7-Eleven acts as bureaux de change for insurers

7-Eleven formed a partnership with the PayNearMe start-up in 2010. The start-up initially offered American consumers not having credit cards the possibility of making online purchases. Since then it has formed numerous partnerships, the latest one with American insurer L.A. Care.
For consumers, PayNearMe is a new payment method offered for their online purchases. The consumer selects this option then prints out a coupon to be presented in a 7-Eleven where he pays the outstanding amount. The terminals of local retailers, which are connected directly to the PayNearMe payment network, immediately approve the transaction with the retailer, who can then “deliver” the goods.
L.A. Care for its part relies on the fact that 68% of Americans without bank accounts have smartphones. Their monthly bill is sent to the policyholder’s smartphone; the latter then only needs to present the barcode and pay 7-Eleven in cash.

In its “Service Centric” report, Echangeur underscores the fact that retailers can innovate with services unrelated to their core offer by capitalizing on the their consumer confidence.

This is the case for 7-eleven. On average, 7-Eleven customers spend 2 and a half minutes in their stores. The brand prefers to concentrate on services to strengthen its ties with its customers. Regular customers shop there up to 20 times a month!
With its image as a convenience store open 24/7 and a dense network of retail outlets (nearly 9,000 in the USA), it did not hesitate to form a partnership with a start-up in 2011 to offer a financial intermediation service to a specific audience: people without bank accounts.

Furthermore, it enhances its image as a responsible company by supporting a public health process. One more factor in its aim of transforming the company’s model from a “transactional” to an “interpersonal” one according to Laura Gordon, VP Brand Innovation of 7-Eleven.