Convenience-store retailers are faced with decisions every day on how to grow their brand, and what aspects of the business they may need to leave behind.
Mitch Morrison, vice president, retailer relations and event content director at Winsight Media, sat down with Joe Hamza, chief operating officer at Nouria Energy; Mark Jordan, president and CEO of Refuel Operating Co.; and Kole Olinger, director of merchandising at ExtraMile Convenience Stores, at CSP’sOutlook Leadership event in Rancho Palos Verde, California, in August.
They discussed the scariest thing they’re facing, how to stay relevant and more.
What’s something scary that retailers are facing?
For Jordan, of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina-based Refuel, it’s tobacco regulation. Bans on flavored vapor and tobacco products “can change your business pretty fast when 40% of it is gone,” he said.
- Refuel Operating Co. LLC is No. 40 on CSP’s 2023 Top 202 list of top c-store chains by U.S. store count. ExtraMile Convenience Stores LLC is No. 8 and Nouria Energy Corp. is No. 48.
Kole Olinger of ExtraMile, Pleasanton, California, agreed—and is looking to foodservice to make up for some of that loss. The chain is further behind than others already with foodservice, he said.
“With regulatory pressures in other categories, we really have to develop sales in other areas of the store at a pronounced rate to really stay viable,” Olinger said.
How does a brand stay relevant?
Nouria Energy, Worcester, Massachusetts, was founded in 1989. Hamza said the company is doing several things to maintain its relevance, including anticipating trends in every area of its business.
“For example, right now, we’re going through a revamp of our foodservice menu, making sure that we have the items that our customers want to see. We’re adding healthier options and making it a little easier for our customers to choose from,” he said.
It’s also adding new technology to its stores and looking at private-label products to help fill in gaps from what manufacturers provide, while maintaining its customer service and hospitality.
ExtraMile have the challenge of staying relevant in different regions.
ExtraMile is a joint-venture franchising company with ownership and governance shared between Chevron USA, San Ramon, California, and Jacksons Food Stores, Meridian, Idaho. While most of its stores are out West, it recently entered two southeastern states, Alabama and Mississippi.
“We had to combat the California-ness of our brand perception, and develop really that brand story, being able to speak to them in terms of, ‘We’re not bringing our California solution, or our California offer to these new locations,’” Olinger said.
It is focused on growing the ExtraMile c-store brand within the Chevron and Texaco fuel network through franchising. The biggest battle it faces with potential new franchisees is apathy, he said.
“People that have had a store for 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, and it’s been fine, [say] ‘Why do I need you?’” he said. “You’ve got to have a highly specific conversation based on whatever’s most important to them, cost of goods, a new store look, the layout, the brand—whatever it may be. You have to customize your approach and your offer to be able to really engage with them in a way that is the most relevant to them.”
What should go?
When Jordan travels and looks at other c-stores, he sees a lot of problems with operations, he said. One of those is retailers who have too many own-branded products and not enough bigger-brand names.
A quick-fix retailer who is trying to see if they can make a bigger margin by not selling Doritos won’t be successful long-term.
“I think people who are too headstrong in this business and get out of the fact that it’s just convenience… people are just stopping to go to the bathroom or get something to drink, or something to eat real fast, and if you forget that, you’re done,” Jordan said.