Seven & i Launches Big Data Study Group with 10 Firms

June 1, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese retail giant Seven & i Holdings Co. said Friday that it launched the same day a study group with 10 firms from different industries on the utilization of big data.

Seven & i believes that the company cannot fully respond to ever-changing needs of society through the use of its own client data alone.

The 10 partners include airline group ANA Holdings Inc., mobile phone carrier NTT Docomo Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., electricity and gas retailer TEPCO Energy Partner Inc., mobile game operator DeNA Co., trader Mitsui & Co. and railway operator Tokyu Corp..

Given that Seven & i, which operates department stores, supermarkets and convenience stores, has some 23 million customers a day and NTT Docomo has about 76 million subscriptions, the study group is believed to be one of the largest big data collaboration platforms formed by companies.

Seven & i and each of the 10 companies will share their data and study how they can utilize them to solve challenges facing the society.

For instance, Seven & i and NTT Docomo may be able to find underdeveloped areas in terms of shopping by combining the retailer's client data and the carrier's mobile phone utilization data, and then explore the opportunities to launch new stores or expand online shopping services.

The results to be obtained in this way will be shared among the members of the study group for further utilization, according to Seven & i. Jiji Press