The dark side of Japanese convenience stores7-Eleven, FamilyMart and Lawson all rely on a franchise business model to operate stores, taking a cut of sales or gross profit as a royalty in return for store owners using their brand, products and supply chains.
In 7-Eleven’s case, typically between 40 to 70 per cent of gross profit — sales minus cost of goods sold — is paid to the company.
Whoa. That's worse than Apple!
Seven & i [the holding company that owns 7-Eleven], which makes 7.5 per cent of its sales but more than half of its operating profit in Japan…