Q1. Turning a corner BRISTOL AND TOKYO on its saturated domestic market. Its two Convenience stores could benefit from Japanese rivals, FamilyMart and Lawson, the pandemic-if they adapt have been laggards, too (see chart). In many countries supermarkets have been mus- CORNER SHOPS are within walking dis- cling in on their traditional high-street C tance of many homes, open long hours turf. In September Asda, a British super- and small enough not to require customers market, launched Asda on the Move, join- to linger too long inside. They no longer ing Tesco Express and Sainsbury's Local. sell just basic necessities, such as milk, Despite the potential pandemic boost, beer and sweets. And they offer other ser- performance this year has been similarly vices, from charging e-bikes in South Korea patchy. The average value per convenience- to paying for online shopping in Mexico. store transaction in China increased by On paper, this makes them perfectly suited 120% at the height of the pandemic, and to the pandemic. And in practice? stayed high. In Britain the Co-operative Going into covid-19, convenience stores Group declared that sales rose by 8% in the were a mixed bag. Some benefited as busier first half, year on year, to E5.8bn ($7.6bn), lifestyles, smaller households and ageing thanks to its Co-op and Nisa minimarts. At populations led more people to shop little, the same time Seven & i reported a 12% often and locally. They were the only brick- drop in operating profits in the three and-mortar shops in South Korea whose months to August. FamilyMart lost money sales grew in 2019. Oxxo, a Mexican chain in the third quarter. oxxo's parent com- with some 20,000 outlets across Latin Am- pany, FEMSA, is also in the red this year. erica, reported sales of $8.7bn in 2019, up by Although some pandemic shopping 10% on the year before. Minimarts, which habits favour convenience stores, others mostly operate as franchises, have been do not. Rivals are offering the same goods opening in China, India and Thailand. for less and brought to your doorstep, often in an hour or two. Deliveroo, a British food- Elsewhere they have struggled. In Ja- delivery app (part-owned by Amazon), fer- pan, home to the world's three biggest ries booze from supermarkets. In August chains, they have been in outright decline. DoorDash, an American one that teamed The share price of Seven & i Holdings, the up with 7-Eleven in the pandemic's early giant which owns 7-Eleven and accounts days, launched its own virtual DashMart. for a third of the industry's $360bn in glo- To fend off rivals, stores must evolve bal revenues, has dropped by around 30% with shoppers' changing ideas of conve over the past two years, as investors cooled nience, says Amanda Bourlier of Euromon itor International, a research firm. One American chain, Wawa, has opened drive- Inconvenient truth 19010152 through stores. Another, Casey's, has re- Convenience-store firms, share prices ported a surge in digital sales. Stores in January 1st 2018-100, $ terms South Korea and Japan, which face labour 225 shortages, are toying with automated pay- FamilyMart ments. In America 7-Eleven now delivers 200 online orders to homes, as well as public 175 places like parks. But its parent has also 150 bought Speedway, a chain of American pet- rol stations, for $2ibn. That adds 3.900 out- 125 lets to the 9,000-odd 7-Elevens in America 100 (and 70,000 or so globally). It is a big bet 75 that petrol cars aren't soon disappearing- Lawon FEMSA" and nor are convenience stores. 50 2018 19 20 Source: The Economist Oct 17, 2