States are effectively cutting their own throats by continually hiking excise taxes on tobacco products–chasing away revenue, encouraging criminal behavior and unfairly penalizing smokers and retailers–and it’s up to the c-store industry to help them understand that. In fact many operators and state associations already are fighting the good fight by lobbying legislators, educating consumers, [...]
Anyone who’s been in the industry as long as Dennis Lane is more than supremely qualified to help other retailers cope successfully with the changing c-store landscape. Lane—who was elected last November to head the 2,000-member National Coalition of 7-Eleven Franchise Owners Association after serving for the past several years as vice chair of merchandising [...]
What’s brewing in the beer category? A combination of higher prices, smaller crops, tighter dollars and expanded ethnic offerings may well make 2008 a memorable one for convenience store operators. A variety of forces are pushing and pulling the beer category in several directions. For instance, the higher prices of items like cigarettes and gasoline [...]
Chelada, Anheuser-Busch’s new Clamato and beer beverage, isn’t really new at all. A variation of a beverage called Michelada, it belongs to a genre of drinks known in Spanish as cerveza preparada, which means prepared beer—a drink category that’s been around since at least the 1940’s in Mexico. One version of Chelada’s origins is that [...]
Alot has changed on the credit card fee front since last year’s NACS/Convenience Store Decisions Webcast, but retailers are still faced with the daunting challenge of finding creative ways to bypass the high interchange fees that plague the c-store industry. The industry’s efforts to battle these fees is getting attention, fostering the hope that real [...]
Driving business with new products is hardly a novel idea, but it’s also one that convenience store retailers rarely use to their advantage, said David Bishop, a partner with research and consulting firm Willard Bishop in Barrington, Ill. When retailers actively participate in the process of bringing a new product to the marketplace by helping [...]
America’s changing demographic will continue to add new contours to the beer category, and that has some operators optimistic that beer could experience strong spring and summer selling seasons. The major breweries are expected to introduce products that target health-conscious consumers. For example, SABMiller this month will begin test-marketing its Miller Lite Brewers Collection, consisting [...]
Frequent new product launches have become de rigueur in the world of retailing, with customers expecting new product introductions on a regular basis. “Convenience customers love new items,” said Bill Tencza, senior category manager at Quick Chek, a chain with more than 100 stores in New Jersey and Southern New York. “And our customers look [...]
Despite unchanging consumer demand and fickle consumer tastes, the market for frozen desserts is expected to grow by more than $4 billion by 2012, according to The U.S. Market for Ice Cream and Related Frozen Desserts, a new report from market research publisher Packaged Facts. Dollar sales continue to grow annually, but not because Americans [...]
Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, the U.S. unit of Britain’s biggest grocery retailer, plans to open four stores in the Sacramento area, according to liquor license applications with the state. The Sacramento locations named in the filings include 3311 Northgate Blvd. and 3615 Bradshaw Road. Two Folsom sites, 25000 Blue Ravine Road and 9522 Greenback [...]
Susser Holdings Corp., the parent company of more than 500 Stripes convenience stores in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, has received $640,000 in tax incentives from the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corp. and the city’s Business and Job Development Corp. With the Texas-based company’s recent acquisition of Town & Country Food Stores, Susser plans [...]
Every year, thousands of new products are introduced into an already crowded marketplace. In fact, a record-breaking 182,000 consumer packaged goods made their debut in 2007, up 17% jump over the previous year, according to Mintel International, a marketing research group. Some were hits, some were misses and some found their way onto convenience store [...]
Kum & Go L.C., operator of more than 430 convenience stores in 12 states, introduced Napa Creek Cabernet Sauvignon and Sea Ridge Merlot wines to its long list of private-label offerings. The wines are sold exclusively at Kum & Go stores in Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska. Kum & Go set out last year to provide [...]
Jim Hertel, the senior vice president of retail consultant Willard Bishop, spotlights international retailer Tesco PLC’s Fresh & Easy concept, which at presstime had been rolled into eight stores in Phoenix, with 26 more planned. Hertel noted that Tesco’s use of private label brands "turns a lot of conventional wisdom upside down. Many food retailers [...]
» 1 Year That’s how long one Quick Chek customer will win free coffee for as part of the chain’s partnership with the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. Other prizes include autographed memorabilia, game tickets and dinner with a former Devils player. » 4 Lawsuits filed in federal court by Philip Morris against importers aimed at [...]