Nanaco Explained

Nanaco (trademarked in lowercase as nanaco) is a prepaid cash-rechargeable contactless electronic money card, and point based loyalty program used at Seven & I Holdings–owned stores in Japan, which are 7-Eleven convenience stores, Denny's restaurants, and Ito-Yokado merchandise stores. In addition, Nanaco can be used at more than 7,000 third party stores outside the company's group, like Sogo and Seibu Department Stores^[1]

Nanaco cards can instantly issued at all 7-Eleven convenience stores in Japan, after completing a application form. It is similar to other point based loyalty cards as users can earn points and use them for purchases or discounts.

As of March 2016, 45 million nanaco cards have been issued, and 215,300 stores accept nanaco payment.^[2]

History

• April 23, 2007 – pilot program launched at 1,500 7-Eleven stores in Tokyo
• May 2007 – service is expanded nationwide at all 7-Eleven stores
• September 3, 2007 – Nanaco card charging service begins at Seven Bank ATMs
• October 10, 2007 – 5 million cards distributed^[3]
• February 2008 – Nanaco cards accepted at all Denny's restaurants
• March 25, 2008 – Nanaco cards accepted at Ito-Yokado stores
• June 1, 2008 – Credit card charging service starts for IY Card branded credit cards (later renamed as Seven Card)
• March 30, 2010 – Nanaco cards accepted at Coca-Cola multi-money vending machines
• March 31, 2010 – 10 million cards distributed^[4]
• April 18, 2014 – The number of monthly transaction exceeded 100 million ^[5]

Supplied by IY Card Service Co., Ltd. (later renamed Seven Card Service Co., Ltd.), a subsidiary of Seven & I Holdings Co., Ltd., Nanaco is available as Nanaco card (plastic card) and Nanaco mobile (Osaifu-Keitai application for mobile phones with embedded contactless chip).The Nanaco format also features a postpay function (on the QUICPay scheme), which was made available to IY Card (since renamed "Seven Card") credit card holders since the summer of 2007. Purchases with Nanaco earn points, which can later be used to make more purchases. The cards uses Sony's FeliCa technology, which is also used in a wide variety of contactless smart cards including Suica, Edy, and Pasmo. Services began on April 23, 2007, and the number of members is more than 3.8 million as of end-June 2007.^[6]

"Nana" means "seven" in Japanese, and the giraffe's head and neck is in the shape of the number "7", in reference to "7-Eleven" and "Seven & i Holdings".

The "Nanaco card" issued by Seven-Eleven Japan became the most frequently used e-wallet within three months after it was introduced in April 2007.^[7]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Taking Another Step Forward. 7 and i holdings. 9 March 2013. May 2008.
2. Web site: 平成28年2月期 決算短信〔日本基準〕（連結） . 7 April 2016.
3. Web site: 『nanaco』発行件数が500万件突破 . - セブン&アイHLDGS. 2007年10月10日
4. Web site: 発行件数1000万件を突破いたしました . - セブン&アイHLDGS. 2010年3月31日
5. Web site: 電子マネー『nanaco』3月度月間利用件数が初めて1億件を突破！. - セブン&アイHLDGS. 2014年4月18日
6. Web site: 2007-07-03 . Press release on July 3, 2007 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20071107145246/http://www.7andi.com/news/pdf/2007/0702_01.pdf . November 7, 2007 . 2007-07-03 . IY CARD SERVICE Co., Ltd. . Japanese.
7. News: Lin. Jerry. Bonus point system unveiled for 'icash'. 9 March 2013. Taipei Times. 21 August 2008.