Convenience Store Oshi-Katsu: Why Ichiban Kuji and Franchise Collabs Sell Out, and What Resale Does to Them
If you have ever bought a limited-edition drink because it came with a collectible coaster, you know the pull. Convenience stores in Japan run programs aimed at fans of a work, such as purchase bonuses on eligible products and limited-time goods. The idea is to give people a reason to visit on top of their usual shopping, and to steer them toward the eligible product.
No other place in Japan has more storefronts for oshi-katsu than the convenience store. You don’t need to travel to a specialty shop or check its opening hours; you can meet your oshi on your way through the day. For a company, that is also a strength other formats find hard to match: the power to hand out reasons to visit.
Why Convenience Stores Bet on Oshi-Katsu
According to Nikkei, convenience store sales in May 2026 were ¥988.8 billion (roughly $6.6 billion), up 1% year over year (Nikkei, in Japanese). The market is big, but growing visit counts at existing stores is not easy. That is exactly why an IP collab (a tie-up with a licensed franchise such as an anime, game or idol group) that creates a “reason to go to this store today” has become more valuable.
Lottery products are doing well too. For the fiscal year ended March 2025, Bandai Spirits, the company behind Ichiban Kuji, reported sales of ¥210.3 billion (up 8%) and operating profit of ¥36.7 billion (up 7%). Ichiban Kuji was named as a driver alongside Gunpla model kits and figures, and the cumulative number of lottery tickets issued passed 830 million as of March 2025 (gamebiz, in Japanese). Ichiban Kuji, literally “first-prize lottery,” is a no-blanks prize lottery: you pay a fixed price per draw, every ticket wins something, and a special Last One Prize goes to whoever draws the final ticket in the lot.
- ¥210.3B
- Sales, up 8%
- ¥36.7B
- Operating profit, up 7%
- 830M+
- Lottery tickets issued to date
Ichiban Kuji is named as a growth driver next to Gunpla and figures.
Source: gamebiz (in Japanese)
Convenience-store oshi-katsu programs sort into three broad types.
| Type | How it works | Main effect | Hard part |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry campaign | Buy an eligible product and enter a lottery with the serial number on the receipt | Directly moves sales of the eligible product | Few winners, so satisfaction is scattered |
| Ichiban Kuji | Lottery tickets from a few hundred yen a draw, with top prizes and a Last One Prize | Captures high unit spend and collecting demand at once | Hoarding and scalping; unfairness from differences in stock |
| Store wrap | A specific store is decorated in the world of a work and stocked with limited products | The store visit itself becomes the destination | Location, period and inventory must be designed together |
Entry campaign
- Receipt serial number, lottery
- Moves sales of the product
Ichiban Kuji
- Every ticket wins a prize
- Risk of hoarding and scalping
Store wrap
- The store becomes the destination
- Needs location, period and stock
Same aisle, three very different bets.
How Design Differs Across Recent Cases
Even within the same type, each company aims at something different.
FamilyMart x Jujutsu Kaisen: Turning a Store Into a Destination
The aim is to make the in-store experience itself the content, not just to sell merchandise.
For the initiative, FamilyMart ran its Shibuya Koen-dori store from November 5, 2025 to February 2, 2026 as a specially wrapped “Shibuya Incident” store, named for an arc of the anime Jujutsu Kaisen. It tied together exterior decoration featuring the main characters, in-store staging, an Ichiban Kuji available at FamilyMart and other retailers, limited acrylic stands and can badges, 168 kinds of bromides (character photo cards) sold from its “FamilyMart Print” multi-copy machines, and advance tickets (Mubitix) for the theatrical film (FamilyMart official news release, in Japanese).
The Lab’s take: The number that deserves attention is 168 kinds of bromides. The price per sheet is low, but for anyone who wants the full set it is a strong motive. And because the cards are printed on a copier, there is almost no inventory risk. It is an invention only a convenience store could make, where trading card culture and store equipment happened to mesh.
Seven-Eleven x STPR Family: Turning an Everyday Product Into a Point of Contact
The aim is to turn an everyday purchase, sweets, into a point of contact with the oshi.
