Source | Retail Business Finance
In the face of a rapidly changing market, truly valuable convenience stores are no longer just about complete product assortments and smooth traffic flow, but about understanding the rhythm and needs of customers' inner lives.
The 2025 China Convenience Store Development Report (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") points out that convenience stores have long operated on the value pillars of "fast," "near," and "complete." However, as competition from peers and other industries intensifies, these advantages have gradually become the "starting line" that every brand possesses.
The key question now has shifted to: After convenience, what's next?
The answer lies in "understanding": not pursuing more products, but precisely matching needs.
In other words, the future of convenience stores requires re-examining the relationship between people, products, space, and brand. Based on the aforementioned report, I believe the following five directions deserve deep consideration—regarding categories, human touch, scenarios, membership, and the warmth of everyday moments.
Are convenience stores still convenient?
Phenomenon 1: As snack stores and discount stores proliferate, will consumers still walk into convenience stores?
The Report shows that bulk discount stores and snack collection stores, leveraging product variety, price advantages, and community proximity, are continuously diverting convenience store customers for snacks and daily necessities.
Source: 2025 China Convenience Store Development Report
Consumers' expectations of "convenience" have evolved from "close distance" to "efficiently solving immediate needs," such as ready-to-eat fresh food during peak hours, late-night simple meals and drinks, commuter coffee, and convenience services in high-frequency scenarios.
For the convenience store format, the word "convenience" was originally its core value, but when neighboring snack stores and discount stores push prices to the limit, the definition of convenience quietly changes. Especially in mature business districts, consumers' expectations of convenience stores are no longer just "near," but "fast, good, and able to efficiently solve immediate needs."
Breakthrough: From "Product Collection" to "Task Hub"
Convenience stores need to break free from "price comparison" thinking and use scenarios as the starting point for operations. Over 60% of practitioners agree that only by redefining "convenience" from the customer's perspective can they stand out in competition. For example, focus on specific tasks like "commuter refreshment" or "late-night hunger relief," rather than simply stacking categories.
I believe that starting from scenarios rather than categories will be the starting point for future convenience store operations. To stand out in competition, there's no need to compare prices across the board, but rather to see who can better understand the customer's current reason for choosing.
Is your category structure still what customers need?
Phenomenon 2: Are your familiar top SKUs still the main drivers now?
The Report reveals an interesting category phenomenon: sales share of strong scenario-dependent categories like tobacco has rebounded, while categories once favored, such as coffee and fresh food, have seen a decline.
Source: 2025 China Convenience Store Development Report
This phenomenon has led operators to reflect: Is our category planning still keeping pace with customers' footsteps?
Convenience stores used to adjust their product mix based on sales rankings. This approach is intuitive and effective, but the risk lies in forming "excessive experience dependence."
Now, customers come to stores for increasingly diverse reasons. Besides restocking, they may also be solving a temporary task: to refresh, quench thirst, or relax. This "task-oriented" consumption logic is influencing the rules of product selection and display in convenience stores.
As for how to face this challenge, I believe we can apply the basic skills of product management: the BCG Matrix and the Ansoff Matrix.
BCG Matrix: Classify products into four categories—"Stars," "Cash Cows," "Question Marks," and "Dogs"—to determine where resources should be invested and which items should be phased out or repackaged. Through market share and growth analysis of POS data, a BCG category map can be quickly created.
Figure: BCG Matrix
Ansoff Matrix: Starting from growth strategies, focus on analyzing whether the brand's current main products are selling mature products in existing markets (market penetration) or introducing new products to existing customers (product development). For example, for declining categories like coffee, "new product development" or "new scenario marketing" can stimulate consumption, rather than directly removing them from shelves.
Figure: Ansoff Strategy Types
We believe that the core of category strategy is to become "a language for dialogue with customers," allowing shelf products to precisely respond to immediate needs. Let customers see "just what they need" every time they enter the store—that is the value of a convenience store.
Human Touch: Learn from Pangdonglai and Bring Back the "Human Touch"
Phenomenon 3: In an efficiency-driven retail industry, is there still room for human touch?
When we talk about the competitiveness of convenience stores, words like "product power," "supply chain," and "digital intelligence" always come up. But in recent years, the retail case that has moved people the most and even changed the industry narrative is a company that does business with "human touch"—Pangdonglai.
Pangdonglai's core competitiveness lies in its business philosophy of "putting people first": when you walk into its stores, you feel a different atmosphere—there's hot water, umbrellas, magnifying glasses, and employees willing to listen; more importantly, these are not occasional service gimmicks but cultural habits accumulated over the years—from empathizing with customers to genuinely trusting employees.
Figure: Pangdonglai Store
Human Touch, in the final analysis, is not a specific device, process, or metric, but a business choice of "are you willing to think a little more for the other person."
This warmth is not only for customers but also for employees. When an organization is willing to listen to partners' voices, accept different ideas, and respect on-site judgment, the sincerity that naturally overflows from within will make customers feel: "This is not just a store selling things, but a place that understands me."
Although convenience stores are small in area and limited in manpower, showing human touch doesn't necessarily require spending a lot of money. In fact, there are many zero-budget practices that can bring a different feeling, such as:
- Handwrite warm messages on freshly brewed coffee cups, like "Keep it up today!" or "Have a Nice Day," so customers can take that care with them.
- Employees record regular customers' habits, such as "a certain customer always buys a specific brand of cigarettes."
