Supporting Store Associates and Operators

We have identified two primary areas of opportunity for innovation to support our store associates and store operators. Our goal is to open time for our associates to focus on the customer and provide them excellent service.

1. Simplify store operations, allowing store associates to make decisions, with less time and effort

We believe that each store operator is best positioned to know his or her local store and we want to help them make the best decisions for their business by simplifying their day-to-day tasks. Store operators regularly tailor their store’s assortment, customise planograms and pricing, and identify trends in items our customers seek to purchase.

Currently, each store has access to a computer and a small tablet where the operators can access features and reports within our Retailer Information System to run their business. We work to equip operators with data, reports, business insights, and recommendations. There are opportunities to:

• Optimise product assortment

• Optimise product placement

• Improve inventory tracking and visibility (e.g., inventory count on shelf and in backroom)

• Reduce food waste and costly fresh food write-offs (e.g., identifying soon to expire products)

Potential innovations could leverage AI-powered store-level assortment recommendation engines, AR technology to bring data and reports to life for store operators, or innovations in computer vision and product tracking.

2. Reduce task loads through innovation

Store associates have a full plate, even when a store is fully staffed. We’ve listed out a few key examples of a store associate’s daily activities below – innovative solutions that can alleviate or remove some of these items through automation, robotics, or otherwise will have a significant beneficial impact on our associates’ experience at our stores.

Store associate responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Customer Support

• Greet, support, and build relationships with customers

• Checkout customers at the register, inform them of promotions and recommend other items to add to their basket

Inventory/Merchandising

• Count inventory & check product expirations

• Map out custom planograms for their store

• Stock and merchandise shelves and cold vault

• Order the next day’s inventory

Food Service

• Prepare and check fresh foods

• Remove and write-off expired foods

Clean Area

• Maintain cleanliness in the store, bathrooms, equipment, surrounding property, etc.

Product

• How will your solution make life easier for our store associates and store operators?

• Will this solution be scalable to more than 13,000 locations across the US and Canada?

• Is the solution easily customisable and able to integrate with 7-Eleven’s tech infrastructure? (Strongly preferred vs. adding a standalone solution alongside internal solutions, where applicable).

• Are there any specific technology requirements for your solution?

• What would a proof of concept look like? (e.g., design, duration, cost).

• What sets your solution apart from others in the market?

Economics

• Solutions must be economically rational and justifiable.

• What are the main ROI factors associated with your solution?

• Please describe pricing methodology or structure (licence, subscription, resource, etc.)

• Do you offer additional components that incur additional cost? Please list all components whether they are relevant to our project or not.

• Are there maintenance and support fees associated with your tool/solution?

Case Examples

• Have you provided similar solutions to other retailers? If so, what success metrics have you driven for them?

The Innovation Challenge does not imply that 7-Eleven is bound to select an applicant for this initiative, and 7-Eleven reserves the right to reject all or any of the applicants without assigning any reason whatsoever. 7-Eleven shall not be liable in any manner whatsoever for any costs or expenses applicants incur in connection with or relating to their submissions to the Innovation Challenge.

Each application should be tailored for the brief for which it is submitted. We encourage applicants to read widely on the brands for which they are applying (outside of what is supplied in the brief materials). Below you will find an outline guide for how decks should be structured and presented.

We recommend decks to be 20 pages or under and must cover (but not be limited to):

• Business overview

• Service offering

• Differentiation from competitive set

• Revenue model (indicative pricing)

• Existing clients and case studies

• Team

• KPIs and potential ROI

• Proof of concept

We receive many applications for each brief, so we encourage applicants to make their decks visually appealing and concise in order to stand out.

If you cannot find the answer to your question please see our Application Help page or please email 7-11@true.global