High-end coffee programs beating the cafe chains Sponsored content from our partner Core-Mark It has become more challenging than ever to attract customers into the convenience store, but one way operators can do so—while also time driving increased profitability—is with a high-end coffee program. “Coffee beverages consumed away from home have exploded into a $5.8…
Cold & Frozen dispensed beverages: Mixing it Up in Cold Dispensed
Average per-store sales of cold dispensed beverages experienced modest gains that shouldn’t give retailers pause when they manage this category, as leading c-store chains are showing that big profits can spurt from some tiny fountain heads. Ricker’s c-stores, for instance, a 30-store chain headquartered in Anderson, Ind., has shaped much of its identity on its…
Isotonics and Energy Drinks: Isotonics Maintain, Energy Drinks Soar
Isotonics and sports drinks maintain strong sales and will probably continue to do so, given consumers’ growing demands for healthful food and drink that meets the body’s needs following physical activity. Energy-drink purchases, on the other hand, are growing exponentially across the country—leading retailers to keep seeking the best strategies for leveraging the category’s popularity.…
Alternative Energy (Shots and bars): Buying Energy by the Shot
Make room for the new kid on the block: Energy shots, those concentrated versions of energy drinks that are beginning to mirror the high sales figures of their parent product. Granted, some customers buy energy shots to add to their energy drink in a kind of shot-and-chaser strategy. But for an increasing number of buyers,…
Carbonated Soft Drinks: Strong, But Losing Ground
Most carbonated soft drink companies found 2007 a good year, but not because of CSD sales in the U.S. Increases in carbonated beverage sales outside North America plus profits from their non-carbonated acquisitions are keeping Coke and Pepsi strong, despite the introduction of new products such as Coke Zero and Diet Pepsi Max, industry analysts…
Bottled Water: New Water Pours Forth
Conventional wisdom says the bottled water market is flooded, but that may not be the case at the high end, according to Beverage Marketing, which reports that high-end brands like Iceland Spring and Iceland Glacial, Voss and Isbre appear eager to parlay an exotic source and upscale packaging into an above-premium business, much as Fiji…
Juices and teas: Fruit Drinks Flat, Teas Growing
Information Resources Inc. (IRI) reported that the total count for the sparkling juice category is $78 million and rising. Even so, it’s a bit difficult to tell how much traction the average c-store retailer can get from them given the huge number of beverage choices available in this category today. Other than specialty sparkling beverages…
Starbucks Adds Energy Options
Starbucks customers have another option for caffeine infusion now that the Seattle coffee chain has unveiled its “+Energy” products in U.S. stores, the Seattle Post Intelligencer reported. The new caffeine ingredients can be added to any existing Starbucks handmade beverage by saying “plus energy” at the end of an order, the newspaper reported. Baristas have…
Saluting Supplier Partners
Retailers may be on the front lines every day, but the presence of their supplier partners is palpable. It can be seen and felt in the marketing and merchandising found at the store level and in the intricate planograms category managers use to set their stores. To get a better feel for the supplier companies…
Retailers Salute Their Leading Suppliers
Despite the much-ballyhooed growth of chains like Walgreens, Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts and Wal-Mart, it is convenience stores that remain an important daily stop for the nation’s busy consumers. As a result, convenience stores represent a powerful sales opportunity for product and service supplier companies, CSD set out to find the industry’s top performers as identified…