Silver Linings

Silver Linings

February 2021   minute read

By: Kim Stewart

In the drop-off line at my teenage daughter’s school on a recent day, she realized she’d taken off her standard black cotton face mask at home when she put on her coat. I pointed out to her that there were several other more colorful options stashed in her backpack, but she deemed those uncomfortable or ill-fitting. She sorted through the jumble of sports-themed face masks her Dad had left in our SUV and found a plain black one but worried that her older brother may have worn it. In the end, she took an extra one I’d stashed in my purse for emergencies.

Just another day in 2021. This time last year none of us had much of an inkling of what lay ahead. And truth be told, we still don’t. To those of you who have lost loved ones or are struggling with health issues, I wish you comfort and healing.

Convenience retailers warily find themselves in familiar territory as cases surge across the U.S. Trips still have ground to retake in all dayparts, and dollar sales continue to fluctuate. One silver lining is that spend per transaction remains above pre-pandemic levels because consumers are grabbing a few extras for the road, according to the January report from PDI and NACS on how COVID-19 is affecting consumer behavior. (Access the monthly reports here.)

Spend per transaction remains above pre-pandemic levels because consumers are grabbing a few extras for the road.

As our “Rising Stars of the Pandemic” cover story outlines, certain categories have performed especially well in c-stores, while foodservice has taken a hit, along with cold dispensed beverages, hot dispensed beverages and other traffic drivers as everyday routines have shifted.

Among the products to dramatically outperform total store sales trends last year were alcoholic beverages, sports/energy drinks, cigars, smokeless tobacco, cigarettes and milk. The latter two were in the doldrums pre-COVID-19 but have enjoyed a rebound, at least during the early to middle months of the pandemic in 2020.

Convenience retailers expect that many of the in-store trends that emerged during the pandemic will stick around, at least for the immediate future. And it appears that we’ll also be wearing face masks in public much longer than first expected.

Heading into 2021, the NACS Research team knew we’d start the year with fewer convenience stores in the U.S. than we did in 2020. We did see a disappointing loss but not as bad as feared, as we share in this month’s magazine feature.

In such a disruptive environment, benchmarking your 2020 performance against competitors across the country and in your operating region is more important than ever. Please join us in April for the NACS State of the Industry Summit for deep dives into the data that will populate the SOI Report, forward-thinking ideas from thought leaders and a first look at some exciting enhancements NACS Research is adding for 2021.

Be safe and well, my friends.

Kim Stewart

Kim Stewart

Kim Stewart is NACS editorial director and editor-in-chief of NACS Magazine. She can be reached at kstewart@ convenience.org.

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