A recent report found that convenience store executives are adopting new strategies – like ramping up fresh food offerings and embracing flexible, speedy checkout processes – to stay relevant and keep up with grocery and general merchandise retailers.
The study, conducted in September, surveyed 128 convenience retail executives in the U.S. It was conducted by Incisiv, an industry insights firm that helps retailers and brands navigate the changing retail buying journey, and Toshiba Commerce Solutions, a retail store technology company.
“While grocery and delivery trends continue to encroach on ‘convenience’ trends unifying in-store, online and delivery, convenience retailers see the need to innovate rapidly to compete and succeed in a competitive market to win consumers,” said Fredrik Carlegren, Toshiba’s VP of Marketing & Communications.
Key findings of the research include the following:
- 82% of c-stores lack a unified architecture across digital and physical commerce
- 72% of c-store executives say it is important to differentiate on higher quality fresh food, but only 32% are satisfied with their banner’s current offering
- 30% of c-stores are planning to increase in-store space for fresh food prep, and 25% for in-store dining
- 26% of c-stores plan to reduce space allocated to fixed checkout, and artificial intelligence or machine learning assisted self-checkout is set to outpace traditional self-checkout over the next 12-18 months.