Technology can be a huge boost for convenience stores looking to grow their foodservice programs.
Piccadilly Circus Pizza, for example, is finishing a test of its own mobile app that allows customers from select locations to preorder to-go orders and have them ready upon arrival.
Splick-It, the developer of Piccadilly Circus Pizza’s app, believes this kind of service is the heart of the convenience-store industry. “People gravitate toward convenience," said Splick-It founder and CEO Rob Taylor. "The businesses that make it easier, faster and more friendly will have customers that spend more and become more loyal.”
However, though technology provides a natural tool for convenience-store operators, integrating technology is not as simple as, say, setting up a cardboard merchandiser and walking away. Services such as online ordering must be embraced.
“When airlines first started kiosks, it took a while for the public to realize that they were faster and easier than standing at the counter," Taylor said. "It’s that way with ordering food from an app from a convenience store. It takes that first order to break the ice but once it’s done, people don’t go back.”
C-store operators are also becoming innovators in employing apps and related tech to drive consumer loyalty and engagement. Burgeoning technology trends today are expected to only become more widespread and successful in coming years. But big changes are ahead.
“[Convenience stores] are leading the pack when it comes to apps,” said Gray Taylor, executive director of Conexxus, a technology nonprofit that works in the c-store arena.
Many c-store chains have been successful in tying loyalty cards that reward gas and other purchases into apps. But consumers need a clear, relevant motivator to stick with an app, Taylor said, such as a significant fuel discount or worthwhile time savings.
One example of a retailer with a successful program, according to Taylor, is North Salt Lake, Utah-based Maverik, with its Nitro card and associated app, which offers 6 cents off each gallon of gas if a consumer uses Maverik’s branded payment system.
Taylor, who serves on a future-of-the-web consortium, predicts that in the near future, a consumer will visit a c-store and a site-specific web page will load automatically on their phone, offering discounts and special offers.
Such sites could push out coupons that would help convert pay-at-the-pumpers into making purchases inside the store.
To this end, Taylor of Splick-it said job training is the key. “It’s not complicated and actually really simple,” he said. “But training employees on the app and how it’s used is key in getting that customer to use it the first time.”
Apps that feature online ordering can help convenience stores grow their business. “App technology could also be used to help c-stores break into the catering arena,” Taylor said.
“There are convenience stores with great sandwich presences,” he continued. “Why couldn’t somebody have an app and say, ‘I need five sandwiches for a meeting today at the office’? Then you could use Uber to drop them off. Your brick-and-mortar store doesn’t become a confinement.”
Beyond apps and websites, some chains are exploring delivery innovation. Earlier this year, 7-Eleven successfully tested drone delivery. The chain is considering rolling out drone delivery nationally.
However, the message for today’s convenience store considering whether to use app or mobile technology is based on the age-old concept of advertising: frequency of contact.
"When a customer has a brand’s app in their phone, it’s in their pocket, too," Taylor said. "And it’s a two-way communication between the brand and the consumer that can happen anytime, any place, whether it’s a great pizza for a great price or simply saying, ‘Hey, happy birthday!’ ”
This post is sponsored by Land Mark Products