Nanaco

Nanaco (trademarked as nanaco) is a prepaid cash-rechargeable contactless electronic money card 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 stores outside the company's group, especially those that are JCM affiliated shops.[1]

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.[2]

"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."

As of March 2016, 45 million nanaco cards have been issued, and 215,300 stores accept nanaco payment. [3]

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[4]
  • 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[5]
  • April 18, 2014 - The number of monthly transaction exceeded 100 million [6]

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]

References
  1. "Taking Another Step Forward" (PDF). 7 and i holdings. May 2008. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
  2. "Press release on July 3, 2007" (PDF) (in Japanese). IY CARD SERVICE Co.,Ltd. 2007-07-03. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 7, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  3. "平成28年2月期 決算短信〔日本基準〕（連結）" (PDF). 7 April 2016.
  4. "『nanaco』発行件数が500万件突破" (PDF). - セブン&アイHLDGS. 2007年10月10日
  5. "発行件数1000万件を突破いたしました" (PDF). - セブン&アイHLDGS. 2010年3月31日
  6. "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！" (PDF). - セブン&アイHLDGS. 2014年4月18日
  7. Lin, Jerry (21 August 2008). "Bonus point system unveiled for 'icash'". Taipei Times. Retrieved 9 March 2013.
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