Retail is not moving in one direction
According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, in the first half of 2026, convenience-store and supermarket retail sales increased 6.6% and 3.8%. Department stores, specialty stores and brand-exclusive stores declined; brand-exclusive stores were down 8.7%. The figures show that different retail missions are being rewarded differently.
A branded store cannot survive as expensive distribution
When products can be compared and delivered through a screen, a store that mainly holds inventory has a weak role. It must provide something a marketplace listing cannot: expert guidance, trial, customization, community, reassurance or a memorable expression of the brand.
Convenience-led channels should not be dismissed as low-value sales points. They own frequent, context-rich occasions that can inspire new formats, messages and partnerships.
“A channel deserves investment when it performs a distinctive job—not simply because the brand has always operated it.” — LEAP Strategy
Design around the job
- Define each format’s mission: replenishment, discovery, comparison, learning, socializing or commitment.
- Match content to behavior: discovery needs explanation; convenience needs instant recognition and low friction.
- Connect the journey after the visit: stores should produce learning, membership or continued service, not only transactions.
The strategic meaning
The answer is not automatically fewer stores, smaller stores or more technology. It is clarity about why a consumer should choose each environment. Distribution decides where a product is available; channel strategy decides why the brand matters in that moment.
What the numbers do not tell us
Format data describes sales direction, not the cause. Convenience stores may benefit from proximity, food and daily replenishment; supermarkets may gain from dependable value and broad missions. Brand stores vary dramatically by category, location and operating quality.
The strategic mistake would be to treat an aggregate decline as a universal instruction. The useful response is to form hypotheses and test them against the brand’s own traffic, conversion, repeat visit and customer-acquisition data.
Give each format a different contract
A channel portfolio works when each format has a clear contract with the consumer.
- Convenience: solve an immediate need with recognition, availability and minimal decision friction.
- Marketplace: support comparison, reviews, price transparency and broad availability.
- Specialist retail: offer expertise, curation and confidence.
- Brand store: provide immersion, service, trial and a deeper relationship.
- Social commerce: connect discovery, demonstration and peer validation.
When the contracts overlap completely, channels compete mainly on price. When they are distinct but connected, each channel can move the customer forward.
Rethink the economics of the brand store
A brand store may influence sales that occur later elsewhere. Its value can include product education, customer acquisition, content creation, service recovery and first-party learning. This does not mean every indirect effect should be used to justify an unproductive estate. It means store economics should reflect the jobs the store is genuinely designed to perform.
Teams should separate three roles: transaction, relationship and brand proof. A location may do all three, but the operating model and measurement need to acknowledge the mix.
An audit for channel leaders
For every format, ask:
- What unique consumer job does it perform?
- What would be lost if this format disappeared?
- Which other channel should receive the customer next?
- What data or permission is created through the interaction?
- Does the experience strengthen price comparison or reduce it?
These questions expose channels that exist from habit rather than strategy.
Make the portfolio work as one system
China’s consumers do not experience “online” and “offline” as separate organizational departments. They move between content, search, stores, marketplaces and private communication according to the task at hand.
The opportunity is therefore not to identify a single winning format. It is to design a portfolio in which each environment does a different job and transfers trust to the next.
The role of content inside the portfolio
Content should help consumers understand the job of each environment. Before a store visit, it can clarify what is available to experience and why the trip is worthwhile. Inside the space, it can support comparison, guidance and confidence. After the visit, it can preserve the learning and move the relationship forward.
This is different from producing a generic campaign and resizing it for every touchpoint. The same brand idea may remain consistent, but the information hierarchy and call to action should change with the consumer’s task.
A convenience context may need one recognizable benefit and an immediate choice. A specialist environment may need deeper evidence. A flagship may invite exploration without forcing a transaction. The content system becomes stronger when it respects these differences.
Channel divergence therefore has implications for creative operations as well as retail operations. Brands need modular assets, shared product truth and clear rules for how expression changes by mission. Omnichannel consistency should mean a coherent promise—not identical communication everywhere.