2015 Consumer Report
What Consumers Want In Convenience Stores
The CSP-Technomic Consumer Report surveyed more than 1,500 convenience-store shoppers representing every U.S. demographic over a four-month period. The results show change is vital for retailers who wish to compete in an increasingly crowded marketplace, where customer loyalty is increasingly rare and customer operations are at a historic high.
The results show that consumers want you to evolve, to embrace freshness, cleanliness, healthy, mobile, loyalty, and value. They want you to be better. They want you to be their friend. Read on to see how ready you are for the future of convenience retailing.
The Consumer
Does Your Brand Mean Anything?
What the convenience channel must achieve to win today’s increasingly demanding consumer.
Key Categories
Beverages Customers Want More Choice
Variety is the spice of life. It’s a cliché, but it accurately represents what we’ve always known about your customers: They like having a choice, especially where beverages are concerned.
Foodservice Better! Cheaper! Customized! Diverse!
Customers, particularly those 49 and younger, are prepared to purchase their next sub and soft drink from a c-store instead of the QSR down the street.
Fuels Brand and Price as Powerful Motivators
Today’s fuel game is built around consumer choice—the where, how, what and when of filling up, with technology making those decisions faster and more informed.
Tobacco Cigarette's Demise Greatly Exaggerated
Electronic cigarettes and vaping are growing, but the CSP-Technomic study shows that cigarettes remain the stealthy bull of this broader tobacco category in convenience stores, with 90% of tobacco consumers purchasing them at least occasionally.
The Future of Convenience Retailing
The CSP-Technomic survey underlines several “fish hooks” you can use to reel customers in and keep them engaged.
Drawing Conclusions
Clearly, c-stores have room for improvement. Some of this is simply a matter of more consistently executing on the basics and opportunities already discussed. But some of it shows a large gulf between consumer expectations and business realities.
Click here to access the free Executive Summary of the CSP-Technomic Consumer Report.