The Outlook Leadership conference kicked off Tuesday at Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. The three-day event, hosted by CSP and its parent company Informa, runs through Thursday.
Here’s a look at what experts shared so far.
Creating value beyond speed
Convenience retail is shifting from speed to emotional connection.
This insight comes from Terri Micklin, senior vice president of store development, facilities and real estate at 7-Eleven, who joined Andy House, vice president of Imagine Studio, in a presentation Tuesday at Outlook Leadership on the topic of Experience, Emotion and Engagement: The New Drivers of Convenience Retail.
“Convenience isn’t just about speed anymore,” Micklin said. “It’s about the value that we give to our customers with the time they give to us.”
When it comes to 7-Eleven, Irving, Texas, as a brand, Micklin said success will come from creating emotional attachment to the brand, memorable experiences and more.
House said the goal is no longer about transactions, but it’s about relationships. Rather than simply serving quick purchases, House said stores are evolving into places customers want to visit.
House and Micklin both agreed that loyalty is also being redefined. Traditional loyalty programs are becoming less important than emotional loyalty.
- 7-Eleven is No. 1 on CSP’s 2026 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count.
“Convenience is no longer defined by time saved—but by value, connection and experience created,” House said.
Rather than simply serving quick purchases, stores are evolving into places customers want to visit, Micklin said.
“When you are part of someone’s everyday routine and they think of you as kind of a purpose to their day, I think you’re unlocking something really special,” she said.
Should c-stores go the QSR route?
Should c-stores become quick-service restaurants? Donna Hood Crecca, senior principal at CSP sister research arm Technomic, Chicago, said that lately she has been asked this question often—and the short answer is no.
Doing so means that c-stores would lose a key differentiator, which is the overall value proposition of the c-store model, Crecca said.
“Your stores solve for multiple consumer needs states, and that’s a key factor in getting folks to turn into your parking lot versus the quick-service restaurant,” Crecca said.
C-stores allow consumers the ability to check off multiple tasks from their to-do lists: fuel and charge the car, and pick up beer, toilet paper and lottery tickets—“whatever it might be, and at the same time, quickly, easily access quality, craveable, satisfying prepared foods and beverages in five to seven minutes max,” Crecca said.
This is something that restaurants cannot deliver on, Crecca said, adding that simply being a convenience store creates an inherent competitive advantage over restaurants.
“You have the right to win more foodservice occasions,” Crecca said. “You have the right to compete and take share from quick-service restaurants, but don’t try to be a quick-service restaurant. Be a great c-store with a great foodservice offering.”
Data sticking points and tips
Where do c-store retailers most often get stuck turning data into better decisions? Is it in the technology, data quality, organizational alignment or unclear business priorities?
Art Sebastian (pictured above, left), CEO of Des Moines, Iowa-based c-store consulting firm NexChapter, posed these questions Wednesday during a presentation of CSP’s 2026 Outlook Report.
Sebastian was joined by Crecca of Technomic; Erik Ogren, president of Patron Points; and Thomas Weinandy, senior research economist at Upside. All were partners in creating the Outlook Report.
Crecca said what she sees a lot is problems with organizational alignment.
“When you’ve got these silos within the organizations—marking, ops, supply chain, foodservice—and they’re not really aligned around what data they’re using, and how they’re using it and how it interacts with their different areas of expertise,” she said.
Organizations can also get stuck when it comes to data literacy, Crecca said. Retailers should consider if everyone understands what data they’re using, why they’re using it, how they’re using it and who’s supplying it.
Having a unified data model is very important, Weinandy said. His local c-store recently emailed him to promote a product that they don’t actually carry.
“I’ve talked to retailers who don’t have visibility about what they’re pump-to-c-store conversion is like, and I think these are just basic numbers about how to be able to operate the business, and it’s because many operators still don’t have a unified data model,” he said.
One key for Patron Points when working with their retailer partners is figuring out what their goals are, Ogren said.
“And make it manageable, bite-sized goals, and then build from there,” he said. “Because it can be daunting, if you’re looking at all this data, what you do with it.”
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