【正文】 rmarkets, thereby securing a leading market share and leaving local and foreign petitors with less attractive locations. Yet the need to build scale quickly shouldn抰 persuade panies to overpay。1 / 10Roadside retail in ChinaGasoline reaches the huge Chinese market through a fragmented retail and distribution work of about 90,000 stations, almost all state owned. Many are run more as sinecures than as businesses, often with a staff four to five times larger than the international norm but with less than a quarter of the average gasoline throughput of US stations. The Chinese government, which is well aware of the problem, has resolved not to allow the country energy infrastructure to burden the whole economy: it is fast deregulating the sector, which will be fully opened up to foreign panies in 2022 under the mitments attending the country membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Foreign oil panies have hitherto been restricted to oneoff local deals in special economic zones or tied to investments in tollroad construction.Although the stage should thus be set for canny corporations to move into the market, it remains unclear how they will make money. Competition is already driving down retail margins on gasoline, while prices for the best station sites have soared as China抯 large domestic oil panies have rushed to buy them. Oil panies in the West facing similar margin pressures know that most gasoline stations are viable only if they offer generalretail facilities at least as large as a convenience store, in addition to gasoline. This is true in China as well. The highestvolume sites might be made profitable on their fuel revenues alone, but the rest need substantial nonfuel revenues to make a profit.The strategic implications are clear. In China as elsewhere, the first decision for an oil pany is whether to own and operate sites or merely to supply them with gasoline. If the pany opts for ownership, it has a choice: to adopt a retail strategy and pursue nonfuel revenues from a portfolio of retail sites or to target only the highestvolume sites, using them to build a highquality gasoline brand that can also be offered through independent retailers. At present, the Chinese oil majors are pursuing neither strategy。 instead they should look for opportunities in midsize cities, which represent up to 40 percent of national demand for gasoline and where retail demand is now growing fastest. Here there is still a chance to enter the market early and to establish a strong brand presence without overpaying for sites.Developing the right retail proposition is the second factor. China抯 newly affluent consumers are driving change throughout the country抯 retail sector by seeking convenience and branded quality. For a retail gambit to work, gasoline stations must appeal to prosperous consumers, such as people who drive their own private cars (accounting for upward of 40 percent of newcar purchases in 2022), as well as the young motorcycle riders, who still dominate station forecourts and are more likely to try out new and foreign brands. To appeal to these categories of consumers, gasoline retailers will need to offer not only highquality goods as prepared and packaged foods, including a substantial number of foreign brands also services such as DVD rentals, photographic processing, a 7 / 10pickup location for Inter orders, laundry, mail, and pharmacy counters. The precise mix and the design of the site will depend on the market segment the retailer aims to serve: affluent but more traditional car drivers or younger motorbike riders. But retailers must also bear in mind the needs of taxi drivers, who still account for most gasoline consumption in China and look mainly for highquality gasoline and good service.The third ingredient is the development of retail skills beyond the usual level of basic expertise. Managing a work of retail sites involves the continual development of a portfolio of options from which each site can draw梐 n undertaking that requires skills in c