The initiative ran for 14 days, from August 27 to September 9, 2025. Buy two of the eligible “THE SEVEN SWEETS” and a serial number was printed on your receipt, with prizes drawn by lottery that included an online talk with a member of STPR Family, a T-shirt with a handwritten autograph, and ¥1,000 in QUO Card Pay, a digital gift card (PR TIMES, in Japanese).
The Lab’s take: The key to this type is that two stages of contact open up between purchase and winning. The act of entering is wedged in at the moment of purchase, and the relationship with the brand lasts until winners are announced. The experience runs longer than a program that ends when the goods are handed out.
FamilyMart x Haikyu!! Ichiban Kuji: Splitting In-Store and Online
The aim is to spread out the chances to buy.
For the initiative, an Ichiban Kuji for the volleyball anime Haikyu!! went on sale at FamilyMart and other retailers at ¥750 per draw (tax included), in stores on August 16, 2025 and online from 5 p.m. on September 8, so the two timings were split (Ichiban Kuji Club, in Japanese).
The Lab’s take: Merely staggering the dates lowers both the line before opening and the hoarding pressure on each store. For online buyers, it avoids the experience of “everything was gone in stores.” It is a modest move, but a realistic way to design fairness.
FamilyMart x Monster Hunter Now, Seven-Eleven x My Hero Academia
The tie-up with the location-based game Monster Hunter Now ran from 10 a.m. on October 21, 2025 to November 3. It handed out goods with newly drawn illustrations, including a character making its first appearance in a corporate collab, and linked the app with stores (Monster Hunter Now official, in Japanese). Seven-Eleven ran a nationwide campaign from November 10 to 23, 2025 in which buying eligible products earned original goods from the superhero anime My Hero Academia (My Hero Academia official, in Japanese).
The Lab’s take: What the two have in common is timing that matches a big push on the work’s side. Instead of creating buzz on their own, the convenience stores ride a peak on the work’s calendar, such as a broadcast, a release or an anniversary. For IP managers, convenience stores are also a medium for “taking the surface,” that is, reaching people across the widest possible physical space.
Why Ichiban Kuji Sells, and Its Side Effects
The strength of Ichiban Kuji lies in having no blanks, and in the game of the Last One Prize, “drawing the final ticket.” Because the tickets circulate by lot, how many remain at each store is visible, and the fewer that are left, the higher the expected value of the top prizes. Even with headwinds against random goods overall, one big reason Ichiban Kuji keeps its support is likely that this expected value can be calculated.
The side effects are clear as well. A prize with only one per lot flows to flea-market apps right after release. The larger the gap between list price and secondary-market price, the stronger the motive for hoarding.
In 2026, a problem tied to the convenience-store franchise structure also surfaced. People connected to some stores had set aside popular character products before release and resold them on flea-market sites. Headquarters commented that it was a serious problem that damages the brand of the whole chain. Bengoshi.com News relayed an expert’s view that under franchise contracts, ownership of products passes to the store when the franchisee buys them in, so legal prosecution is difficult (Bengoshi.com News, in Japanese).
Where scrambles over limited goods overheat, other kinds of fraud appear. In 2026, a woman was also reported arrested for ordering and canceling goods worth ¥4.3 billion in total through mail order and other channels (Nikkei, in Japanese).
These are problems of the individuals involved, but they are also structural: this is what happens when a design in which “whoever secures it first gains” is left alone. Unless companies build countermeasures into operations, it will recur.
Patterns That Work and Patterns That Fail
Line up the cases and the side effects, and what separates success from failure is not the popularity of the work but the design of the release method and the buying opportunities.
| Angle | What works | What trips up |
|---|---|---|
| Release method | Stagger dates between stores and online | Only a nationwide simultaneous release, with demand concentrated on day one |
| Buying opportunities | State the per-person limit in advance | No limit, leaving it to each store |
| Price design | Pair many low-priced items (such as bromides) alongside | Value lopsided toward rare, high-priced prizes |
| Store operations | Distribute purchase limits and training to franchisees | Operations vary between headquarters and franchisees |
| Tie-in | Match the work’s anniversary or broadcast | A one-off with no context |
| Aftercare | Announce reprint and order policy in advance | No guidance after sell-out, so inquiries pile up |
Practical Steps for Company Planners
Put the patterns that work into a working order and you get seven stages.
