While customers remain hungry for energy, the success of the energy drink segment appears to be pulling attention from its sister category, energy shots. Still, effective merchandising can help c-stores inspire impulse purchases of energy shots. Dollar sales of energy shots in the convenience store channel topped $608 million, a drop of 4% for the…

Energy drink sales are surging and are expected to continue to gain strength throughout 2023 and beyond. The energy drink category posted sales of $12.2 billion, a sizeable gain of 8.5%, with unit sales up 3.5% for the 52 weeks ending Jan. 1, 2023, according to Chicago-based research firm IRI. Leading brands included Red Bull,…

There are a lot more people who know what snus is than how snus works. But for convenience stores, knowing both can prove essential to maximizing sales. Doing everything possible to move merchandise in any category is imperative. The global market for snus is expected to rise from $1 billion in 2022 to $2.4 billion…

Consumers aren’t letting a little thing like inflation come between them and the snacks they love. According to IRI, for the calendar year ended Jan. 1, 2023, the convenience store channel recorded salty snack sales of just over $7 billion, a 17.1% increase. At the same time, the average unit price over the previous year…

While recent data shows positive increases in the juice category, teas rolled in flat. Aseptic juices recorded dollar sales of $53.8 million, a gain of 24.3%, and unit sales of 17 million, up 16.8%, for the 52 weeks ending Jan. 1, 2023, according to data from IRI. Bottled juices registered dollar sales of $1.68 billion,…

Customers continue to crave carbonated beverages, even as price points rise. Healthier options, including sugar-free varieties, are a bright spot for the category in the year ahead. Carbonated beverage dollar sales rang in at $9.93 billion in the convenience store channel, a healthy gain of 7.6% for the 52 weeks ending Jan. 1, 2023, per…

Step one in boosting non-chocolate candy sales in convenience stores is knowing what non-chocolate candies consumers are buying and then stocking it, confident in the realization that these candies have seen major gains over at least the past year. For example, IRI figures for the convenience store channel for calendar year 2022, ending Jan. 1,…

Convenience store retailers work hard to drive customer loyalty and to ensure their customers value their rewards program. Personalization is a growing trend today in loyalty programs as c-store retailers look to tailor promotions and rewards to customer preferences.  Case in point: in November of last year, Findlay, Ohio-based Marathon Petroleum Corp. announced a pilot…

Both meat and salty snacks remain bulwarks of the convenience store industry. And during uncertain economic times, with other staple product categories facing some very real challenges, bulwarks are a good thing to have. “Both (salty snacks and meat snacks) are good categories that saw growth in 2022 and should grow in 2023,” predicted Rich…

In today’s inflationary environment “shrinkflation” is impacting products at retailers across channels, and customers are noticing. Alternately called the grocery shrink ray, deflation or package downsizing, shrinkflation refers to maintaining or even upping product prices even as that product shrinks in size, quantity or quality. According to a recent consumer survey by Morning Consult, nearly…