Increased channel blurring is making it tougher for convenience stores to retain existing customers—and harder yet to develop loyalty in new ones. With drug stores like Walgreens and Rite Aid now selling beer and wine, Dunkin’ Donuts offering a wide array of drinks, and fast feeders continuing to gobble up market share by offering consumers…
Spicing Up the In-Store Offering: “Bienvenido A La Bodega”
Practice this phrase and try to have it down pat by midcentury: “Bienvenido a la bodega.” Sure, it’ll require a bit more than that (“Welcome to the little convenience store”) to gain loyalty from Spanish-speaking Hispanic consumers. But it’s probably a feel-good start in outfitting the c-store to attract one of the fastest-growing demographics in…
Profit$ You Can Bank On
Here in the 21st century, providing c-store customers with financial products and services like money orders, check cashing, ATM access, electronic bill payment and payday loans can be as easy, and as necessary, as selling soda, candy and beer. But it requires a bit more thinking. Convenience store operators are increasingly partnering with providers like…
Prepaid Reaping Financial Rewards
While gift card malls have been getting a lot of attention, prepaid debit, credit, gift and especially gas cards offered by Visa, MasterCard and American Express are quietly booming in popularity. Prepaid’s profit potential is fueled by shifts in the marketplace, wider social acceptance and the nation’s growing population of "unbanked" lower-income consumers. And while…
Prepaid: Targeting Niche Segments
According to figures from Mercator Advisory Group, the prepaid market isn’t big—it’s huge, and growing exponentially every year. Mercator’s debit advisory head Tim Sloane said that closed loop prepaid cards grew at a rate of 88% year over year from 2002 through 2006. Sloane predicts that when the 2007 figures are analyzed, they’ll show another…
Changing the Channel
Maybe it’s all headed toward a day of total convergence, when the lines separating one industry from the next will be irreversibly blurred. Consider the freewheeling dynamics of retailing in the past few years: McDonald’s has been offering DVD rentals by way of in-store kiosks. Blockbuster stores have begun offering c-store fare such as fountain…
Making It in the Marketplace
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…
Identifying More Effective Profit-Building Strategies
“In a business like cigars, where unit volume is growing 10% plus year-over-year, emerging strategic thinking in convenience retail suggests that retailers can grow even faster by employing a “price-for-volume” strategy for key products.” David Bishop, partner, Willard Bishop This summer, we examined how convenience retailers could manage the cigar category differently to realize above-market…
7-Eleven Prepared for Christmas Rush
Between Black Friday, Green Monday and Red Alert ("Oh my gosh, I’m out of time!) Christmas Eve, millions of American shoppers realize their days… and dollars are numbered. Heading into the homestretch, time is at a premium and every convenience helps. Enter 7-Eleven. Created 80 years ago as a quick in-and-out shopping alternative for time-crunched…
jamba juice coming to a store near you
Nestle USA to sell the popular beverage brand in grocery stores in eight states and quickly expand into convenience stores. Nestle USA is planning to sell smoothie maker Jamba Inc’s drinks at grocery stores in eight states in the western United States, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition. The deal is Jamba’s…