The convenience channel has undergone significant change in recent years, seeing the very definition of ‘convenience’ evolve and break out of traditional channels. Yet one basic truth remains when it comes to why people shop at c-stores - food and beverage are a leading driver of convenience trips.

In America, 13% of all snacks and 25% of all beverages are purchased through the c-store channel.¹ Last year, in-store revenue from sales of drinks, snacks, foodservice, and merchandise (not including fuel sales) reached $335.5 billion, representing nearly 40% of total c-store revenue and marking the 22nd consecutive year of record in-store sales.²

And the need for fast, easy, and high quality food and beverage options are driving innovation in convenience. Outlets beyond c-store are now evolving beyond traditional offerings to pioneer new and convenient ways to shop – rapid delivery services, new “grab-and-go’s” at grocery stores, and upgraded dollar store convenient offerings. 

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The more things change, the more some things remain the same. And some things become even more important. For a convenience channel to meet the minimum expectations of shoppers, it must continue to offer the fundamentals. Proprietary PepsiCo research finds that the main drivers of retailer choice in convenience are ease, shopping experience, and assortment. Last year, retailers made progress on improving shopper perceptions on core ease and assortment dimensions.⁶

What really drives retailer preference in truly differentiated ways, however, is the ability to deliver even more elevated versions of ease, experience, and assortment.

• Extraordinary ease takes in-and-out to the next level with self-checkout. Then it makes ease fully “phygital” by offering the ability to buy online and pick-up in store. (read our Phygital article)
• Extraordinary experiences mean being able to sit down and eat prepared food in-store then being rewarded with engaging loyalty programs.
• And extraordinary assortment calls for tailored, higher quality beverages and snacks, especially at the front-of-store where 61% of c-store trips include a checkout purchase.⁷

• C-store shoppers report that they’ve seen progress over the past year in creating more engaging loyalty programs which is critical for the channel as it increasingly competes with digitally native alternatives.

   

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  The stability of these core drivers over time implies a set of universal needs at the heart of choosing convenient shopping channels over others. But ease, experience, and assortment can be decomposed further into an even more insightful and strategically useful view of shopper needs based on a deeper understanding of what drives trips.

  Let’s take a look!

While shoppers initiate trips to c-stores for countless reasons, our proprietary PepsiCo C-Store Shopper Needs Segmentation reveals that 72% of all c-store trips can be broken down into seven fundamental trip-driving needs.⁹ We have found that these seven needs are specific and distinct while remaining broadly applicable and actionable. (All the data and insights that follow are derived from this study.)

Upbeat Errands

C-Store explorers on a mission to get things done

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When in Rome

The “might-as-well" crowd not originally there
for food & beverage

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For or With a Meal

Diners looking for something yummy

Before or Returning to Work

On task but looking for a break from the work day

Quick / Immediate Need

The “want it, gotta get it” crew on a single-minded mission

Stretch Break

Travelers on a journey making pitstops to unwind

Grab for Later

Thoughtful planners shopping for a later occasion

It’s important to note that while each of these shopper needs segments varies in size from 7% to 16% of c-store trip types, some of the smaller segments may be the mightiest due to larger basket sizes.

Now let’s focus on the two most valuable yet very different segments at more length.

Stretch Breaks and Grab for Later are maximally different on several dimensions from older vs. younger shoppers, unplanned vs. planned, all the way to sizes of products and moments of consumption. But they both represent high c-store value, especially in the food & beverage space.

Now, let’s break down these two segments even further, by looking at shopper behavior before and during these trips.

By understanding the needs at the heart of these different trips and shopper types, we can be far more intentional with the assortment and marketing tools we use as levers to better serve customers.

Stretch Break

Grab For Later

Of course, every shopper will display many of these needs at some point, engaging in many different trips. Conversely, no store serves just one need, but a constellation of needs in different mixes. Viewed together they reveal the hidden picture behind any given store’s mix of trips. 

Typical Roadside Travel C-Store

For example, looking at a typical roadside c-store serving primarily travelers, we can see that, as we may expect, it significantly over-indexes on Stretch Break (155 index). But it’s also the place where For or With a Meal shows up in even greater force (I49 index). If you’re looking for Grab for Later shoppers , on the other hand, it’s less likely you’ll find them here (70 index).

Typical Independent C-Store

Conversely, your typical “independent” c-store, like a bodega, is the place to Grab for Later (155 index). But less so for more “on the go” and “in between” occasions like rest stops, running errands, or popping in before or after work (all near or under 100 index).

Then again - and this is perhaps the most important point - the variation within a type of channel like “independent” can itself be very wide. Few c-store chains or individual stores are “typical” so an urban bodega near high-density office space vs. a suburban independent near a university might attract very different mixes of shopper needs.

We can realize the full power of this segmentation when we look at the relative mix of these seven shopper segments across real world stores. Combining our custom c-store shopper segmentation data with our proprietary database of consumer data from over 100 million households (ConsumerDNA) and insights from over 500,000 retail partners (StoreDNA) we can arrive at a higher resolution understanding of shopper needs across many different c-store locations.

We hope that this discussion has shed some light on the diversity of shopper needs driving c-store trips and the wide mix of different needs that combine to illuminate the bigger, more nuanced, and often hidden picture behind total trips and sales.

The best way to map out your own c-store needs across your stores or identify differences between stores is to reach out to your PepsiCo representative to start a conversation. We’re excited to offer you custom snapshots of your own c-stores’ shopper needs mix and partner with you to create strategic recommendations specifically tailored to their unique trip drivers.

We hope to hear from you soon!