Convenience store monthly trends (April 2026)

Research evidence excerpt

Convenience store monthly trends (April 2026)

12 May 2026

Mizuho Securities Equity Research Retail / Convenience Stores

Industry Overview

Trend slowing partly on pullback after cigarette rush demand

Senior Analyst: April sales trends and our outlook

Toshio Takahashi Convenience store same-store sales in April slowed at all convenience store

+81 3 6202 8325 chains, including Seven-Eleven, where they turned downward. Likely reasons

toshio.takahashi@mizuho-sc.com include a pullback after the March cigarette sales surge (when demand

spiked ahead of April price hikes), unfavorable weather at end-April as theSenior Analyst:

Golden Week holidays began, and tough YoY comps. We also note thatHideya Asaeda

consumers appear more cautious as the Middle East situation evolves, and+81 3 6202 8598

hideya.asaeda@mizuho-sc.com that convenience store ready-made meals may have lost some of their price

advantage as rice and fresh vegetable prices, which had surged a year earlier,

have started to settle. We expect further polarization of income & spending

patterns among consumers, resulting in increasingly selective consumption. It

will therefore remain important to implement effective and proactive marketing

using mass media, as well as product and pricing strategies at the regional

and individual store level in a way that strikes an optimal balance between

value and price.

Individual company trends

In April, Seven-Eleven's same-store sales fell 0.4% YoY (up about 0.5%

excluding cigarettes), the first decline in 19 months. While the chain’s overall

sales excluding cigarettes remained firm, sales of rice dishes and noodles

were sluggish, partly reflecting tough YoY comps (due to an Expo 2025-

themed sales campaign last year) and changes in sales-promotion frequency.