---
title: "300,000 Convenience Stores by 2022? Ministry of Commerce Issues Document to Boost Development"
description: "The Ministry of Commerce has issued a notice to promote the branding and chain development of convenience stores, aiming to reach 300,000 branded chain convenience stores nationwide by 2022. This move is expected to drive growth in the convenience store market, which currently has only about 130,000 stores despite a large population."
author: "New Distribution"
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published: "2020-08-16"
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# 300,000 Convenience Stores by 2022? Ministry of Commerce Issues Document to Boost Development

> The Ministry of Commerce has issued a notice to promote the branding and chain development of convenience stores, aiming to reach 300,000 branded chain convenience stores nationwide by 2022. This move is expected to drive growth in the convenience store market, which currently has only about 130,000 stores despite a large population.

**Click the image above for details**
Convenience stores, as one of the business formats closest to the people and communities, have always played an important role in facilitating and benefiting the public. After the outbreak of the epidemic in early 2020, convenience stores played an extremely important role, effectively ensuring the people's daily life and market supply.
Recently, the General Office of the Ministry of Commerce issued the "Notice on Carrying out the Three-Year Action for Branding and Chaining Convenience Stores," which states that the development of branded and chained convenience stores will be comprehensively promoted, striving to reach a total of 300,000 branded chain convenience stores nationwide by 2022.
**-01- China's Huge Convenience Store Development Market**
In fact, the issuance of the notice by relevant national departments to develop branded and chained convenience stores has a traceable basis.
According to relevant data, as of the end of 2016, the number of convenience stores in South Korea reached 34,376, with one store per 1,479 people on average; in Japan, there was one convenience store per 2,226 people.
**In China, as of this year, the total number of chain convenience stores is only about 130,000, which is extremely low compared to China's large population base.**
According to data from January 2020, **China's per capita GDP exceeded US$10,000 for the first time, and residents' consumption capacity reached a certain level. With the growth of consumption capacity, consumer demand is also expanding. Therefore, at present, China's branded and chained convenience store market has broad prospects.**
**-02- National Policies Promote Development**
In recent years, relevant national departments have issued many related policies for the development of chain convenience stores.
On January 20, 2020, the official website of the Ministry of Commerce released the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Accelerated Development of Brand Chain Convenience Stores" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"). The Opinions proposed to improve the construction of urban public service infrastructure, densify the convenience consumption grid, optimize the business environment for convenience stores, promote the branding, chaining, and intelligent development of convenience stores, and better play the important role of convenience stores in serving people's livelihood and promoting consumption.
In the recent notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Commerce on carrying out the three-year action for branding and chaining convenience stores, it clearly stated that to further enhance the level of branding and chaining of convenience stores, densify the convenience store network, improve the quality of convenience services, and stimulate consumption potential, the Ministry of Commerce plans to carry out a three-year action for branding and chaining convenience stores nationwide.
It also proposed the development goals of **by 2022, the total number of branded and chained convenience stores nationwide will reach 300,000, cumulative sales will increase by more than 50%, there will be no fewer than 200 stores per million people in medium and large cities above the prefecture level, and the proportion of 24-hour convenience stores (including unmanned retail stores) will not be less than 30%, making them an important carrier for serving people's livelihood and facilitating consumption.**
**-03- The Convenience Store Market Is About to Usher in a Development Peak**
According to the "2020 China Convenience Store Prosperity Index Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") released by the China Chain Store & Franchise Association on July 14, the convenience store industry maintained steady development in 2019, with various industry indicators performing well. In 2020, the convenience store industry prosperity index was 62.87, although higher than the boom-bust line of 50.0, it was lower than last year's 67.08, the lowest in the past three years.
It is obvious that the epidemic has had a significant impact on the overall development of the convenience store industry, and it has also affected all aspects of the industry.
The introduction of national development policies may help the convenience store industry usher in a development peak in recent years.
From the current development of the convenience store industry, various regions are flourishing, and competition is relatively fierce. Many new brands are rising rapidly, and foreign brands are also expanding. At the same time, some brands with weak foundations and pursuing overly rapid development have declined or even gone bankrupt. However, from the market environment perspective, especially in second- and third-tier cities, the convenience store market is still very broad and promising.
**-04- Key Points for the Development of Convenience Store Enterprises**
Although the policy environment is favorable, the development of the convenience store industry is not without difficulties.
The convenience store development index report of the China Chain Store & Franchise Association pointed out that **in 2020, the development of the convenience store industry will still face a relatively fierce competitive environment. At the same time, there will be certain pressures in terms of store rent, labor costs, and recruitment. The COVID-19 epidemic will further increase the operational pressure on stores. The impact of the epidemic on consumer psychology has led to a sharp decline in customer traffic. Upstream supply chain enterprises of convenience stores are also affected, resulting in untimely supply and reduced distribution efficiency.**
After the epidemic this year, some convenience stores were overwhelmed, and there was a brief wave of closures.
Therefore, for surviving enterprises, if they want to seize development opportunities, **they should constantly examine their own development issues, increase revenue and reduce expenditure in store operations; and in talent management, eliminate the false and retain the true.**
**At the same time, starting from themselves, they should deeply cultivate the local consumer market. Based on their understanding of local consumers, they should build development barriers in product selection, product mix, and supply chain construction, continuously enhance their core competitiveness, and create conditions for long-term development.**
**In the development strategy of enterprises, the development of online business and digital transformation is also urgent for convenience store enterprises.** It can be seen that supermarkets that took the lead in trying online business, such as Yonghui, saw their sales increase rather than decrease during the epidemic, seizing the opportunity of the epidemic, launching a new round of strategic layout, and truly achieving a counterattack in adversity.
The Ministry of Commerce's "Notice" also pointed out the need to innovate business models and promote digital transformation. It encourages convenience stores to cooperate with online platforms, actively promote O2O models and supply chain models for convenience stores, develop emerging consumption models such as online marketing, community group buying, store-warehouse integration, online ordering and store pickup, and instant delivery. It also encourages the use of vending machines, unmanned retail stores, and other methods to extend the service radius of convenience stores, expand sales channels, and serve surrounding communities.
It encourages convenience stores to apply modern information technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data, and cloud computing, promote mobile payment and visualization technologies, and improve the intelligent management level of stores. It encourages convenience stores to build smart supply chains, use big data to drive product procurement, inventory management, and sales forecasting, provide early warnings for abnormal situations such as out-of-stock and expired products, promote efficient collaboration across the entire chain, and improve operational efficiency.
At this stage, whether for convenience store enterprises or the industry as a whole, it is an excellent development opportunity. Although they will face fierce market competition, they will also enjoy numerous development policies. The opportunity has come. Convenience store enterprises, are you ready?
Article reference sources: "Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Commerce on Carrying out the Three-Year Action for Branding and Chaining Convenience Stores" and "2020 China Convenience Store Prosperity Index Report" - China Chain Store & Franchise Association


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