Huge range of products attracts the customer.

The concept of a drugstore - which has become institutionalised in small town America - is wholly new to the Chinese mainland. However, the small-scale supermarket selling daily provisions such as drugs, cosmetics and other personal care products under one roof is likely to be highly welcome in rural areas that have for years been short of choice.

With more prosperous townships and villages gradually arising and information on consumer trends continuing to spread, rural residents are indeed getting more receptive to new concepts.

They're no longer content with merely functional consumption, such as on food, but are turning more and more to consumption related to personal care and keeping fit.

Against this backdrop, rural residents are looking for goods which can satisfy their needs in line with their rising quality of life. With China's determination to institute medical reform across the country, increasing numbers of drugstore chains are expected to turn to the rural market.

Mainland player Baixing Drugstore has already made a move in this direction. Since the opening of its first drugstore in Wuzhou in late 2007, Baixing has set up five MOPT drugstores, including three in Wuzhou and one in Cenxi.

During preparation for opening the stores, the manager of Baixing Drugstore made a number of market visits to Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, studying the decoration, shopping environment and product variety of Hong Kong chains Watsons and Mannings.

That manager's revelation was that drugs only account for a small proportion of the goods on sale in Watsons and Mannings. But for Baixing, a 1:1 ratio of drugs to non drug products has been preferred.

On the other hand, the drugstore has learned a lot from Watsons and Mannings in terms of shopping environment and product display. By drawing on the decorating and branding style of Watsons, Baixing uses different colours to represent product categories. Hence blue stands for beauty (therefore cosmetics) and green stands for health (such as health foods).

Concerning site selection, Baixing places its emphasis on the commercial belt where its stores are located and tends to choose commercial districts where there is a lack of large department stores and established drugstore chains.

Baixing executives believe existing department stores generally don't pay attention to the details of their decoration and the range of daily products and cosmetics offered is not comprehensive enough.

In other words, big stores can't attract customers nor satisfy their demands. In this regard, the new drugstore concept, with refreshing decorative and eye-catching consumer styles, can fill an important market gap.

Where the store name is concerned, Baixing has given its drugstores the English-derived name of MOPT, believing that this can leave an impression on customers.

Baixing also attaches great importance to the professional training of its staff. In recruiting shop assistants, Baixing expects applicants to be experienced enough to sell its branded cosmetics and drugs.

To further enhance the professional quality of its staff, experts in the field are invited to give talks aimed at enriching the professionalism of shop assistants. Baixing holds this kind of training week.

In addition, visits to Watsons, Mannings and JUSCO stores are also organised for the staff to let them learn from their competitors.

Drugstores are shaping up to offer a highly desirable shopping environment, convenience and a comprehensive range of products. A guarantee of quality is set to emerge as a whole new growth area in the Mainland's retail market.

from Selina Lin, Guangzhou Office