7-Eleven to provide AI data for potential franchise owners

The convenience store chain 7-Eleven of Korea’s retail giant Lotte Group said Friday it joined hands with Oasis Business, startup solution platform, to develop an Artificial Intelligence solution to support those who wish to start the franchise business.

Based on the partnership, the store chain plans to provide more objective data of the commercial area around the new franchise and accurate sales projections.

The AI-analyzed data includes the number of the floating population, sales figures of areas near shopping districts, rent price and traffic volume.

Potential franchise owners can get a ballpark estimate of sales revenue before jumping into the business, according to the company.

For instance, the owners can receive information such as reasonable price range of renting the space of the commercial building where they will start the business, the company said.

Through the AI solution, 7-Eleven plans to establish a more elaborate system that lowers potential human errors in data gathering.

“With Oasis Business, we will be able to carry out a digitalized analysis of the commercial area. We plan to offer data that can minimize the risk of failure in starting a new franchise,” said Choi Byung-yong, a Digital Transformation Innovation team manager at 7-Eleven.

By Byun Hye-jin (hyejin2@heraldcorp.com)