7-Eleven: Retail Media in Stretched Format

Bangkok | Convenience stores are omnipresent in Southeast Asia – Thailand is no exception. More than 12,000 7-Eleven stores – virtually on every corner – can be found in Thailand. And in almost 3,000 shops, the country’s largest outdoor advertiser operates retail media screens in an unusual format. Stretched instead of panoramic.

DooH displays in 16:9 format are almost like digital posters – that’s how it’s learned. But not in Thailand’s convenience stores, where displays still have to fit between low ceilings and high shelves in cramped conditions. Responsible for the retail media network is PlanB, Thailand’s leading out-of-home provider. A five-digit number of mainly stretched displays have been installed since 2019, primarily in high-frequency shops in the Bangkok metropolitan area and increasingly nationwide.

Every day, 15 million customers with 50 million transactions use 7-Eleven shops in Thailand. Customers in Asia use convenience stores not only for everyday purchases, but also for banking services (remittance, cash withdrawal), insurance and parcel services.

PlanB installed DooH screens in different zones of the 7-Eleven shops, each suspended from the ceiling:

beverage coolers,
coolers for food, ready meals and dairy products,
above the shelves with food, beverages, snacks, personal care products and
at the check-out.

All screen positions enable customers unobstructed view on the digital advertising. The impact of DooH is particularly high in convenience stores, as customers are more likely to make impulse purchases than when shopping in the supermarket. Media owner PlanB, which operates digital roadside billboards, metro screens and inside Bangkok’s shopping centers, among others, has access to 20% of the DooH inventory for retail media / 3rd party advertising.

7-Eleven Retail Media in Bangkok (Foto: invidis) — 7-Eleven Retail Media in Bangkok (Photo: invidis)

The first 2,000 shops installed during the pandemic alone reach six million customers daily. The retail media network is also interesting because of the close link with the checkout system and for customers who can activate coupons via QR code scanners in the store.

In Bangkok, the stretched displays hanging from the low ceilings are particularly striking. In some places we also discovered two stretched displays on top of each other.