IRVING, Texas -- Rutter's Farm Stores will spend $1 million on bathrooms for its 50-store chain in the coming year, giving a new twist to its logo, "Why go anywhere else?" Open Pantry Food Marts of Wisconsin doesn't build stores and then customize its offerings to the area residents. Instead, it has set a goal to target affluent customers; it finds them, and builds where they live.
These two top-notch operators both use data to make these decisions, and they told their stories at the CSP Consumer Insights Forum Oct. 16-18 in Irving, Texas. Presentations [image-nocss] by The Nielsen Co., Sweeney Research, Information Resources Inc. (IRI), Clickin Research and TNS Retail Forward touted research-driven information to help retailers and suppliers understand what IRI's Staci Covkin called "the why behind the buy.VbCrLf
"If you do things from the gut,VbCrLf said John Mayer of McLane Co., Temple, Texas, "what you're doing is making decisions based on what you learned yesterday or last week or last month.VbCrLf
The meeting was less about sales data-volume, velocity, rankings-than it was about consumer behavior and demographics, and how industry players can better their business using that information. Mark Wright of Nielsen spoke about "The Art of Consumer Segmentation,VbCrLf or how demographics can alter merchandising choices and help locate future sites.
Jim Fiene, senior vice president of Open Pantry, Pleasant Prairie, Wis., said Nielsen's suite of research models, in partnership with its distributor, McLane, has helped it identify areas of its target demographics. It grouped its stores' demographics into affluent suburban and struggling urban, and analyzed the customer base and the competition.
The result was the divestiture of eight stores in urban areas surrounded by strong competition, the acquisition of six sites in affluent suburbs, the construction of three sites in affluent suburbs and the remodeling of all existing sites. The focus on a class of customer also helps rationalize SKUs for both Open Pantry and its suppliers. Fiene said the use of such data would help in the future with growth, brand and offering. "It showed us how we should spend our time,VbCrLf he said of the data.
Scott Hartman, president of Rutter's, York, Pa., and Bill Reilly, chief marketing officer for The Spinx Co., Greenville, S.C., each used research from the NACS/Coca-Cola Leadership Council Convenience Teen Action Report to spur action. The survey of 8,000 people old enough to drive but not to legally drink alcohol, revealed 72% who said c-store bathrooms are important to them. Also high on the list was digital devices and ready-to-eat food.
Hartman, who sat on the council in its three years of work, said his stores used the survey results to upgrade technologically, with touchscreen POS and ordering screens and electronic gas-price signs. The bathroom upgrades are ongoing, in part honoring teens' attitudes to health and wellness, having been raised on anti-bacterial gel and hand wash. "Kids don't want to touch anything,VbCrLf Hartman said. "This is the germ generation.VbCrLf
Click here to rate four recently designed or updated c-store restrooms.
As Martha Russell, founder and CEO of Clickin Research, Austin, Texas, said in her presentation of the leadership council findings, as well as her own discoveries, "They want to see respect for themselves reflected in others.VbCrLf
Reilly's boss Stewart Spinks sat on the council as well, and his education formed the basis of Reilly's new store designs. For the teens' techno-facility, there is all-new POS as well as touch-screen ordering. Skylights and plenty of windows provide natural light, bathrooms have lots of mirror space, the kitchen is open and the coffee area is dramatic. There is a fresh-food display two steps into the store, which has more food cues in general. The company is committed to five of the ground-ups, followed by remodels of existing sites. "Now [that] we understand what we're wearing to the dance, we've got to go back and invest,VbCrLf Reilly said.
For more on the Consumer Insights meeting, see the December issue of CSP magazine.
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