---
title: "Supplying 6,000 Community Stores with a Bold Promise: Lowest Prices"
description: "Yuan Lai from New Distribution visited a unique distributor in Jiangshan County, Zhejiang, who unified the storefronts and supply channels of 6,000 mom-and-pop stores, promising the lowest market prices. The company, Chicheng Shares, with annual sales over 1.2 billion RMB, achieved this through exclusive brand partnerships and a closed-loop system that benefits both stores and brands."
author: "袁来"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2025-09-12"
categories: "Retail Formats"
language: "en"
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citation: "袁来. “Supplying 6,000 Community Stores with a Bold Promise: Lowest Prices.” New Distribution, 2025-09-12. https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/supplying-6-000-community-stores-with-a-bold-promise-lowest-prices-14b08cc3/"
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---

# Supplying 6,000 Community Stores with a Bold Promise: Lowest Prices

> Yuan Lai from New Distribution visited a unique distributor in Jiangshan County, Zhejiang, who unified the storefronts and supply channels of 6,000 mom-and-pop stores, promising the lowest market prices. The company, Chicheng Shares, with annual sales over 1.2 billion RMB, achieved this through exclusive brand partnerships and a closed-loop system that benefits both stores and brands.

Dear readers, I'm Yuan Lai from New Distribution.
Last month, I visited a particularly unique distributor in Jiangshan County, Quzhou, Zhejiang.
What he did, many people's first reaction upon hearing it was—impossible.
He unified the storefronts and supply channels of 6,000 mom-and-pop stores in Zhejiang and surrounding areas, with most products sourced from his single company.
This company is Chicheng Shares, with unified storefronts called "Zuolin Youyou" (Left Neighbor Right Neighbor) or "Life Station." Annual sales exceed 1.2 billion RMB. In the "2024 China Convenience Store TOP100" list released by CCFA on April 30 this year, it ranked 7th.
I immediately asked one question: How did you do it?
How did you get so many independent mom-and-pop stores willing to unify their storefronts, unify supply, and all purchase from you?
Founder Mr. Zhu Jun only said seven words: the lowest comprehensive market price.
What does that mean? It guarantees that the store's purchase price is the lowest in the regional market. Of course, this is not just a slogan. How do they achieve it?
First, only one strategic cooperative brand is selected per category.
They only sell Yili, not Mengniu; only sell Master Kong, not Uni-President; only sell Liby, not Diao Pai. This secures the best price support from brands.
Second, store regulations are the same. Stores can only sell brands operated by the company, otherwise they pay a penalty.
Third, store owners are encouraged to take photos and upload surrounding prices. Whoever finds a purchase price lower than Chicheng's will have the price adjusted immediately and receive a reward.
Think about it: with 6,000 stores, it's not about sales volume, but giving brands an exclusive commitment in exchange for lower purchase prices, which in turn benefits stores, giving them more profit margin.
The more stores earn, the more they attract new stores to join; the better brand policies, the more achievable the lowest market price—this closed loop is established.
Such an unconventional distributor is, at least in my business experience, "one of a kind."
Below is the core content of my in-depth exchange with Mr. Zhu Jun, founder of Zuolin Youyou & Life Station, to help you better understand the past and present of Chicheng Shares.
Both a Retailer and a Distributor
When I met Mr. Zhu, I raised my first question.
"Is Chicheng a retailer or a distributor? From an external perspective, with unified store signs, clean interiors, and uniformed staff, it looks like a standard chain retail enterprise. But from a business model perspective, it seems like a super-large distributor, with core revenue coming from supplying downstream franchise stores."
Mr. Zhu didn't rush to answer; he first shared Chicheng's development history, which went through three stages.
The first stage, before 2005, was as a "standard" chain convenience store retailer. At that time, there were over 70 directly-operated stores in Jiangshan, entirely self-opened.
With over 70 directly-operated stores, operational costs were high in management, personnel, and other aspects.
Mr. Zhu recalled that during an external study trip, he saw Japanese convenience stores, where 96% were franchisees. This made him realize that to grow the convenience store business into a long-term career, franchising was essential.
From 2005 onwards, they entered the second development stage: low-cost franchising model, profiting from wholesale supply.
They transformed mom-and-pop stores into convenience stores with unified signage. The positioning at that time was: slightly better than neighboring mom-and-pop stores in environment, decoration, and lighting, but with less investment than 7-Eleven or FamilyMart, taking a "cost-performance" path.
At this point, Chicheng shifted from a retailer to a distributor. They signed distribution contracts with various first- and second-tier brands, becoming a full-category distributor, providing one-stop supply to franchised mom-and-pop stores.
