【正文】 highcost, lowscale refineries。 it has taken nine years for 7Eleven to break even in Guangdong, where it has 72 stores。 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 concept design, partnering, and venture capital. The stateowned Chinese oil panies will need to develop these skills both anically and through joint ventures.THE GASOLINE SPECIALIST STRATEGYGiven the high cost of owning a large work of retail sites, and the acpanying pitfalls, oil panies might decide instead to bee gasoline specialists. Pursuing this strategy would involve buying only those highvolume sites that have sufficient sales of gasoline and autorelated services to make a profit. Elsewhere, the pany抯 branded gasoline products would be sold through a work of retail partners.The rationale of the gasoline specialist route is that auto fuel is a technically differentiated product and that branded, quality products can mand a premium. China, with its shortages in domestic supply and its increasingly discerning consumers, is thus promising ground for the gasoline specialist. In the case of auto lubricants, for example, the quality segment of the market accounts for only 7 percent of the volume but for more than 30 percent of the value。 BP 3 / 10and PetroChina, for example, aim to boost their holdings to 950 stations by acquiring 670 stations from local panies in Fujian and Guangdong. Such joint ventures bind the partners only in specific provinces and have so far been formed in just 4 out of 27 of them. For the remainder, the options of both parties are still open.The 60 percent of sales not controlled by the two Chinese leaders is currently held by various quasigovernmental entities, including local and provincial authorities and stateowned enterprises. City governments, for example, have started their own retailing groups, often built around local highwayconstruction projects. Some private operators are also emerging: for example, China Resources Enterprise, a holding pany based in Hong Kong, has 23 stations and is thinking about opening more. But in general, smaller panies, daunted by the bidding power of PetroChina and Sinopec, are holding back.Both of the majors hope that their spending will create a profitable structure for China抯 gasolineretailing industry after the market opens up in 20