Metcash calls for corner store revamp Grocery wholesaler Metcash will make a renewed push for the $10 billion convenience store sector by helping to reinvent the space around better fresh food offers and new product lines, rather than trying to win a losing battle on prices against the supermarket heavyweights Coles and Woolworths. The grab for a greater slice of the convenience store market is part of a new strategy by Metcash to harness the size and breadth of the branded and independent milk bar, petrol station and small cafe retail segment to better compete with the supermarkets and in turn feed its wholesale operation with new customers. Our convenience store operators need to change and need to differentiate, forget about milk, come up with fresh categories like ready-to-eat. Metcash, which wholesales to 7-11 and is chasing a similar large supply contract with BP, believes convenience stores need to change the way they do business if they want to survive in the face of petrol discounts offered by Coles and Woolworths at their joint venture petrol sites which is killing off independents. Last year, Metcash chief executive Andrew Reitzer warned the aggressive price war between Coles and Woolworths would force old fashioned independent corner stores to the wall and that unbannered convenience store wouldn't exist. Peter Dubbelman, Metcash chief executive of convenience, said the wholesaler had 15 per cent to 20 per cent of the convenience store sector and had recently completed a major technology upgrade of its 15 national distribution centres to deliver small parcels, right down to individual bottles of drink, to corner stores. ""What we want to do is take a slice of Coles and Woolworths market share away,"" Mr Dubbelman said. ""For every convenience store the staple product was milk, now consumers are going to the chains because they are value conscious, so there has been a shift of consumers which the big chains have planned, but they still have one big dilemma - they are not convenient. ""The value proposition we hold is our convenience store operators need to change and need to differentiate, forget about milk, come up with fresh categories like ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat meals, gourmet sandwiches, so the time-poor consumer has a real choice of going into a convenience store and finding the offer."" Part of this new model was showcased by Metcash at a convenience store convention in Melbourne this week, with a small format store model featuring new fresh categories, like fruit and vegetables, as well as new categories for the space such as hardware. Metcash is also keen to leverage its new acquisition, car parts business Automotive Brands, to offer convenience stores a range of auto accessories.