7-Eleven’s incoming CEO credits his ‘tough customer’ mother and aunts as his inspiration
The first foreigner tap on the 7-Eleven head expressed confidence on Friday The Japanese comfort chain will continue to attract strong customers, even in a slowing economy.
But Stephen Hayes Dacus, an American -with -a -Japanese mother, refused to comment on the details of the various investment plans that are now being studied, including theA proposal to the acquisition by Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard.
A special company committee, who is not part of, will be charged in studying the options “highly objectively,” he said.
“The process is moving forward,” Dacus, who is currently director, told a small group of journalists at the Tokyo headquarters of Seven & I Holdings Co, who operates 7-Eleven.
His appointment as chief executive still requires approved shareholders, set for May. Seven & I Share rose more than 2% in the last year.
Clearly in Japan and English, Dacus said he was determined to build a leadership culture that he had learned to admire from his experience of working at Walmart,Uniqloand other retailers.
“If you are not humble, you are not listening to your customers. You are not learning. But if you are not aggressive, your competitors will cut you off,” he said.
Dacus emphasized the7-Eleven chain grows all over the world. But the stores are different by the country, and its intention is not to duplicate anywhere the Japanese style “Conbini,” because they are known here.
Lowering costs can be delivered with a better supply chain, for example, to seize the global chain reach, while a cheaper recipe for a meal item will only drive the customers, Dacus says.
“This business in Japan was built on change,” he said.
While refusing to comment on President Donald Trump's policies, he acknowledged consumers were likely to tighten their purse strings in a slowdown.
The answer was to be the first choice for where they were shopping, Dacus said, noticing that his mother and Japanese relatives that he had watched had grown were not wasted. They will wrap the leftovers of the dinner at restaurants on the paper to bring to the house, he remembered.
“If you want to talk to some poor customers, talk to my aunts,” he said.
“Japanese customers are unable to believe. That's one thing that really reflects me. And that's what makes up the way I think about retail.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
