would be THB50,000 with all the stuff and pay back would be one yr but income would be limited unless you can get a prime position and those are luck or my entry fee ( i.e. business start-up cost).

Another option would be a gas station they have convenience stores on them and you can make a reasonable income but need a large amount of working capital but generally there is no buy in fee for these but the main problem is connections and experience.

So some more things to think about.

[gjones]

just seen your post I hope I am not too late with my input - I see there is a lot of refurbishment of 7-Eleven going on at many PTT fuel stations - I see the company that fit out the 7 - elevens is power green alliance they have a website http://www.powergreenalliance.com/ They might be able to help you

[Martin_F]

PGA (great name) is merely the subcontractor for PTT refurbs and would not be able to help.

Also 7-11s on the PTT sites are unfortunately seperate operations and controlled by CP not PTT.

Although CP may use the services of the service station dealer to operate the 7-11.

[ThaiPauly]

In todays Bangkok Post, Family Mart states that it is going to sell some of company owned stores to private investors.

I belive the article also stated they were not happy with their performance in Thailand...which would be a very good reason to franchise

[Martin_F]

In todays Bangkok Post, Family Mart states that it is going to sell some of company owned stores to private investors.

I belive the article also stated they were not happy with their performance in Thailand...which would be a very good reason to franchise

Look at them they are not my prefered supplier.

[ThaiPauly]

In todays Bangkok Post, Family Mart states that it is going to sell some of company owned stores to private investors.

I belive the article also stated they were not happy with their performance in Thailand...which would be a very good reason to franchise

Look at them they are not my prefered supplier.

Thats my point.....they are nothing in comparison with 7-11..I would only use one if I could not find a 7-11

[IMA_FARANG]

Me and my Thai wife are currently living in Sweden and we will probably do so for a couple of more years. I am trying to learn as much Thai as possible so i will be prepared when we move to Thailand, beacuse that is what we will do.

We have been talking about to try to open a 7-Eleven shop somewhere in the Kingdom and this lead to a lot of questions. I hope i can get some input and good advice from this forum.

- How much would the initial investment be?

- How do the CP group give out the licenses?

- What demands do the CP group have on the owner?

- Anyone know somone who has already done it?

- Can you make some money on this? (I dont meen be rich, only make enough)

- Is it even realistic to try to get a licence?

Any tips and advice highly apprichiated! (Spelling?)

/ JH

Not a good idea.

As was said by someone else, I doubt that CP will even give a franchise to a non-Thai.

Even if they did there are far too many 7-11s in Bangkok already.

Sukhumvit road around soi 36 has four 7-11s within 3 blocks, 2 on each side of Sukhumvit road.

They can't be making a profit.

[monty]

If you find a good location to set-up a 7/11, then this will be guaranteed income!

Investment is high, but I know personally several 7/11's netting over 200,000 Baht/month.

It's indeed true CP is quite selective as to whom they give franchises to. They prefer university degrees, but high school (Mathayom 6) with several years of retail experience at managerial level is also accepted.

There are several strong points of 7/11, the counter service (=pay electric, water, mobile phone etc) draws in lots of customers, and due to economy of scale, 7/11 (central purchasing department for the whole country) pays several percentages less acquiring their products compared to competitors increasing profit margin substantially.

Major drawback most owners seem to quote is the American style manager meetings /re-traning courses etc in Bangkok. Reminds me of companies like Amway where they come together and the speaker pronounces that location this and this has inreased turnover by 3%, now lets all rise and applaud....)!

[soundman]

My father in law owns a PTT service station. Three years ago he put a 7/11 store there. The store is company (CP) owned. They pay a percentage of turnover to him as rent. Works out at about 2.5% gross turnover, however, there are some factors involved. (such as bill payment, telephone recharge cards etc.) CP pays all opperating costs.

He has signed a 10 year lease with an option to buy the 7/11 business outright at any time to operate himself. The purchase price is 3,000,000 Baht, + SAV.

Before the alcholol ban at service stations the 7/11 was selling 80k - 100k per day. After the ban the daily sales have slid to about 65K per day. (about 2,000,000 per month) My father in law collects aout 45k Baht per month rent.

Makes more profit than actually selling petrol.

Cheers,

Soundman.

[Martin_F]

Thats why the gas station operators expanded into the c-store market along with all the other service (coffee shops, tires, etc) as the fuel margin in Thailand generally cannot produce a return especially if it is a greenfield site.

Edited March 16, 2007 by Martin_F

[thaigene2]

"there are other better business possibilities...."

uhh, what is better than running a 7-11, no work needed whatsoever, all help can be outsourced easily.

CP group will give a license to someone then not too far into the future give another license to someone else to open on your doorstep

There are 3 on my soi - all within 100 meters. Two are opposite each other. Anyone want to bet who is behind the anti-Tesco/BigC campaings to prevent their opening any more stores in city centers? Amazing the mom/pop stores don't understand who's really killing their own businesses..Nope it's those horrible Brits or French with their big-box stores..

Couldn't possibly be the 7-11 next door..

[Martin_F]

It would really be interesting to see the monthly sales and operatng results data from the 7-11s.

That % of these sites make moey for the operators (as we know that 7-11 gets a %) and therefore so they give an adequate return even in congested overlapping store footprints.

[think_too_mut]

After reading all the posts, appears that CP know why they don't issue the licenses to foreigners. Such a fundamental lack of understanding (shown in this thread), one may thing farangs are disadvantaged for some reason.

For those who wonder how could 3-4-5 stores of 7-11 nearby can make any profit, let's assume this situation:

4 stores of 7-11s on each corner of a busy intersection.

Close 3 of them, would the remaining one capture the rest 75% of the business?

Of course not, it may get 5% at most. So somebody else can skim the money. There comes FamilyMart and others.

See more than a few people waiting in the line at the cashier, you don't go in.

Some would know that 7-11 in Pattaya, near the police box (and Asia books) at Jomtien. Open 10 7-11s there, they would always be busy.

That thing in retail is called "clustering". The more shops available, the better business goes.

Is it not how shopping malls work?

Also, is there a thing like "kids, pack up in the car, we are going 7-11 for shopping"?

They are called convenience stores, for a reason. Always there, no queues and they have nothing to do with shopping.

Edited March 17, 2007 by think_too_mut

[Tolley]

The 7 11s in Pattaya seem very busy to me despite the fact that there are many of them around.

I was thinking the other day that they must be turning a very nice profit.

I think other business ideas that might work are in the health care area.

Chiropractors and alternative health professionals and health food stores might be a winner in the right areas.

[katom]

I tell you why I prefer to go to 7-11 .because the fix prices they have and because I never trust the thais to not cheat me because my high nose and different ethnic...

as long as the thais greedy..its 7-11 for me.(even though its little bit more expensive..

Chears