As the potato chip category stages a post-pandemic comeback, the most popular items continue to be those that feature spicy, dramatic flavors and/or are perceived as a healthier choice. Chips are a c-store staple, of course, but COVID-19 put a solid dent in the business. Sales within convenience stores declined in 2020 primarily because pandemic-related…
How Can C-Stores Grow Frozen Dispensed Beverage Sales?
Convenience stores can grow their frozen dispensed beverage business by sticking to basics, which today includes instilling consumer confidence on the sanitation of the machines. Cold and frozen beverages both took a major hit due to the pandemic, but the section can be re-established — and sales built back up to pre-COVID levels. First, the…
Cigars Face New Challenges
The late-April announcement by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that it plans to effectively ban all flavors of mass-produced cigars (as well as menthol cigarettes) within the next year sent a loud warning signal to c-store operators, for whom flavored cigars are a popular item. The proposed ban is intended to “help significantly reduce…
Sweet Returns
After a year of pandemic caution, customers are looking toward summer and taking steps to resume normal life as more shoppers receive the COVID-19 vaccine and venture out, offering new opportunities for the candy category to help sweeten post-pandemic life. The candy category’s gum and mint segment faced a challenging 2020 as customers wore masks…
How Can C-Stores Drive Gum & Mint Sales?
Driving gum and mint sales may not be quite as simple as it once was, but this tried-and-true category is likely headed for a rebound. Sales of gum and mints struggled during the pandemic — mask mandates during COVID-19 no doubt have caused fewer Americans to worry about their breath. Retail strategies moving forward should…
What Is Non-Chocolate Candy?
We all know Americans love chocolate, but non-chocolate candy is a key candy segment as well that continues to offer new innovation for customers. In uncertain times, non-chocolate candies — gum, mints, chewy candy, sour candy, hard candy, novelty non-chocolate, licorice and more — continue to serve as a much-needed emotional salve for tens of…
What Are C-Store Customers Demanding From the Candy Category?
What do consumers want from a convenience store’s candy category? That’s simple — everything. They want the full gamut of choices, from chocolates to mints, chewing gum, bubble gum, hard candy, stick candy, taffies, lollipops, caramels, licorice, marshmallow and more. They want their old favorites, the brands they grew up with — names they know…
How Can C-Stores Boost Chocolate Sales?
Chocolate candy remains a customer favorite, so merchandising the product should be easy, right? But selling chocolate successfully in a convenience store can prove a surprisingly complex proposition. That’s because retailers must adroitly manage a host of moving parts, from meeting conflicting consumer demands to tracking top-selling brands as well as their innovative new products…
Customers Munch Into 2021
Meat snacks and salty snacks remain huge categories for convenience stores, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. As customers and retailers finally put 2020 in the rearview mirror, both categories are anticipated to continue their strong performance in 2021. For the 52 weeks ending Nov. 1, 2020, the c-store channel saw dried meat…
Dispensed Beverages Adapt
Selling cold and frozen dispensed beverages used to be a fairly simple proposition. But as summer turns to fall in the year of COVID-19, convenience store operators have had to improvise to bolster consumers’ confidence. As some regions see lockdowns easing while others deal with a re-emergence, social distancing and the heightened need for sanitizing…