Approximately 30 million Americans fill up their vehicles at a convenience store every day. How do you encourage as many as possible to go from filling up at your forecourt to shopping inside your store? In the second part of this three-part series examining exclusive NACS consumer data, we look at what consumers say they want inside the store and what could get them to come inside.

Fueling transactions account for 28% of total transactions at the average convenience store, according to the NACS State of the Industry Report^® of 2024 Data. But unlike customers who park on your lot to go into the store, customers who are fueling up may not come inside. And there is no guarantee that they will even come back to your location, especially if the reason they’re filling up is because of that day’s gas price. 

This lack of certainty makes it even more important to get those customers who are filling up to go inside your store—where you can turn them into even more frequent, and loyal, customers.

What do drivers say they’re looking for, and how can you meet their needs when they’re on the forecourt?

What Gets Them to the Store?

Most drivers (52%) say the main reason they last went to a convenience store was to buy gas. That figure is similar to those of previous years and is expected, even though there are far more transactions inside the store than at the pump. This survey was designed to learn about the behavior of consumers who purchase gas, so the responses tend to reflect that angle. 

There are some interesting preferences among subgroups. First, buying gas is a priority for all drivers, regardless of how often they make in-store purchases: 52% of frequent c-store consumers—those who patronize c-stores at least multiple times a week—say purchasing gas is the main reason for their visit, nearly identical to infrequent (52%) and rare (55%) shoppers. The bigger differences lie in how often consumers purchase gas. Daily commuters, who require more frequent fill-ups, primarily cite gas as the main reason to stop at a c-store (62%), compared to only 47% of part-time commuters and 53% of remote workers.

Among the least likely to cite gas as the main reason for their stop at a c-store are drivers who typically buy fuel at a big-box retailer that sells fuel (48%). Because these drivers are more likely to wait to purchase gas at a big-box retailer known for low prices but perhaps inconveniently located, they may consider c-stores fill-in stops for gas—but there may be opportunities to make them more regular customers. 

For one, they are most likely to say the main reason for their stop was to use the bathroom (12%, compared to 5% overall). A clean, well-maintained bathroom could help create positive impressions that extend to more in-store purchases; over time, that may reduce their desire to seek out the best gas price at a big-box store. Or the solution could be a strong loyalty program that links in-store purchases to gas discounts. Indeed, 37% of consumers say they consider such loyalty programs a more important consideration than in the past when choosing to shop at convenience stores. For buyers of big-box gas, this number jumps to 42%. 

After all, 82% of consumers say they will drive five minutes out of their way to go to the convenience store they like. So it stands to reason that a more conveniently located store could attract someone who usually purchases fuels at a big-box retailer—if you can make it a store they like more than the big box. 

Because more drivers are filling up and going inside the store during the same stop, there certainly are more opportunities to encourage customers to purchase items. A record 64% of drivers who filled up said they also went inside the store, the highest percentage recorded since NACS first conducted its Consumer Fuels Survey in 2007—and a 6-point jump from last year.

The drivers filling up who are also most likely to go inside the store are those ages 35-49 (75%) and daily commuters (72%). Those least likely to go inside are drivers over 65 (35%).

So now that we know what got them to the store and why they might go inside, let’s look at what they do once they’re inside.

What Do They Do Inside the Store?

According to data from NACS research, an estimated 160 million transactions are conducted at convenience stores every day across the United States. With the U.S. population now at 340 million, that equates to nearly half of all Americans completing a transaction at a c-store every day. Of course, that doesn’t mean half of Americans shop at a c-store every day. But just about everyone who drives stops at a c-store at least once a week to fill up, given that the average vehicle is filled up every seven days and 80% of those fill-ups happen at a c-store.

Let’s look inside the store specifically. Most Americans (57%) say they make purchases in c-stores at least weekly. And some of them are in stores much more frequently. One in 11 Americans (9%) say they are in convenience stores every day—and some of these frequent customers may come in multiple times a day. 

Daily commuters are particularly frequent c-store customers. One in seven daily commuters are also daily c-store shoppers (14%), and nearly three in four daily commuters (72%) are in a c-store at least weekly.   

It seems that the industry’s focus on foodservice, which now constitutes 27.7% of in-store sales dollars, is resonating with a greater segment of the population. It wasn’t too long ago that convenience store meals were a punchline. Today, more than half of all Americans have purchased a sandwich or meal at a c-store in the past year—and that is consistent across demographics. The only population subsets below 50% were age-based: those ages 50-64 (47%) and those over 65 (34%).

The majority of people who walk inside a convenience store leave with a beverage in their hands (52%), and that has been the most popular purchase in stores for as long as NACS has conducted consumer surveys. 

Roughly half of all Americans (47%) say they seek out healthier products at least “very often.” Those in rural areas (37%) are the least likely to say they seek out healthier products at least very often.

Meanwhile, about one in three Americans (32%) say they could eat better, and that percentage is remarkably consistent across all demographics, whether frequent c-store customers (32%), consumers ages 18-34 (33%) or daily commuters (31%). This interest in eating better could present an opportunity for retailers to highlight healthier options inside their stores. 

Consumer interest in finding healthier items and eating better is consistent across all demographics, but that doesn’t mean all customers want the same thing all the time. One in five (19%) say they tend to seek out healthier items earlier in the week. They probably have great intentions to be healthy after enjoying the weekend, but perhaps those intentions fall away as the work week drags on. A higher percentage of some subgroups—frequent c-store customers (27%), commuters (28%) and consumers ages 18-34 (29%)—say they seek out healthier items early in the week.

Retailers may want to consider their own limited-time offers—let’s call them “limited-day offers”—that are perfectly timed to their customers’ moods. For Monday or Tuesday: “Start a great healthy routine today!” For Thursday or Friday: “Yeah, it’s been a week—reward yourself!”

No matter if—and when—consumers are seeking healthier items, they have mixed thoughts on whether c-stores provide enough healthy options. Roughly two in five (39%) consumers say healthier items are at least “somewhat plentiful” in stores. Frequent c-store customers are much more likely than rare customers (those who shop inside c-stores only a few times a month) to say healthier options are at least somewhat plentiful (50% for frequent vs. 21% for rare), indicating that those who actually shop at c-stores are finding healthier items.  

Part three of our three-part series will focus on consumer preferences and perceptions related to convenience and will appear in the November issue of NACS Magazine.