New products, expanded sales and innovative programs illustrate company’s continued success at “Making Convenience Convenient.” Lil’ Drug Store Products Inc. (LDSP), a global consumer products company and top health and beauty care (HBC) product supplier to the convenience channel, summed up 2012 as a year of successes that reinforce the company’s position as the top [...]
New facility helps Oberto keep pace with growing meat snack demand. Oberto Brands, a national leader in the meat snacks category and maker of the popular Oh Boy, Oberto! jerky line, is opening a new production facility in Nashville, Tenn. in the first half of 2013, bringing hundreds of jobs to the area. The new [...]
High-tech facility features realistic scale, customizable retail and foodservice facilities to incubate and test solutions. The brightest new star in the world of shopper marketing is not a renowned expert or an insightful study. It’s The Coca-Cola Co.’s recently launched Shopper Experience Innovation Center (SEIC) which contains two retail environments that can morph like a [...]
While a few big gum and mint brands have the cache—and steady sales—to merit prime display space, hordes of newcomers are trying to snare a share of this valuable retail real estate. By Marilyn Odesser-Torpey, Associate Editor In its “New Product Pacesetters” report, research firm SymphonyIRI Group revealed that the gum and mint sector accounted [...]
Dealing with a host of primary wholesalers, multiple DSD vendors and local foodservice providers, convenience store chains are learning to grow more efficient without sacrificing goods and services. By Pat Pape, Contributing Editor Like millions of Americans, Matt Paduano was traveling this summer, but he didn’t return home with a sun tan and postcards from [...]
Although the electronic cigarette category in the U.S. is barely five years old, a dizzying number of brands are vying for the attention of retailers—and more are entering the fray just about every day. By Marilyn Odesser-Torpey, Associate Editor In a report released in May, UBS Investment Research likened the chaotic e-cigarette category to the e-commerce [...]
CSD‘s 2012 Category Management Outlook offers trends and analysis from more than 25 key in-store categories. By John Lofstock and Erin Rigik. Tough economic times and stiff competition across the supply chain are making it critical for convenience store operators to have a solid understanding of their customers, particularly their high-frequency, high-value shoppers. Armed with [...]
Convenience stores have evolved from being a destination for cigarettes to a destination for tobacco products as a whole. By Joe Bush, Contributing Editor. It was inevitable that the conversation on convenience store cigar sales would shift eventually from rapid growth to supplier relations, category management and marketing. As cigarette regulations and prices and taxes [...]
Today is the last day to take the survey! How is foodservice performing for your company? What’s your outlook for the various foodservice categories in 2012? And what are some of the best practices for marketing the foodservice category to today’s convenience store consumers? Convenience Store Decisions in partnership with David Bishop, managing partner of [...]
“Bake Fresh has embraced 7-Eleven’s strategy to narrow our focus with laser-like precision and drive continuous improvement,” says 7-Eleven spokesperson. 7-Eleven Inc. has awarded Bake Fresh Co. LLC the 2010 Retailer Initiative Award, citing the dramatic turn-around of a Colorado commercial bakery the Chesapeake, Va.-based company assumed just a year ago. Jesus Delgado-Jenkins, 7-Eleven senior [...]
Grizzly, the flagship moist snuff tobacco brand of Memphis-based American Snuff Co., is celebrating 10 years of unprecedented success. Grizzly has become the best-selling smokeless tobacco brand on the U.S. market in 10 short years — something unique to the industry that has never been done before. From its introduction in 2001, Grizzly grown to [...]
Beginning now through Sept. 30, Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores employees will be putting their hearts into raising funds for 89 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals by asking customers to purchase $1, $5 or $20 heart icons. Love’s raises additional funds by holding bake sales, pumping gas for tips, conducting in-store drawings and coordinating other [...]
With flavored cigarettes no longer available in the U.S., flavored cigars are in line for sharp sales gains. By Joe Bush, Contributing Editor. There is no secret that cigars, specifically little cigars and flavored little cigars, have grabbed the interest of smokers who can no longer buy flavored cigarettes because of federal regulations. But there [...]
Hot dogs and tornados continue to provide chains with inexpensive, labor-friendly meal solutions that allow store operators to expand their fresh food offering. By Howard Riell, Associate Editor. One of the most maligned pieces of equipment in all of foodservice—the roller grill—remains the backbone of many convenience store foodservice programs, offering an inexpensive, labor-friendly way [...]
Wholesale gasoline costs were mixed through the week-ended Aug. 22, while the New York Mercantile Exchange September RBOB (gasoline) futures contract edged higher. In California, wholesale gasoline costs moved up on a sharp drawdown from state specific gasoline inventories, while in the Midwest costs were higher as refining activity eased. Gasoline costs in the Northeast [...]