- Compile customer feedback or warm interactions into the "Operations Manual" or "Store Work Book" as case studies for inheritance; stores can also set up a message book in the rest area, allowing customers to doodle, write, and express their feelings, creating another form of soft two-way communication.
I believe Human Touch is not a sentimental gimmick but a manageable capability that can be standardized and trained, with the goal of making customers feel "valued" and forming a "must-have" consumption habit.
When customers start to have the habit of "I just like coming to this store," that silent value is generated. Because it's not just convenient; it makes people feel "I am remembered."
Space Operation: From "Buy and Go" to "Creating Reasons to Stay"
Phenomenon 4: The core of convenience stores' foodservice transformation is "time management," creating "reasons to stay" for customers.
In the past, convenience stores played the role of "quick replenishment when in a hurry." But in the current competitive landscape, this "buy and go" business model can no longer sustain long-term customer relationships.
Figure: FamilyMart Store
Xu Zhongren, the godfather of Taiwan's convenience stores, pointed out years ago: "The next step for convenience stores is foodservice." The core of this statement is not just that stores should sell hot food, but a reminder to operators: convenience stores need to manage customers' time and experience, not just the flow of goods.
In Taiwan, the concept of shifting from "product flow" to "experience management" has long been implemented.
7-ELEVEn, FamilyMart, and other large chain convenience stores commonly have in-store seating areas, providing not only tables and chairs with air conditioning but sometimes even power outlets and Wi-Fi, making them places for students to study, office workers to have lunch, and travelers to rest. These spaces are not added value but a core part of store operations.
Figure: FamilyMart Dining Area
Behind this "stay-and-consume" model is the logic of "spatial stickiness."
The longer customers stay, the higher their consumption frequency and emotional attachment. For example, after ordering, they might add a dessert, or incorporate the store into their daily routine. When both consumption frequency and emotional attachment are established, the convenience store is no longer just a transaction place but a life node.
The above practices don't necessarily require heavy equipment or investment. Starting by thinking about reasons for customers to stay is the starting point of foodservice transformation.
So how can we enhance "spatial stickiness" at low cost? Here are four design suggestions for reference:
- Set up a small table in a corner with a view to extend coffee consumption time.
- Use tableware and table settings suitable for dining in to enhance the dining experience, even for microwave meals.
- Design meal combos, such as "bento + soup + discounted drink," to promote dine-in conversion.
- Keep the space clean, lighting soft, and background music gentle to make customers feel at ease.
These seemingly minor arrangements convey a signal: "You are not a passerby; you are someone we welcome to stay."
Convenience is not just about quick solutions but about "creating comfortable choices in the gaps of daily life." When you let customers stay, you have the opportunity to make them return more often; and when customers are willing to stay, the convenience store is not just a store but a life landscape.
Membership System: From "Points Tool" to "Trust Relationship"
Phenomenon 5: You have members, but do your members have you?
In convenience store operations, "membership" is often seen as a tool: collecting points for gifts, stored-value bonuses.
But in the current context of increasingly fragmented consumption behavior and highly diverse choices, such membership mechanisms are hard to create real stickiness. Simply put, customers don't lack accounts; they lack "a reason for this store."
Source: 2025 China Convenience Store Development Report
Membership management for convenience stores needs to shift from "function-oriented" to "relationship-oriented." This is an evolutionary path from membership system → subscription system → paid membership, with each stage representing a deeper level of customer trust and dependence on the brand.
1. Membership System: From Promotional Tool to Behavioral Insight
Currently, most convenience stores have membership mini-programs or point mechanisms. But the focus is not just on points; it's about using member behavior data to gain insights into "who comes often, when they come, and what they buy," further optimizing category and time-period operation strategies. This is the foundation for all upgrades.
2. Subscription System: Cultivating a "Meet Every Week" Relationship
The subscription system is the starting point for advanced membership. Convenience stores in Taiwan have begun experimenting with subscription-based coffee and bento combos, such as 99 yuan per month for X cups of designated drinks, or exclusive discounts every Tuesday. This design is not about making customers buy more but about making them accustomed to coming, looking forward to coming, and proactively approaching you.
3. Paid Membership: From Discount Benefits to Brand Trust
Sam's Club and Costco are successful representatives of this model, but in the future, convenience stores may also develop their own micro paid membership systems: a small annual fee in exchange for birthday discounts, pre-order rights for private fresh food, etc. The key is not to give more discounts but to establish a sense of belonging and ritual of "I am different from others."
Figure: Business Logic of Paid Membership
True membership management is not about collecting headcounts but about creating how many customers are "willing to leave a little time and thought for you." What convenience stores should think about is not how large the membership database is, but why these people are willing to come again.
When you move from a single transaction to a relationship; from meeting needs to participating in life, the value of a convenience store is no longer just "nearest" but "nearest to the heart."
Conclusion
As micro-units of urban life, convenience stores carry countless "just right" and "just remembered" moments. But in the face of a rapidly changing market, what is truly valuable is no longer just the completeness of products and the smoothness of traffic flow, but the brand's ability to understand the rhythm and needs of customers' inner lives.
Whether it's redefining convenience, optimizing categories, infusing human touch, or managing space and membership relationships, the core lies in answering one question: How to make customers "willing to slow down, walk in, stay at ease, and continue to repurchase."
The future of retail competition is not in scale and price, but in who can become "needed companionship" in customers' lives in a more delicate way. When every detail is reconstructing the emotional connection with customers, the future of convenience stores will be a warm journey of companionship.
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