C-store digital ordering is growing 25% year over year, and 34% of customers in the convenience-store channel have ordered via a mobile app.
This insight comes from Steve Siegel (pictured right), director of sales at Philadelphia-based Lula Commerce, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered e-commerce technology company for convenience retailers, and Matt Van Gilder, vice president of omnichannel at NexChapter, a Des Moines, Iowa-based consulting firm helping retailers with loyalty, retail media and digital commerce strategy
Siegel and Van Gilder spoke at CSP's Convenience Retailing University conference on Feb. 25 in Austin, Texas. The two broke down what category managers need to know about optimizing for digital menus, third-party marketplaces and the rise of AI agents shopping for the c-store customer.
The next wave of customers won’t browse the internet—they’ll delegate to AI, Van Gilder said.
“In that moment your product data is your only merchandiser,” he said. “The brands that win digitally are the ones whose data is ready for machines—not just humans.”
Turning to c-store digital ordering, Siegel said building demand requires a proactive approach.
“Optimize menus for digital consumers and launch targeted promotions,” he said.
He also offered guidance on using AI securely at work. It's safe to put public menus, product data, anonymized sales summaries and industry competitor data into AI, Siegel said. He cautioned, however, never to input employee records, vendor contract terms, internal credentials and customer personally identifiable information (PII) into AI systems.
When it comes to optimizing delivery footprint, Siegel said to rank locations according to digital ordering potential.
“Not every store needs delivery—but without data you’re guessing,” Siegel said.
Data analysis is also important when it comes to promotional sales.
“It’s often hard to delineate whether promotional sales are not incremental versus cannibalizing,” he said. “This is where data analysis can help ensure you have a lasting bottom line impact.”
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