appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

He Huifeng

For Cindy Wang, the newly opened “community store” near her home in Guangzhou has been a godsend: the small outlet is cheaper than a traditional supermarket, but offers a bigger range of groceries than convenience stores like 7-Eleven.
The 20-something now often stops off at the shop after work to pick up a few items. On an early September evening, she has bagged a bottle of milk for just 7 yuan (US$1), a 2.5 yuan beer and some mangoes priced at 10 yuan per kilogram.
“It’s convenient and enjoyable, and I can still have a decent shopping experience without spending too much,” Wang said.
Community stores like this one are becoming a major new battleground in China’s retail sector, as consumers ditch big-box stores in favour of smaller neighbourhood outlets offering low prices and instant delivery services.
For shoppers, community stores offer a mix of advantages, analysts say. They offer a greater array of fresh groceries than convenience stores, but they tend to be easier to get to than supermarkets.
Unlike pure e-commerce businesses, customers have the option to pick out their food themselves at community stores, but the outlets also offer delivery in about 30 minutes, according to Sherril Sheng, senior research director at JLL East China.
China’s retail giants are rapidly scaling up their community store offerings. The outlet Wang frequents – named Happy Monkey – is part of a burgeoning nationwide chain under the Chinese food delivery giant Meituan.
The e-commerce firm JD.com also has its own community store chain, while US retailer Walmart entered the market last year and has opened about 20 locations so far.
Tech giant Alibaba Group Holding has been focusing on neighbourhood grocery stores since 2024 through its Freshippo NB brand, which now operates nearly 500 outlets nationwide. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

The new wave of stores caters to consumers who spend cautiously amid China’s economic slowdown. Inflation has been soft in China for years, with consumer prices rising just 0.8 per cent year on year in August, according to official data.
“Consumers are prioritising value for money,” Sheng noted, adding that when it came to shopping for daily essentials, shoppers wanted a balance of convenience, quality and affordability.
Chinese families were also increasingly ditching the traditional weekly supermarket stock-up trip for high-frequency, small-batch purchases, Sheng said. A rise in smaller households is adding to that trend, as fewer shoppers need large packs of essentials, according to a July report by Qince Consumer Research.
Chen Jinni, an IT engineer living in Shenzhen, has already made this switch. “I haven’t been to a shopping mall for several years,” said Chen, who instead stops at community stores on his way home from work to pick up roast chicken, ready meals, drinks and snacks.
Now in his early 30s, Chen lives with his girlfriend, and the couple rarely cook at home. “We prefer to eat out or choose ready meal options and spend the time at home relaxing, like watching AI-generated animated dramas,” he said.
“Only our parents’ generation still stocks up on big grocery items from the supermarket.”


‘New normal’: China to see slower loan growth amid sluggish consumption, investment

China’s economy under further pressure in August, as analysts expect rebound next quarter

China’s inbound tourism revenue projected to reach US$470 billion by 2040: UBS

Why Chinese shoppers are ditching supermarkets for small ‘community stores’

China consumption

A man shops at a supermarket in Beijing. Photo: EPA

A customer shops at a Happy Monkey store in Guangzhou. Chinese tech and retail giants are rapidly expanding community discount chains to target value-conscious shoppers. Photo: Huifeng He

Improving migrant workers’ living standards key to boosting Chinese consumption: HSBC

Migrant workers at a construction site in Shanghai. Photo: EPA

A jobseeker from Sichuan province at a jobs fair for migrant workers at Beijing West Railway Station in February last year. Photo: Xinhua

US firms’ confidence in China has soared amid Xi-Trump trade truce: survey

A container ship enters a port in eastern China’s Shandong province. Photo: Xinhua

China unveils plan to revamp ‘classic products’ in bid to boost sluggish consumer spending

A staff member makes a herbal drink at the Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Guiyang, southwest China’s Guizhou province. Photo: Xinhua

5 years after sweeping ban, China’s tutoring industry still bleeding parents dry

Students attend class at a school in eastern China’s Zhejiang province. Photo: Xinhua

Economist Lan Xiaohuan on the balancing act needed to boost China’s consumption

Illustration: Henry Wong

Economy

China Economy

Business

China Business

Young Chinese favour local grocery stores offering low prices and fast delivery, with some saying they haven’t been to a supermarket in years


Young Chinese favour local grocery stores offering low prices and fast delivery, with some saying they haven’t been to a supermarket in years.


Why Chinese shoppers are ditching supermarkets for small ‘community stores’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Young Chinese favour local grocery stores offering low prices and fast delivery, with some saying they haven’t been to a supermarket in years

Young Chinese favour local grocery stores offering low prices and fast delivery, with some saying they haven’t been to a supermarket in years