2018 CONVENIENCE STORE REPORT ABOUT TRENDSOURCE TrendSource is a full-service market research and strategic consulting firm based in San Diego, California. We work with some of the top brands in the world to help grow their business, offer support for entering new markets, integrate new marketing materials, work to improve customer service standards, and validate promotions and previous work. Contact us about developing a custom plan for your convenience store or grocery. ABOUT THIS STUDY: The space convenience stores occupy in our minds is not proportionate to their utter ubiquity. Convenience stores are everywhere (literally everywherethats what makes them so convenient). Yet, in business and popular news, they do not occupy the same mindshare as bigger box retail and grocery locations. For all the talk of Amazons Whole Foods acquisition, we have yet to encounter similar news in the c-store world, and in a far more fragmented landscape of independent and codependent banners amidst national brands, it is not as facile to discuss either. So we set out to better understand the national c-store market, but not from a brand perspective. We are not here to make claims about whether customers prefer 7-11 to Store-24there are very few national convenience store chains, and regional peculiarities such as they are prohibit any truly in-depth study of brand level competition within this space. Instead, we are offering an earnest assessment of customers, and different clusters of like-minded customers, values, concerns, and paths to purchase. Segmenting for gender, generation, community (rural, urban, suburban), and frequency of visits, we are uncovering what certain customers already love about c-stores, what they would like to see improved, and what the next generation of convenience stores should look like. These insights should alert operators of opportunities for additional product offerings to increase market and basket share, ideal messaging to reach certain groups, and ways to incorporate technology to keep pace with the changes befalling retail writ large. Between January 17 and February 8, we surveyed 2,173 respondents about their preferences, priorities, and pain points when it comes to convenience store shopping. Meet us at register two for the results! 微信公众号 免费知识星球VIP知识星球 2 | 051015202530 05101520253035 CONVENIENT SHOPPING HOW OFTEN DO YOU MAKE PURCHASES AT A CONVENIENCE STORE? The clear majority (29.4%) of respondents make purchases at convenience stores roughly 2-3 times per week, with large swaths of respondents also indicating they make purchases once a week (17.4%) and daily (10.6%). Regardless of whether they live in rural or urban areas (self- reported) and regardless of their income levels, we found that people generally fit into this frequency pattern. Yet interesting things happen when we consider purchase frequency by gender and generational segmentations. Men are notably likelier to make frequent convenience store purchases than women. Some of this has to do with traditional gender roles ascribing domestic and public responsibilities differentlydespite all the social changes around us, men (probably both married and single) are likelier to gas the car up and grab the kids a quick snack than women are. But there is something bigger going on here, something that should be comparatively easy for convenience stores to address, and that is the question of safety. We already know that men move more freely thorough the 1.8% 10.1% 8.7% 9.5% 12.4% 17.4% 29.4% 10.6% Never Only when Im traveling A couple of times per year Once a month More than once a month Once a week 2-3 times per week Daily. (i.e. 7 or more times per week) OVERALL HOW OFTEN DO YOU MAKE PURCHASES AT A CONVENIENCE STORE? 1.3%1.9% 5.9% 7.4% 9.4% 11.8% 19.6% 33.3% 11.3% 11.3% 9.1% 9.6% 12.6% 16.8% 28.3% .10.5% BY GENDER world with less concern for their physical safety. Thus, women, in both rural and urban areas, are perhaps (appropriately) more cautious about venturing. This is backed up by a later question we asked in which we found that women were significantly more likely than men to select a location based on its safety (4.21 vs. 3.47). We will emphasize this in our key findings as well, but these numbers should prove both fascinating and instructive to convenience store operators who clearly should prioritize emphasizing their locations relative safety. Male Female NeverOnly when Im traveling A couple of times per year Once a month More than once a month Once a week2-3 times per week Daily. (i.e. 7 or more times per week) 0510152005101520253035 3 | GENERATIONS OF CONVENIENT SHOPPERS Millennial 1 Millennial 2 Generation X Baby Boomer Silent 2.4% 1.9% 1.2% 2.6% 0.0% 6.3% 8.8% 8.1% 9.8% 14.1% 7.3% 8.3%9.0% 11.8%11.3% 10.5% 14.8% 13.0% 5.3% 7.0% 30.7%30.0% 31.9% 26.3% 19.7% 20.2% 15.0% 16.5% 19.4% 12.7% 16.0% 11.0%11.2% 12.9% 15.5% 6.6% 10.2%9.0% 11.9% 19.7% Also, when we break this down by generat