2023 NACS Show: 6 Snack Opportunity Perspectives From a Retailer

Convenience-store channel traffic is trending upward compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to Placer.ai. Overall retail, on the other hand, is flat, which is normal, Kathy Risch, senior vice president of thought leadership and shopper insights at Acosta Group, said during a 2023 NACS Show education session. With this growth, salty snacks continue to be a top commonly purchased item from c-stores.

The most valued factor when shopping at c-stores is convenience, trusted brands and snack offerings that are fun to eat. Fun snacks are unique to the c-store channel, as consumers did not say they valued that factor in any other channel.

Click ahead to find out how to maximize dayparts, learn from other channels and recognize missed opportunities from Risch and Lisa Ham, director of merchandising and space planning at Yesway, who also provided insights at the NACS session.

The most common period of the day that consumers are making trips to c-stores for snack or meal foods are lunch (48%) and between lunch and dinner (56%), according to Acosta’s Group Shopper Community Survey.

Most c-store shoppers consume their snacks on the go. Most often (44%), consumers visit a c-store to grab a snack on the way to, during or from work, and 78% leave and eat their food on the go.

“A lot of these between-meal snacks, regardless of what time of day, are often replacements for meals,” Risch said. “You have to think about the solutions that are not only snacks between meals, but also snack replacements for meals.”

When consumers were asked where they went for a special snack trip, 36% of consumers—and 53% of millennials—said they would choose a convenience store. That’s compared to 34% who said fast food restaurant and 28% that chose a coffee shop/bakery, according to Acosta.

With 43% of consumers usually snacking later in the evening, Yesway assorts its snacks in a way that appeals to late-night snackers, said Lisa Ham, director of merchandising and space planning at Yesway.

Another popular daypart that Ham has noticed is after school.

“Ninety-three to 100% of elementary-aged kids have [an after school] snack,” she said.

Healthy snacks have similar preference levels (49%) as junk food (51%), salty snacks (59%) and sweet snacks (41%), according to Acosta Group’s 2023 Snacking Trends data.

“Maybe they’re having a regular bag of potato chips, and they eat healthier by eating baked potato chips. It’s not really healthy, but they’re wanting to make changes to upgrade, in their mind, to a healthier version of what they like.”

Compared to 2022, 29% of consumer perceive they are taking more trips to c-stores than last year, while 7% think they are taking less trips.

While Ham understands that convenience stores are not the cheapest option for shoppers, she believes that they can still provide value.

Yesway runs a two for $7 cereal box deal on the pumps to help drive in more customers that probably wouldn’t see the promotion otherwise.

“Making sure you are putting impulse items on your outward-facing signs versus your destination categories is one of the big things that you should be doing,” Ham said.

When offering two-fers, she also suggests offering a mix of items or including all of a manufacturer’s products.

And you need to win where you can win, she said.

“It’s already known that people overemphasize the value of what fuel rewards bring, so if you are not doing fuel rewards, I highly suggest that you look into it because that is one our most efficacious promotions that we are able to dive value with,” Ham said.

Apple watches and games on phones “are great at making things fun,” said Ham. The tie between impulse buying and gamification hasn’t been thoroughly researched in the United States, she said. But in Asian markets, games inside apps offer reward points to use on purchases, which causes people to visit sites considerably more often to earn those points.

Most c-store shoppers (71%) are loyalty program members and most (64%) also subscribe to a retailer’s app. Yesway has partnered with gaming companies to help build its brand.

“Making sure that you are making buying fun, and your customer is happy and enjoying your brand is really going to drive that impulse sale that you can then utilize in your store for things like snacks.”

Snacks and drinks top the list of commonly purchased c-store items, surfacing potential opportunities for pairing.

“Cross merchandising is key,” said Ham. “I believe it was Walmart that figured out that diapers and beer went well together. I encourage you to look at your affinities. You can also do subcategory affinities and cross merchandise that. Has it changed, and how often are you looking at that?”

Magic price points help customers because “nobody wants to do math,” said Ham.

But on the flip side, if you have too much variety, the customer is going to have “analysis paralysis,” she said. “If people are too overwhelmed with their choices, they’re like, ‘I’m just going to take the burrito and leave.’”

Of the snacks consumers said they buy mostly or exclusively at c-stores, meat snacks topped the list at 44%. The most missed opportunity is salty snacks, said Risch, because 66% of shoppers buy salty snacks at c-stores, but only 29% buy them exclusively at c-stores.

“You’re not going to be able to get all of that missed opportunity, but maybe you could get a few more percentage points.”

Yesway has found growth in bigger snack sizes, said Ham.

“We’ve leaned in on the bigger sizes, and we’ve even tried the multipacks,” she said. “Multipacks exploded during COVID, and they’re continuing to grow.”

Ham also recommends identifying different supplier partners that can offer larger sized baked good packs because they provide value to the customer compared to a single item.

The reason most c-store shoppers (56%) choose convenience stores is because of convenient locations.

“How do you leverage that convenience?” Risch said. “The fact that you are well stocked and always available for these snacks is a huge advantage.”