CHINA VOICES | Can new retail beat old-fashioned snack shops?

This week, translation column China Voices brings TechNode Squared members a unique take on the new retail landscape. TechNode has not independently verified the claims made below.

Convenience stores have given e-commerce giants a choppy ride as they’ve raced to deploy automated “new retail” concepts. Fang Yu, writing at One Billion Customers, argues that they must learn from the real masters of ubiquity: China’s budget snack food chains, which have developed a loosely-managed franchise model that’s allowed them to open ten of thousands of locations across the country.
Do Chinese convenience stores have a chance against the mighty Shaxian Xiaochi?
Fang Yu, One Billion Customers (Shiyi Xiaofeizhe)
Oct 19, 2019

Why Shaxian Xiaochi has no need for big data, AI, or any other tech tricks to play b