- Narrow to one type. Entry campaigns, Ichiban Kuji and store wraps run completely differently. Concentrate on one the first time.
- Decide the purchase limit first. Put “X per person” in three places: announcements, POP displays and the franchisee manual.
- Spread out the release. Stagger the timing between stores and online, or between the first and second rounds.
- Design franchisee governance. Headquarters should document whether employees may buy, the ban on setting stock aside in advance, and the response if it happens.
- Set out a low-priced catch-all. Always include something everyone can buy, such as copier prints or small goods.
- Define the scope of likeness use in the contract. For collabs with VTubers and idols, specify in-store posters, receipt printing and social announcements individually.
- Prepare guidance for after sell-out. Decide whether to reprint, and the announcement date, before release.
- 01Pick one typeEntry, kuji or wrap
- 02Set the limitPosters, POP and manual
- 03Spread the releaseStores, online, rounds
- 04Govern franchiseesNo advance stock grabbing
- 05Add a low-price doorCopier prints, small goods
- 06Define likeness rightsBy medium
- 07Plan for sell-outReprint policy and date
Each stage removes one way a fair release can go wrong.
Pre-Launch Checklist
- You have decided whether the main metric is sales of the eligible product or store visits
- You have written the per-person purchase limit in announcements, POP and the franchisee manual
- You have split release dates between stores and online, or can explain why you didn’t
- You have documented the policy on franchise employees buying or setting aside stock in advance
- Besides the rare, high-priced prizes, you have prepared a low-priced option everyone can buy
- You have confirmed in the contract the scope of likeness and character use, by medium
- You have decided the reprint policy and announcement date in case of sell-out
- You have prepared the PR response for a spike in resale prices
Notes From The Oshi Lab: Convenience Stores Sell “the Shortest Distance to Your Oshi”
Look at a convenience-store IP collab as “merchandise sales” and it has almost nothing that can beat specialty shops or e-commerce. In assortment and floor space, there is no comparison.
Fans go anyway, because the store is close. On a day when you can’t get to a live show or a genba (live event), a convenience store lets you meet your oshi in five minutes. That “shortest distance” is the product, and it is why 168 kinds of bromides and a buy-two campaign work. Conversely, a design that destroys that distance, where hoarding and scalping leave nothing on the shelves, damages the greatest asset a convenience-store collab has.
The string of problems that surfaced in 2026 showed a simple fact: the more exclusive you make something, the stronger the incentive for misconduct. What companies can do is not lower exclusivity but leave one sure way to buy. A low-priced product everyone can get, later orders, a clear reprint plan: any one of the three returns the fan’s experience from “a scramble” to “shopping.” The oshi-katsu market is growing, but what is growing is the number of people, not each person’s budget. As we saw in the oshi-katsu market size, the ones increasing are casual fans. If the place where they first touch their oshi is the convenience store, then turning that entrance into a competition is a loss for the industry as a whole, we believe.
Related articles: What Is Oshi-Katsu Marketing? / Case Studies in Oshi-Katsu Marketing Failures / How to Plan a Collab Cafe, With Success Stories / The Oshi-Katsu Market Size, 2026 Edition
FAQ
Why do convenience stores collaborate with popular IPs?
To bring people in for the collab itself and to raise spend per customer through add-on purchases. When store visits are hard to grow, a collab gives everyday shopping a "reason to go today."
How does Ichiban Kuji work?
It is a no-blanks lottery product from Bandai Spirits. One lot holds top prizes plus a Last One Prize for whoever draws the final ticket, which feeds the urge to collect and the thrill of chance at the same time.
Why are receipt-entry campaigns so common?
Printing a serial number on the receipt when you buy an eligible product fits easily into existing POS operations, and it leaves a record of purchase while creating a chance to win.
Are there measures against hoarding and scalping?
The basics are purchase limits, separate release dates for stores and online, and a lottery system. Training and governance for franchise staff are also headquarters' job.
Is it illegal to list items on a flea-market app right after release?
Reselling something you bought is not illegal across the board. But if store staff set items aside before release and resell them, for example, it can be treated as a contractual or ethical problem, depending on the situation.
