The 2020 annual industry store count is out, and the upshot is that the convenience and fuel retailing industry is holding its own against a retail landscape comprised of a declining number of grocery and drugstores—and a rising number of dollar stores. There are 152,720 convenience stores operating in the U.S., according to the newly released NACS count of stores that were open as of December 2019. That number’s roughly in line with 2018, which is good news overall. Mergers and acquisitions are still going strong, meaning the bigger players are expanding, but it’s tougher for the smaller operators to grow amid a sea of regulations and consumers who demand selection and service in their terms.
No matter the size of your operation, providing exceptional customer service is a cornerstone of a winning business strategy. Our cover story explores five ways to leverage customer experience in this new era of convenience retailing. As Chris Walton, omnichannel expert and founder and CEO of Third Haus, writes: “While convenience is now a more complicated and more competitive construct than ever before, retailers that understand their brand, who their customers are and what their customers demand of them have shown the ability to reshape this construct in their favor.”
Providing exceptional customer service is a cornerstone of a winning business strategy.
Finding a way to stand out to your customers is a key challenge in this ultracompetitive environment, says Julie Jackowski, the NACS 2019-20 chair of the Board, in our interview with her this month. Jackowski, who is senior vice president and corporate general counsel of Casey’s, says when she walks into a c-store she notices if it’s clean, if a clerk greets her and if the restrooms are operating and tidy. On her agenda this year is to “help NACS members get the most out of NACS … I want to know what I can do to make NACS more innovative.”
Speaking of innovative, a hot new category in c-stores is CBD. C-stores are stocking cannabidiol-infused products, but there’s a lot of uncertainty about what’s legal and what’s not since marijuana is still banned at the federal level. In “10 Myths on CBD,” we tackle some of the legal and logistical misconceptions about the new product category as part of our coverage of the first NACS pop-up event: The Future of Cannabis in Retail.
While we might have broken new ground with our Pop-Up event, did you know that NACS has been publishing the NACS State of the Industry Report for 50 years? Be sure to see our timeline of key dates in the history of this crucial benchmarking report—dial-up modems and CD-ROMs, anyone?
Back to what makes for a memorable in-store experience. I stopped by a c-store one night a few weeks back and approached the counter during what must have been a shift change. As the clerks sorted receipts, I commented that I may have caught them at a bad time. Without missing a beat, the twentysomething behind the register looked me in the eye, grinned and said, “It’s always a good time at Sheetz.” His sincerity disarmed this harried mom, and I left with my snack and a smile. Kindness goes a long way.
