Crafted ads, reminders driving store sales
China DailyA consumer shops at an automated self-service FamilyMart store in Shanghai in June 2022. If they buy a piece of bread, they are shown suggestions for jams," said Zhang Li, chairman of Fook Convenience Store, a regional player that operates about 2,200 stores. These His convenience store chain, Fook — a privately owned company — operates across three provinces, namely Fujian, Jiangxi and Sichuan. Zhang said that the decline of hypermarkets nationwide has bolstered the performance of community convenience stores, which, compared to their advanced counterparts in Japan, still hold significant potential. Compared to the prior year, 2023 witnessed an overall upswing in sector sales, with 81.4 percent of convenience store enterprises reporting year-on-year growth in total sales, while 16.9 percent experienced declines, according to a survey conducted by the China Chain Store & Franchise Association.