The Lawson Franchise System

Lawson's convenience store business is run on a franchise system. Under this system, Lawson headquarters and franchise owners share the Group Philosophy of "Creating Happiness and Harmony in Our Communities," and work as equal partners toward growth. Headquarters not only provides franchise stores with various services such as logistics and information, rights to use trademarks, and management know-how, but also offers ongoing management support. In return, as independent business operators, franchise owners seek to maximize profits by optimizing customer satisfaction while paying franchise fees and royalties. In this way, franchise owners and Lawson headquarters work in tandem, each playing their respective roles.

Building a Strong Partnership with Each Franchise Owner Through Communicating Directly with Them

To date, Lawson has been striving to bolster its relationships with franchise owners in the belief that its growth rests largely on the entrepreneurial mindset of franchise owners and on its franchise system.

As a means of bolstering our partnerships with franchise stores, we hold events, including the Lawson Seminar event, designed for us to share Lawson's corporate policy and vision with franchise stores, and the Area Meeting event, designed for franchise owners to share their successful experiences and business plans. Moreover, since 1993 Lawson has been continuing to run the Direct-to-President and CEO Letter program allowing the franchise owner as well as the store manager and crews to present opinions and proposals directly to the Company's top manager.
The above-mentioned initiatives are aimed at turning franchise stores and the Lawson headquarters into one team that "creates happiness and harmony" in local communities with a sense of partnership.

Mechanisms for Information Sharing and Direct Dialogue

1. Lawson Seminars

Lawson Seminars are convened for every franchise store each spring and fall throughout Japan. The President and other members of management share the Company’s policies and directions with the franchise owners by providing them with detailed explanations of future business strategies, and informing them of product development planning in conformance with the policies.

2. Area Meetings

Area meetings are regional workshops conducted monthly at Lawson branches from Hokkaido to Okinawa. Franchise stores from the same areas gather to share details of sales activities planned for the following month as well as of their past successes, or to exchange opinions with the aim of helping individual stores improve their management capabilities.

3. Direct line to the President

This original Lawson system enables franchise owners, store managers and store crew members to express their opinions, proposals, or requests for improvement directly to the President. The President checks all the messages delivered over this line and takes necessary measures.

4. Lawson Franchise Store Advisory Committee

Established in April 2019, the Lawson Franchise Store Advisory Committee is a new initiative for promoting improvement and innovation in Lawson’s interactions with FC owners by enabling them to express opinions concerning Headquarters’ management and strategies from the FC perspective.

5. Lawson Owner Hotline

In July 2019, Lawson established a system of both internal and external telephone consultation contacts to enhance communication with franchise owners. The external contact, comprising a hotline installed in a law firm, permits franchise owners to discuss issues they find difficult to raise in direct consultations with in-house personnel.

Lawson’s Step-Up Model for Franchise Owners

Management Owner (MO):

An MO is a type of franchise owner officially approved by the Lawson headquarters as one that is in an even stronger partnership with the headquarters. Furthermore, an MO is a business operator who runs multi-store operations in a manner befitting the local area and aims for growth hand-in-hand with the headquarters.

Store Consultant (SC):

An SC is a store manager within the MO organization who has been granted SC qualifications certified by the Lawson headquarters through undergoing a process of specified training and review, and who is charged with making a round of visits to individual Lawson stores to provide them with operational guidance.