Access to healthy and affordable food in rural areas – the role of online groceries and branded convenience stores

Food stores are vital for access to healthy, affordable food, yet rural households face greater challenges than their urban counterparts in accessing food stores. Online groceries could help improve access among rural households, though coverage is uneven. Convenience stores (c-stores) play a key role in rural food accessibility, and their urban expansion has enabled growth of quick-commerce (small orders delivered rapidly), utilising c-stores as micro-fulfilment hubs. This abstract introduces ongoing research assessing whether rural c-stores could act as rural fulfilment hubs, enabling expansion of online grocery coverage in these areas, reducing urban-rural inequalities in food access.