Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, November 15 (Reporter Wang Yuxiao and Chen Weiwei) the reporter learned from the Ministry of Commerce on the 15th that according to the typical survey and statistics of the retail industry of the Ministry of Commerce, the sales of convenience stores increased by 6.3% in the first three quarters compared with the same period last year. Continue to be at the top of the list of major retail formats.

A responsible person of the Ministry of Commerce said that in the first three quarters of this year, the development of China's brand chain convenience stores has achieved positive results. Promoting the development of convenience stores is an important livelihood project. Driven by various support policies, the pace of development of brand chain convenience stores has been accelerated, the layout has been continuously optimized, and the quality and level of development have been continuously improved.

-- the rate of growth continues to accelerate. According to the typical survey statistics of the retail industry of the Ministry of Commerce, the sales of convenience stores increased by 6.3% in the first three quarters compared with the same period last year, and continued to rank first in the major retail formats. A survey of 55 trans-regional convenience store companies by the Ministry of Commerce showed that 12000 new stores opened in the first three quarters of 2019, up 21 per cent from the end of 2018.

-- the regional layout has been continuously optimized. Leading enterprises are optimistic about market expectations, have increased investment, expand the layout, this year 55 cross-regional development enterprises have entered a total of 70 cities at or above the prefecture level, including 12 provincial capital cities, especially foreign enterprises have greatly increased their investment in the Chinese market. At present, most of the provincial capital cities of the country have international convenience store brands, and the layout of brand chain convenience stores is more optimized.

-- the level of service has been further improved. Various localities have actively introduced various policies to support convenience stores in improving the level of convenience services. Beijing encourages the opening of convenience stores in new subway stations to provide financial support for the operation of breakfast and the sale of vegetables in convenience stores. Xiamen City has set up self-help equipment in 24-hour convenience stores, which can handle temporary identity cards, traffic fines and other government services. A number of chain convenience store enterprises use information technology to manage the food shelf life, expired food can not check out, the system automatically remind and replace; some enterprises large-scale laying self-help cash register, effectively reduce the queuing time.

The official said that in the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will continue to take the people as the center, vigorously promote the development of brand chain convenience stores, actively coordinate the joint issuance of policy documents by the departments, and promote local support. We will support convenience stores in network layout, license processing, business licensing, commodity service supply, logistics system and digital transformation, further optimize the development environment of convenience stores, and promote the healthy and rapid development of the industry.