Despite fast-changing customer expectations, shortened product and retail life cycles and rapid technological advancements, many retailers have not taken advantage of opportunities to innovate. By applying new perspectives to established ways of doing business, convenience store retailers can strengthen their competitive and financial positions, improve the customer experience and create a new life cycle of [...]
By: John Lofstock, Editor. Convenience Store Decisions‘ annual Category Management Outlook issue is routinely one of my favorite issues of the year because it gives the CSD staff an opportunity not only to analyze the industry’s performance over the past 12 months, but to forecast the sales trends retailers can expect to see over the [...]
While these difficult economic times continue to peck away at customers’ disposable income, fuel prices are creeping up, which will only further erode discretionary spending. Gasoline prices nationally have increased steadily since September, rising nearly 60 cents to an average of $3.11 for a gallon of regular unleaded, according to the Department of Energy at [...]
Quality employees and customer service are the backbone of the convenience store and petroleum industry. All you have to do is observe how top quartile companies treat and respect their personnel to understand what kind of asset frontline employees can be to a successful company. It’s no accident that these operators are outperforming their competitors [...]
While the convenience store industry is in a much better position to withstand the strains of the current economic recession, one thing is painfully clear. Customers are changing the way they buy goods and services and retailers must keep up with those changes to avoid becoming obsolete. A new generation of Millennials, those born between [...]
I just got back from the National Advisory Group’s (NAG) 2010 Ideas Conference in Charleston, S.C., and came away with a much better understanding of the issues facing small businesses and family-owned companies. Whether it’s dealing with the massive overhaul of the U.S. medical system, costly PCI compliance investments that yield no ROI or embracing [...]
Outstanding leadership, great stores and unsurpassed customer service are the hallmarks of the convenience store industry’s exceptional chains. Following these guiding principles, Convenience Store Decisions is proud to announce Rutter’s Farm Stores as the 2010 Convenience Store Chain of the Year. Rutter’s, which supplants Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes as Chain of the Year, is [...]
Throughout my 15 years of covering the convenience store industry, I’ve had the opportunity to meet some amazing people, develop lifelong friendships and watch in awe as otherwise ordinary people learned to work together to produce extraordinary results. Throughout that time I’ve also seen countless people come and go. For some, the industry was a [...]
A baker puts two muffins in an oven. The first muffin turns to the other and says, “Boy it’s hot in here.” The second muffin screams, “Yikes, a talking muffin.” Hopefully convenience store chains are not nearly this surprised when it comes to this month’s PCI deadlines. However, at the NACStech conference in April, several [...]
As the industry continues its rapid evolution, CSD is stepping up its efforts to provide convenience store operators with the tools they need to be successful. To that end, CSD is proud to announce two premiere events in the coming months. First and foremost, the National Advisory Group (NAG) begins its rise back to prominence [...]
In these difficult economic times it’s rewarding to meet successful businesses that are doing things the right way. It’s even more gratifying when these businesses are family owned and operated. Such is the case with High’s of Baltimore. There aren’t too many 82-year-old companies in this industry that I’m not familiar with, but I admit [...]
Resilient, tough and tested. These are just a few of the words analysts and retailers alike used to describe the convenience store and petroleum industry over the past 12 months. With the economy suffering its most difficult period in some 80 years, convenience stores held up rather admirably considering how consumer confidence plunged and the [...]
If you’re not doing foodservice, consider this your call to action. As the economic downturn eases, the restaurant industry will see a gradual improvement in 2010, according to the National Restaurant Association’s 2010 Restaurant Industry Forecast. Industry sales are expected to reach $580 billion this year, up 2.5% in current dollars over 2009. But that’s [...]
For many convenience store chains, 2009 could not end soon enough. A challenging economy, higher operating costs, outrageous credit card fees and an onslaught of new tobacco taxes were just some of the issues retailers had to contend with. In our ongoing effort to provide readers with the tools they need to make informed decisions, [...]
There’s no doubt that 2009 will go down as one of the most challenging years ever for the convenience store and petroleum industry. Combined with the poor economy that plagued marketers all year, credit card fees and tobacco regulations added fuel to a fire that, quite honestly, was already burning out of control. For this [...]