CSP’s Convenience Retailing University kicked off Monday in Nashville, Tennessee. The three-day event is packed with educational content from convenience industry experts.
From the importance of great taste in food to how companies’ return to office policies are affecting fuel demand, here are six highlights from CSP editors from the first day of the conference.
Great Taste of Utmost Importance
Great taste matters so much that it is the most important factor in food and beverage purchasing decisions, according to research published in 2024 by the International Food Information Council. This comes from Rachel Toner, founder and technical director of Chalfont, Pennsylvania-based Taste Strategy, speaking on Sensory Science Essentials.
The sensory experience needs data to back it up, Toner said. Smell, appearance, sound, touch and texture and taste all need data to back them up.
Taste ranks above convenience, price, healthfulness and sustainability, she said.
“So, if taste is the most important factor, why are we not spending more time and effort and not investing more in understanding how our products taste with our consumers and how it directly impacts what they’re purchasing,” she said.
“Would you feel comfortable walking into a meeting with your boss and not having information on sales or gross profit?” Toner asked. “I don’t think you would. So, why is it OK for us to deliver products to our consumers without the basic understanding of how our products taste, and I’m here to argue that it’s not OK. Our consumers deserve to at least have some sort of information about the way that their products should taste; they expect that from us.”
What Back to Office Means for Fuel
With a third of U.S. companies pushing employees to return to working from the office, more people are commuting, which affects fuel demand, said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, Boston. Office leasing was back to 92% of the pre-pandemic average in fourth-quarter 2024, according to real estate and investment management company Jones Lang LaSalle.
DeHaan expects that the transition back to the office will take five years or longer, and “that’s a huge wild card for gasoline,” he said. It could add at least 5% to U.S. gasoline demand, he said.
Gum Up While Confectionery Struggles
Gum continues to perform well while other segments in the confectionery category have hit a sour note, said Paul Grubbs, vice president of client relationships at Management Science Associates Inc., Pittsburgh.
Grubbs told category managers in the confectionery category that overall gum was down 1.2% in 2024. This was a slight dip compared to non-chocolate which was down 5.5% and overall chocolate was down 6.6% in 2024.
“Gum may be showing signs of rebounding,” he said in his presentation regarding total U.S. confectionery trends for 52 weeks ending fourth-quarter 2024.
Grubbs listed improved socializing from the consumer following post-COVID as a reason for gum having good numbers.
“It’s great to see gum coming back,” Grubbs said.
Consumer Needs
The consumer of today has different needs than in the past. More than a third of spending power comes from consumers who are 16-45 years old, and one difference is that these consumers prefer to conduct their own research online before making a purchase decision, said Art Sebastian, CEO of NexChapter Inc., a technology consulting firm for convenience stores based in Des Moines, Iowa.
Consumers now take advantage of e-commerce accessibility to compare prices and find the cheapest option before making a purchase.
Social media is another trend that the current generation utilizes more than ever before to learn about products. They are connected 24/7 across many different platforms. Thirty- and 60-second ad spots are no longer as effective, Sebastian said. Today’s primary audience connects more with short videos on social media.
Create a Compelling Culture
If a business wants outrageous results and remarkable results, there are two things it must do, according to Randy Ross (pictured above), founder and CEO of Remarkable.
- Surround yourself with remarkable people.
- Craft a remarkable culture.
To craft that remarkable culture, companies, like convenience-store chains, should ask themselves these three questions, Ross, author of Remarkable! Maximizing Results Through Value Creation, said: Do you create more value than you take? Do you leave a positive wake? Do you solve problems?
“If you ask these questions of yourself first, and then of everyone around you, you’ll be well on your way to create a compelling culture,” Ross said.
Follow the Consumer
Ever heard of protein Coke?
“The ones that don’t know, you’re not on TikTok. That’s why you don’t know,” Nik Modi, managing director of New York-based RBC Capital Markets, said. “It’s just another medium in which you can learn what’s going on with the consumer.”
The viral trend is to mix one of Fairlife’s Core Power Protein Shakes, typically a vanilla-flavored one, with a Coca-Cola. People are drinking them after workouts for a boost of caffeine and for the protein, Modi said.
There’s an opportunity for retailers here: Co-merchandise the products together in a convenience store.
“These opportunities exist all over the place, you just have to know that they’re out there. One of my biggest growth opportunities for everyone in this room is just letting the digital world inform your physical strategies,” Modi said.
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