New products, expanded sales and innovative programs illustrate company’s continued success at “Making Convenience Convenient.” Lil’ Drug Store Products Inc. (LDSP), a global consumer products company and top health and beauty care (HBC) product supplier to the convenience channel, summed up 2012 as a year of successes that reinforce the company’s position as the top…
Oberto Brands To Open Production Facility in Nashville
New facility helps Oberto keep pace with growing meat snack demand. Oberto Brands, a national leader in the meat snacks category and maker of the popular Oh Boy, Oberto! jerky line, is opening a new production facility in Nashville, Tenn. in the first half of 2013, bringing hundreds of jobs to the area. The new…
Coca-Cola Introduces Shopper Experience Innovation Center
High-tech facility features realistic scale, customizable retail and foodservice facilities to incubate and test solutions. The brightest new star in the world of shopper marketing is not a renowned expert or an insightful study. It’s The Coca-Cola Co.’s recently launched Shopper Experience Innovation Center (SEIC) which contains two retail environments that can morph like a…
Tracking Changes In Confections
While a few big gum and mint brands have the cache—and steady sales—to merit prime display space, hordes of newcomers are trying to snare a share of this valuable retail real estate. By Marilyn Odesser-Torpey, Associate Editor In its “New Product Pacesetters” report, research firm SymphonyIRI Group revealed that the gum and mint sector accounted…
Proper Merchandising Encourages Sales
Dealing with a host of primary wholesalers, multiple DSD vendors and local foodservice providers, convenience store chains are learning to grow more efficient without sacrificing goods and services. By Pat Pape, Contributing Editor Like millions of Americans, Matt Paduano was traveling this summer, but he didn’t return home with a sun tan and postcards from…
E-Tobacco Shows No Signs of Slowing
Although the electronic cigarette category in the U.S. is barely five years old, a dizzying number of brands are vying for the attention of retailers—and more are entering the fray just about every day. By Marilyn Odesser-Torpey, Associate Editor In a report released in May, UBS Investment Research likened the chaotic e-cigarette category to the e-commerce…
Meeting the Needs of Today’s C-Store Customers
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…
Designing a Winning OTP Strategy
Convenience stores have evolved from being a destination for cigarettes to a destination for tobacco products as a whole. By Joe Bush, Contributing Editor. It was inevitable that the conversation on convenience store cigar sales would shift eventually from rapid growth to supplier relations, category management and marketing. As cigarette regulations and prices and taxes…
Last Chance to Take the Fifth Annual CSD/Balvor 2012 Foodservice Survey
Today is the last day to take the survey! How is foodservice performing for your company? What’s your outlook for the various foodservice categories in 2012? And what are some of the best practices for marketing the foodservice category to today’s convenience store consumers? Convenience Store Decisions in partnership with David Bishop, managing partner of…
7-Eleven Honors Bake Fresh
“Bake Fresh has embraced 7-Eleven’s strategy to narrow our focus with laser-like precision and drive continuous improvement,” says 7-Eleven spokesperson. 7-Eleven Inc. has awarded Bake Fresh Co. LLC the 2010 Retailer Initiative Award, citing the dramatic turn-around of a Colorado commercial bakery the Chesapeake, Va.-based company assumed just a year ago. Jesus Delgado-Jenkins, 7-Eleven senior…