Despite a weakened economy, the convenience store industry posted healthy sales gains in key in-store categories, such as foodservice, snacks, beverages and tobacco products, raising optimism for an even stronger 2013. For all the concerns about reduced consumer spending over the past 15 months, convenience stores experienced another strong year in 2012. Core categories, such…

New products and core beverages will always drive cold vault sales. So when is the right time—and how often does that right time come—for category managers to reset them? “We do cold vault resets twice a year, which means we’re making fairly minor adjustments all the time,” said Richard Ginther, category manager for Kum &…

CSD‘s 2012 Category Management Outlook offers trends and analysis from more than 25 key in-store categories. By John Lofstock and Erin Rigik. Tough economic times and stiff competition across the supply chain are making it critical for convenience store operators to have a solid understanding of their customers, particularly their high-frequency, high-value shoppers. Armed with…

The first sports and energy bars in the U.S. were marketed primarily to serious athletes, through alternative channels such as health food stores.                      These bars did not have wide appeal or distribution as recently as 1990, but over the past two decades these products have since gained mass appeal and distribution after greatly improving flavor…

Convenience store and petroleum retailers with car washes have faced a challenging 3-4 years in the car wash industry, and as a result have mostly refrained from new development of car wash sites. “We know from our equipment sales reports that there have been low levels of investment, particularly at petroleum c-store car wash sites,”…

The cold frozen dispensed category is undergoing some major changes these days with many c-stores adding milkshakes and even energy slushees to their offerings. The additions continue to make the cold and frozen dispensed category one of the hottest in the convenience store industry. Digging down into the category even more, the fourth annual CSD/Balvor…

Water continues to briskly flow into and out of convenience stores. The key for retailers is to cut through the clutter and put together the most profitable set possible. Bottled water volume overall grew a little over 4% in 2011, according to preliminary tracking figures from the Beverage Marking Corp. (BMC). The single-serve retail PET…

It’s always nice when a general statistical look at an industry can be confirmed locally, and that is the case with convenience store beer sales as 2011 closes. The Beer Institute confirms that the convenience channel is one of the most important for beer. The category accounts for 30% of total U.S. industry volume. A…

Despite the continued economic doldrums, U.S. confectionery sales have grown at a pace of 4.2% annually and generate $29 billion in total sales, according to SymphonyIRI, a Chicago-based research firm. Jenn Elleck, of the National Confectioners Association (NCA), said the biggest misconception about selling candy is that candy sells itself. “Retailers don’t think they need…

Handling cash is the bread and butter of convenience store operations, and the latest systems developed to make that process faster and safer do just that. But not all quarters of the industry have been quick to embrace them by any means. For many operators, changes still lie in the future, and time-honored standard practices…