TOKYO — Nikkei Trendy, a magazine by Nikkei Business Publications Inc., conducts an annual survey of the year’s most popular products based on influence, novelty and sales in Japan. Topping the list for 2013 is convenience store coffee.
This year, many of the large convenience store chains in Japan started offering fresh coffee via coffee machines installed onsite.
While many people in Japan are comfortable purchasing coffee in a can from vending machines or conbinis (convenience stores), the advent of coffee cafes led to more people purchasing fresh ground coffee from international coffee chains, like or Starbucks, and domestic chains like Doutor Coffee.
So, in order for convenience stores to have those customers back, they started installing self-service coffee machines and selling coffee for a very cheap price (about 100-200yen). One of the great things about this system is that people living in remote areas can even buy fresh coffee with a taste similar to that of coffee chains because usually convenience stores are located everywhere.
Source: Japan Today
