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43% more invoices per person in an automated Procure-to-Pay cycle

Purchasing teams spent hours on each invoice, and the cycle had gaps in control. NTT DATA reviewed operations, tools and the organizational model, then built a roadmap with four automation scenarios. Each person in the process now handles 43% more invoices, and the process runs with 34% fewer full-time employees.

43% more invoices per person in an automated Procure-to-Pay cycle

43 initiatives and an estimated 570 million pesos for a department store’s financial services

For a Mexican department store retailer, financial services were a side offering with room to grow. NTT DATA analyzed products, processes, operations and systems and designed a digital transformation plan with 43 initiatives. The plan carries an estimated impact of about 570 million Mexican pesos on EBITDA.

43 initiatives and an estimated 570 million pesos for a department store’s financial services

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Marketing & Sales

Japan’s service stations are becoming a coverage portfolio

13 Oct 2026

A shrinking network needs different economics by site

Japan’s service-station network is contracting faster than its population.
Registered stations fell from 29,005 at FY2020-end to 27,009 at FY2024-end, while the longer-term network has declined by about 55% from its

The operating issue is increasingly uneven. Some sites face declining commercial demand; others remain important for local access or emergency continuity despite limited direct contribution. The management question is therefore no longer how to apply one station model across the network, but which economic role each site should play and what the portfolio must preserve

At a glance

The network is contracting faster than population

Japan had 27,009 registered service stations at FY2024-end, down 6.9% in four years and approximately 55% from the FY1994 peak

Coverage value rises where commercial density falls

At FY2025-end, 615 municipalities had three or fewer stations or residents at least 15 kilometres by road from the nearest station.

Resilience changes the economics of some sites

Japan listed 14,215 resident-base service stations with emergency generation as of March 2026, giving some locations a continuity role that fuel throughput alone does not capture.

Automation expands the feasible operating model

Japan’s revised fire-safety framework permits qualified automated monitoring at self-service stations under defined safety, escalation and human-control requirements. This can support different labour models by site without implying fully unmanned operation.

What leaders should do

Classify each station by commercial potential and strategic coverage criticality, then define the service model, staffing, investment logic and operator economics appropriate to that role. Test propositions as portfolio pilots with comparable sites before scaling them across the network.

Download the full report to explore the Coverage Portfolio Matrix, the five operating logics and the 2027–2030 COO agenda.

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