Dollar Stores, Grocery Stores, C-store Garner Restaurant Consumers

 

Success does leave clues, those who pick them up win, those that do not loose.  Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® says, “watch what customer do, where they shop you will pick up all of the success clues you need to drive your business forward.

Travel app GasBuddy and convenience retail software provider Professional Datasolutions Inc. (PDI) last week issued their first joint report that examines how the pandemic has influenced shopping behavior in the $650 billion fuel and convenience industry.

So, the “Buddy Up: C-Store Shopper Insights” report combines GasBuddy consumer survey data from more than 15,000 convenience retail consumers across all key U.S. geographic locations and PDI consumer-buying data from 5,500 mid to large-size convenience retail sites across all key U.S. geographic locations from its Insight Cloud solution. The inaugural report’s focus, The New Pandemic Consumer, utilizes this data to identify changes in c-store shopping habits from 2020 to 2021.

Key Findings

·         C-store shoppers have grown over 4% in the past year compared to 5% growth in grocery and 6% in dollar stores.

·         Younger, female shoppers make up a majority of the c-store customer base.

·         75% of consumers are shopping for fuel in 2021, up from 68% saying so in 2020.

·         86% of respondents are paying close attention to retailers’ commitment to the safety of their employees.

If you are a restaurant chain that has lost customer you now know where they have gone.  Looking for younger female shoppers?  Guess what they are on the move.  Does your restaurant brand look more like 1995, than 2022 or yesterday vs today? Brands must be dynamic not static.

Battle for Share of Stomach

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, stated, “By integrating GasBuddy’s vast consumer data insights with PDI’s already robust capabilities, it provides a more comprehensive view of the fuel and convenience retail industry,” ... “This report highlights how our industry is ripe for growth as the pandemic has caused consumers to value convenience more than ever. Brands that are optimizing for this new breed of shopper — like providing delivery services and special offers on food or gasoline, and focusing on cleanliness — are seeing more transactions and customer loyalty.”

In case you did not know, PDI acquired GasBuddy in April 2021, furthering innovation across the spectrum from wholesale to retail, from canopy to store. The “Buddy Up: C-Store Shopper Insights” report is the first of a series of quarterly joint reports, combining PDI transactional data with GasBuddy consumer survey responses.

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may have the clue you need to propel your continued success.