In February 2000, 7-11 Japan established 7dream.com, an e-commerce company. The goal was to exploit the existing distribution system and the fact that stores were easily accessible to most Japanese. Stores served as drop-off and collection points for Japanese customers. A survey by eSBook a joint venture between Softbank, 7-11 Japan, Yahoo!Japan, and Tohan, a publisher, discovered that 92 % of its customers preferred to pick up their online purchases at the local convenience store, rather than have them delivered to their homes. This was understandable given the frequency with which Japanese customers visit their local convenience store. 7dream hoped to build on this preference along with the synergies from the existing distribution system.