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This new Access Asia report on the development of the convenience stores market in Shanghai deals with the rapid expansion in the number of convenience store chains in China’s leading commercial city.
Convenience store (bian li dian) retailing, or C-stores, have become a major part of Shanghai’s burgeoning retail infrastructure. They began by sprouting up throughout the Puxi districts of central Shanghai and are now expanding throughout the city and its suburbs. They compete with both the smaller supermarkets that have proliferated in Shanghai and the numerous family run kiosks and small general stores (many of which pre-date 1949). Local chains have emerged as well as foreign funded groups and expansion has continued into neighbouring Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. There is currently keen competition to secure prime locations in newly developing areas such as Pudong in Shanghai. Most of the chains are 24-hours and sell food and small household items as well as providing film developing, photocopying, newspaper and magazine retailing, telephone services and, in some cases, have ATM facilities. C-stores have been accepted very rapidly as part of the Shanghai retail mix and have begun to become crucial testing grounds for new products as they reach primarily the upper mass market in the city. Statistics from the Shanghai Chain Business Association (SCBA) indicate that nearly 1,500 convenience stores were operating in Shanghai in 2001 including Lianhua, Kedi, Liang You and Lawson. This figure is expected to reach 2,000 in 2002 with up to 3,000 or 4,000 convenience outlets by 2005. Start-up investment for a convenience outlet is within the reach of many Chinese entrepreneurs, and the initial preparations, including choosing the location, are not complex. These factors have encouraged many potential operators to kick off their business.