A more confident consumer is driving greater gasoline demand. By Brian Milne, editor, Schneider Electric The seasonal attributes of the gasoline market in the U.S. are on clear display, with gasoline demand sliding since summer’s end, and gasoline inventory restocked to a pre-peak season level, while gasoline futures dropped 34% in value from the start…
How to Prepare for NACS
Arriving at the NACS Show ready to mingle and network will increase your chances of coming away with new relationships and future opportunities. By Bill Scott, founder of StoreReport LLC & Scott Systems Inc. Before you pack up your golf clubs and wing it to Las Vegas to attend the 2015 NACS Show, it would…
How to Attain C-Store Success
Perfecting the shopping experience and operating more efficiently can help a struggling convenience store perform better. By Betsi Bixby Not every convenience store is an elite performer. Challenges do arise that will slow a location’s performance. Of course, finding solutions to right the ship can be challenging as well. Here are four suggested measures that…
How to Take Advantage of Learning Opportunities
Retailers looking for insights on the technology front, whether it’s optimizing data or adding a mobile payment system, can find it at the NACS Show. By Ed Collupy The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Show being held this month offers convenience store retailers an opportunity to learn about the latest trends and innovations impacting…
When Violence Strikes At Your C-Store
By Bill Scott, founder of StoreReport LLC & Scott Systems Inc. You’ve just shot a robber at your convenience store—now what? The decisions you make, and the actions you take over the next few minutes, or the next few hours, may be the most important challenges you will face in your lifetime. The most dangerous…
How to Optimize Fuel Supply Profitability
There’s always a disciplined approach to building a high-value fuel distribution business. Mark Radosevich Marketers competing for fuel distribution contracts are facing an increasingly tough environment to garner profitable dealer business. Several years ago some marketers began offering deals whereby the dealer could retain the prompt pay discount (PPD), in an attempt to aggregate rapid…
How to Maintain Accurate Inventory Numbers
Controlling inventory can be simpler. By Fran Duskiewicz About 10 years ago when I was at Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes, we stopped our foodservice managers from doing weekly food counts. We had decided it was an unproductive waste of time that was yielding faulty data, thereby hindering our efforts to improve performance in an…
How C-Stores Can Influence Public Health
As e-cigarettes and tobacco harm reduction continue to garner discussion, convenience stores are positioned to play a role. By Carl V. Phillips As the most convenient place to buy smokeless tobacco, convenience stores have been at the center of tobacco harm reduction (THR)—and the substitution of low-risk alternatives for cigarettes—before anyone really spoke about the…
How the Rules of Work Are Changing
The rules in some industries may be changing, but the ‘old rules’ still apply to convenience store employees. By Mel Kleiman Except for the recent brouhaha about raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, the business press routinely ignores the approximately 60% of American workers, who are hourly employees. A recent article in Fast…
Football Lessons I’ve Learned
With the football season upon us again, there are some life lessons to be gained from those who coach on the gridiron. By Jim Callahan So what does football have to do with addressing employee and management performance levels at convenience stores and truck stops? More than you might imagine. First though, I was struck…