The convenience store industry had record sales of $700.3 billion in 2012, with in-store sales increasing 2.2% to reach a record $199.3 billion and motor fuels sales increasing 2.9% to a record $501.0 billion, according to figures released yesterday by NACS. The industry’s 2012 numbers were announced at the NACS State of the Industry Summit,…
Fruit Punch and Strawberry Passion Juice Drinks
Minute Maid is introducing two new juice drink flavors—Fruit Punch and Strawberry Passion—to its Juice To Go portfolio. Both bring together a blend of tasty fruit flavors and, because they are from the Minute Maid brand you know and trust, both all-new varieties offer refreshing, on-the-go enjoyment that can fit into any schedule. Both are…
Understanding What Your Customers are Buying
MSA and Paradigm Sample, in partnership with Convenience Store Decisions, examine the market basket of 18-34-year-old convenience store shoppers. By Trish Temmerman, Contributing Editor. Numerous reports are being written about connecting to and interacting with the Millennial (18-34 year-old) generation. These Millennials, numbering 71 million-plus according to the 2010 U.S. Census, are a key shopper…
Building Bottled Water Sales
New products and core beverages will always drive cold vault sales. Retailers have to know how to market them effectively to maximize profitability. By Howard Riell, Associate Editor. Bottled water sales continue to rise steadily, which is good news for overall packaged beverage sales in convenience stores. NACS reported recently that in the wake of…
Avoiding Cold Vault Cannibalization
With new healthier beverage options becoming available retailers face the task of resetting coolers to maximize sales. By: By Howard Riell, Associate Editor. Who would have thought that packaged beverages could cause so many people so much angst? Heightened environmental and health concerns and the spotlight on childhood obesity have been used to cast a…
Managing Packaged Beverages
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 &…
Consumer Confidence Returning?
Impulse purchases of sodas, Hershey bars and snacks are on the upswing at U.S. convenience stores, a sign the economy and consumer confidence might slowly be turning around, Bloomberg.com reported. The decline in soda sales at convenience stores slowed last quarter for the first time in at least a year, according to PepsiCo and Coca-Cola,…
Competitive Pricing Key to Water Sales
Operators hoping to do well with bottled and flavored waters in 2010 need to understand what both water and bottles mean to today’s consumers. Following a decade of steady growth, bottled water sales in c-stores declined last year as consumer spending lagged due to higher fuel prices and the economic recession. But many retailers and…
Managing the Crowded Cold Vault
When it comes to packaged beverages, what gets put on the shelves may not be what customers are looking for and, in this economy, that’s a situation retailers must avoid. Making wise, informed buying decisions is the crucial difference between boosting cooler sales and blowing a lot of hot air. From colas to energy drinks,…
Wild Ride Continues for Cigarettes
Once again, cigarettes dominated in-store sales, accounting for nearly one in every three dollars spent in stores, but cigarette gross margins continued to plummet, falling to 15.3%. These low cigarette margins dropped the category to third in terms of gross margin contribution (16%) behind foodservice (23.9%) and packaged beverages (16.6%) Margins promise to continue falling…