Hypermarkets and e-commerce haven’t yet replaced the koshk: Despite the rise of big box retailers, supermarkets, and online grocery stores in the past few years, 90% of all grocery sales in Egypt still take place at koshks or corner stores, according to a new report by global venture firm Flourish in partnership with research firm 60 Decibels and B2B e-commerce platform MaxAB. The 214 surveyed shoppers rated corner stores highly for their convenience — while favorable customer service, product quality and prices also factored in.

Egypt’s corner store market is estimated to be worth some USD 54 bn and globally that market is about USD 900 bn. In Egypt we’re looking at a total of some 400k corner stores generating these sales. The report also covers three other developing countries — Brazil, India and Indonesia — where corner stores are just as coveted, and most are still holding their ground.

Love for local corner stores runs deep: Some 93% of the 214 customers polled for Flourish’s survey said that they would use their local corner store at the same level or more in the future, including 35% who anticipate increasing their visits. Some 74% agree that corner stores are vital to their community.

A good chunk of people supplement their grocery shopping with other kinds of retailers: Some 38% of those surveyed by Flourish said that they visit supermarkets in addition to their local corner store, while 10% also rely on online retailers, and 7% also shop at the local market.

So what do we love about corner shops? Some 71% of customers surveyed said that they valued the location of their local corner shop, Around 36% said they like the product quality and variety, and 31% praised the quality of service. Around one-fifth of respondents go to the corner shop for better prices and because of longstanding relationships with store owners.

And what do we buy? The majority of respondents go to the corner shop for dairy products, water, and other beverages. Packaged goods and cleaning products are also popular choices.

Banknotes are still king at the corner store: Only some 2% of 205 corner store merchants surveyed offer digital payment services, while some 4% accept bank cards. A third of stores let customers run up weekly or monthly cashbased credit tabs. Otherwise, it’s all hard money.

But store owners are starting to embrace tech outside of payments: About 42% of corner store owners adopted some form of digital tools to enhance their business during the pandemic. Messaging apps are the most widely used tool, with some 26% of owners using them to communicate with suppliers and customers. Some 9% of shop owners already use digital cash registers, and a third of respondents expect to start using a digitized cash register in the next year or two. One in ten anticipate they will introduce digital payments in the next couple years.

There are still some barriers to incorporating tech: Some 29% of the merchant respondents said they have difficulties learning how to use digital tools. Cost is a concern for one in four store owners.

Digital tools could help solve some challenges shop owners face: Managing inventory and product placement is by and large the most challenging part of maintaining a corner store, with 88% of store owners reporting it as their single biggest operational concern. Dealing with wholesalers, and ordering, checking and reviewing products are also cited as so-called “pain points” almost 70% of store managers have to grapple with everyday. The report suggests new digital tools of the kind offered by MaxAB, which helped produce the report, could help streamline some of those challenges.