原文：
Turning a corner
Convenience stores could benefit from the pandemic—if they adapt
Corner shops are within walking distance of many homes, open long hours and small enough not to require customers to linger too long inside. They no longer sell just basic necessities, such as milk, beer and sweets. And they offer other services, from charging e-bikes in South Korea to paying for online shopping in Mexico. On paper, this makes them perfectly suited to the pandemic. And in practice?
Going into covid-19, convenience stores were a mixed bag. Some benefited asbusier lifestyles, smaller households and ageing populations led more people to shop little, often and locally. They were the only brick-and-mortar shops in South Korea whose sales grew in 2019. OXXO, a Mexican chain with some 20,000 outlets across Latin America, reported sales of $8.7bnin2019, up by 10% on the year before. Minimarts, which mostly operate as franchises, have been opening in China, India and Thailand.
Elsewhere they have struggled. In Japan, home to the world’s three biggest chains, they have been in outright decline. The share price of Seven & i Holdings, the giant which owns 7-Eleven and accounts for a third of the industry’s $360bn in global revenues, has dropped by around 30% over the past two years, as investors cooled on its saturated domestic market. Its two Japanese rivals, FamilyMart and Lawson, have been laggards, too. In many countries supermarkets have been muscling in on their traditional high-street turf. In September Asda, a British supermarket, launched Asda on the Move, joining Tesco Express and Sainsbury’s Local.
Despite the potential pandemic boost, performance this year has been similarly patchy. The average value per convenience store transaction in China increased by 120% at the height of the pandemic, and stayed high. In Britain the Co-operative Group declared that sales rose by 8% in the first half, year on year, to £5.8bn ($7.6bn), thanks to its Co-op and Nisa minimarts. At the same time Seven & i reported a 12% drop in operating profits in the three months to August. FamilyMart lost money in the third quarter. OXXO’s parent company, FEMSA, is also in the red this year.
Although some pandemic shopping habits favour convenience stores, others do not. Rivals are offering the same goods for less and brought to your doorstep, often in an hour or two. Deliveroo, a British food delivery app(part-owned by Amazon), ferries booze from supermarkets. In August DoorDash, an American one that teamed up with 7-Eleven in the pandemic’s early days, launched its own virtual DashMart.
To fend off rivals, stores must evolve with shoppers’ changing ideas of convenience, says Amanda Bourlier of Euromonitor International, a research firm. One American chain, Wawa, has opened drive through stores. Another, Casey’s, has reported a surge in digital sales. Stores in South Korea and Japan, which face labour shortages, are toying with automated payments. In America 7-Eleven now delivers online orders to homes, as well as public places like parks. But its parent has also bought Speedway, a chain of American petrol stations, for $21bn. That adds 3,900 outlets to the 9,000-odd 7-Elevens in America (and 70,000 or so globally). It is a big bet that petrol cars aren’t soon disappearing—and nor are convenience stores.
译文：
便利店能否渡过难关？
引言：便利店应该可以从疫情中受益——如果他们适应的话。
便利店开在许多住宅的步行范围之内，经营时间长且店面小，不足以满足顾客逗留太长时间的需求。它们不仅销售生活必需品，例如牛奶、啤酒和糖果，还提供其他服务，比如从南韩的电动车充电服务到墨西哥的线下结算在线上购买的商品。理论上，这些优势能够使便利店完美地适应疫情，但实际上是否如此呢？
随着疫情的到来，便利店的表现并不相同。越来越忙碌的生活方式、越来越小的家庭和越发年老化的人口使得更多的人选择少量地、经常地、离家近地购买商品，一些便利店因此受益。2019年南韩的几家实体超市营业额有所增长。墨西哥的连锁店OXXO（在拉丁美洲有20000家商店）公布2019年的销售额为87亿美元，比去年增长了10%。中国、印度和泰国也逐渐开了很多家拥有特许经营权的便利店。
然而其他地方的便利店的情况并不好。起源于日本的世界三大便利店已经呈现彻底的衰落。随着投资者对饱和本地市场冷静下来，Seven&i Holdings（一个控股7-11便利店且收入在该产业全世界3600亿美元中占比三分之一的巨头）所控的股价已在过去两年下降大约30%。它的两个来自日本的竞争对手——全家和罗森同样有所退步。许多城市的超市也强行加入便利店领域，例如在九月，英国超市Asda开了Asda on the Move,Tesco Express和Sainsbury's Local超市也采取了类似的行动。
尽管疫情有潜在的刺激增长作用，今年便利店的表现好坏不一。中国便利店平均每单交易价格在疫情期间增长了120%，且保持在高水平。英国的Co-operative Group得益于Co-op 和Nisa minimarts便利店，销售额与上半年相比增长了8%，有58亿英镑（76亿美元）。而在同期，Seven&i的运营利润在六七八月减少了12%，全家在第三季度有所亏损，OXXO的母公司FEMSA的账务在今年也呈赤字。
虽然疫情时的购物习惯有利于一些便利店，其他便利店却没有因此受益。竞争对手提供同样的商品，但以更低的价格出售，或者花一至两小时将商品送至家门口。比如英国食物配送软件Deliveroo（亚马逊持股）提供从超市运送酒精饮料的服务。八月时，美国品牌DoorDash和7-11便利店合作开设虚拟商店。
研究公司Amanda Bourlier of Euromonitor International说道：“为了应对竞争对手，便利店必须随着顾客关于方便想法的改变而进化发展。”美国连锁商店Wawa开设提供免下车服务的门店，另外Casey's的线上销售额也飙升。南韩和日本的便利店由于面临劳动力短缺的问题，正在考虑开发自动支付技术。美国的7-11便利店现在能够将订单配送至家中或公园等公共场所，它的母公司花费210亿美元购买了美国连锁加油站Speedway，使得在美国增加开放3900家商店，现已达大约9000家711便利店（全世界大约有70000家），这些表现可以说是一个赌汽油汽车和便利店不会消失的赌注。
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