Currently, the average annual purchase amount per store is around 200,000 RMB. As supply chain capabilities strengthen, franchise stores are gradually approaching 100% purchasing from Chicheng.
Now, with over 6,000 franchise stores of Zuolin Youyou and Life Station, they have entered the third stage: combining distribution and retail to continuously improve store operations.
Mr. Zhu told me that while strengthening their wholesale and trading capabilities, they are also continuously improving store image, category management, and reward mechanisms. At the same time, they fully empower store operations, such as store + cloud duty, store + smart cabinets, store + delivery, store + express, etc.
These are Chicheng's three development stages. Strictly speaking, Chicheng is both a retailer and a distributor.
Why Join Zuolin Youyou and Life Station?
My second question to Mr. Zhu was, "When you first opened franchising for Zuolin Youyou in 2005, why would mom-and-pop stores in a county town be willing to change their signs?"
Mr. Zhu recalled that the core reasons for small stores to join Zuolin Youyou were two:
First, Zuolin Youyou already had some influence in Jiangshan (40 stores in Jiangshan, 30 in Quzhou), and business was good.
Second, mom-and-pop stores care most about operating costs:
One is the store setup cost. From the day the franchising model was determined, Chicheng only charged a franchise fee of 5,000 RMB and a deposit of 5,000 RMB, with no other fees, so the setup cost was almost the same as opening a store independently.
The second is product purchase price. In 2005, Chicheng proposed the "lowest comprehensive market price" commitment.
What does the lowest comprehensive market price mean? Simply put, two points: First, guarantee that the store's purchase price is the lowest among surrounding stores; Second, unified purchase prices.
Let me explain "unified purchase price" first. Store owners have their own circles; Chicheng does not give lower prices to stores with higher sales volume or higher prices to those with lower volume. Unified purchase price means regardless of size, new or old stores, in the same market, everyone is treated equally.
How is the lowest market price for purchased products specifically achieved?
The specific method: let store owners report prices. For example, store A's owner might have a friend or relative who is a Nongfu Spring sales rep and knows the lowest price, so they execute at that lowest price; store B's owner knows Wahaha and knows the lowest price, so they execute at that price.
Through store owners reporting prices, as long as they are true and valid, prices are uniformly adjusted, gradually forming the lowest market purchase price.
How does that sound? Simple, right? But actually implementing it requires high costs. Mr. Zhu shared that when they decided to take this path, from 2005 to 2015, they lost money for 11 consecutive years.
He vividly remembers that in one early year, the gross margin was only 1.42%. This meant selling 10,000 RMB worth of goods resulted in a loss of at least 800-900 RMB, while operating costs were at least 10%.
From the initial 1.42% gross margin to sustained profitability today, the journey has been tough.
After deciding to open franchising in 2005, Chicheng began cooperating with manufacturers and became a distributor. But even as a distributor, they couldn't build price competitiveness. The key strategy that formed true price competitiveness was exclusive cooperation.
In 2008, Chicheng stores only sold Mengniu. They applied to Mengniu to become the second distributor in Jiangshan, but Mengniu refused due to an existing distributor. Subsequently, Chicheng started exclusive cooperation with Yili.
It was precisely because of the cooperation with Yili that Chicheng began to truly consider: is it possible to reach strategic cooperation with a leading brand in a category to obtain better trade terms?
In 2014, the trademark dispute between Wanglaoji and JDB made Chicheng formally establish the "exclusive cooperation" strategy, forming strategic partnerships with specific brands. Then came Master Kong and Uni-President...
Because of the clear lowest comprehensive market price, franchise stores' purchase costs decreased, and store profitability improved. Because of high store profitability, more stores naturally joined. As the number of franchise stores increased, brand strategic partners offered better trade terms, making the lowest comprehensive market price more achievable...
Summary
Due to space limitations, I cannot elaborate on all the specific operational strategies of Zuolin Youyou & Life Station.
Therefore, "New Distribution" will organize an in-depth study tour on September 19, visiting Chicheng Shares and having in-depth discussions with General Manager Mr. Zhu Jun. Interested friends can scan the QR code to add WeChat and inquire about registration details.


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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 袁来
- Published: 2025-09-12
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/supplying-6-000-community-stores-with-a-bold-promise-lowest-prices-14b08cc3/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/XdIMldRG8vat3MWsWJI3ag

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