Convenience stores - modern classic

The article makes a summary of the features of convenience stores that make this commercial format sustainable to the changes that accompany the development of the consumer market in the country and worldwide. A critical review has been made of the state of the consumer goods market and the place where the convenience commercial format stands. Some of the possible directions for future development and format improvement are drawn, mainly with regard to the resources and instruments of commercial management

Power Law of Customers' Expenditures in Convenience Stores

In a convenience store chain, a tail of the cumulative density function of the expenditure of a person during a single shopping trip follows a power law with an exponent of -2.5. The exponent is independent of the location of the store, the shopper's age, the day of week, and the time of day.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Journal of the Physical Society of Japan Vol.77No.

BATCH PICKING CONVENIENCE STORES AND DELIVERING CARTS

Agribusiness,

New trends in convenience stores

In the last few decades, several innovations appeared that completely transformed the concept of convenience all around the world. In Portugal, a country where convenience stores and gas stations exist side by side, the propagation of electric cars can quickly change what convenience means for the Portuguese customers – it is expected that these places become unnecessary if they do not adapt to new trends. Several questions arise: How can one engage customers that will now spend around 10/15 minutes waiting for their cars to charge? How can these stores become true entertainment centres instead of being just “places to buy gas”? How can managers prevent that these stores become “obsoletes”? And how can new trends (such as hybrid stores, “retailtainment” and interactive screens) impact Portuguese customers and their decision on where to shop? To try and answer even more questions, this project was developed in a joint effort between the author, Marketing Future Cast Lab and Galp. With the main purpose of studying the influence of future trends on Portuguese convenience stores, an extensive literature review and benchmark analysis phase was started. The most relevant trends were then used as a basis to create new concepts and innovative ideas while posterior testing (both quantitative and qualitative) validated/excluded them. By combining the knowledge obtained from the literature review, the feedback from the stakeholders of the project and the insights from the chosen methodologies, it was possible to conclude that there exists a serious possibility of a breakthrough in this sector through a new, perception-changing positioning on what is a convenience store. The focus should be, namely, on New Assortments (e.g. food and vending machines), Store-in-Store concepts (e.g. fresh food stations), Partnerships with recognized brands and investment on Digital/Technology. In the final remarks, managers are advised to acknowledge the vital need of accepting and implementing these trends, never losing focus with the fact that the only constant is change.Nas últimas décadas, surgiram diversas inovações que revolucionaram o conceito de conveniência por todo o mundo. Em Portugal, um país onde lojas de conveniência e postos de abastecimento surgem lado a lado, a disseminação de carros elétricos pode rapidamente alterar o que é a conveniência para os portugueses – é expectável que estes locais se tornem desnecessários caso não se adaptem a novas tendências e formas de consumo. Surgem diversas questões: Como entusiasmar pessoas que passam, agora, 10/15 minutos à espera que o seu carro carregue? Como podem estas lojas tornar-se centros de entretenimento e experiências ao invés de serem apenas locais para a compra de gasolina? Como prevenir que se tornem obsoletas? E como podem novas tendências (tais como lojas híbridas, retailtainment e ecrãs interativos) impactar os consumidores portugueses e as suas decisões de escolha de locais de compra? De forma a responder a estas e mais perguntas, este projeto foi desenvolvido entre o autor, o Marketing Future Cast Lab e a Galp. Com um principal foco no estudo da influência das novas tendências nas lojas de conveniência portuguesas, uma profunda revisão literária e análise de benchmark foi efetuada. As tendências mais relevantes foram, então, utilizadas como base para a criação de conceitos e ideias inovadoras que foram posteriormente testadas (quantitativamente e qualitativamente) e consequentemente validadas ou excluídas. Ao juntar o conhecimento obtido pela revisão literária com o feedback recebido pelos stakeholders do projeto e com os insights gerados pelas metodologias escolhidas, foi possível concluir que existe uma forte possibilidade de alteração do paradigma deste sector através de um reposicionamento assente na mudança da perceção dos clientes acerca do objetivo das lojas de conveniência. O foco deve estar, também, na gestão de sortido (como comida e máquinas de venda automática), no conceito loja dentro de loja (estações de comida), em parcerias com marcas conhecidas e no investimento na vertente digital e tecnológica da marca. Nas conclusões finais, sugere-se à Galp que reconheça a necessidade de aceitar e implementar estas novas tendências, nunca perdendo a noção de que a única constante é a mudança

Investigating consumer expectations of convenience store attributes in emerging markets: Evidence in Chile

Convenience stores (c-stores) constitute a successful format in developed markets such as North America and Europe, but there is scant research in the retailing literature. Even less is known about convenience store behavior in emerging markets. This study attempts to provide a better understanding of consumer expectations regarding convenience stores in a Latin American context. Interviews were held with Chilean consumers to identify salient convenience store attributes. Further, a survey was applied to 400 consumers and results show that the salient attributes for Chilean consumers are related to the access dimension of convenience such as access to the store, parking facilities and hours of operation

CUSTOMER ANALYSIS AND MARKET STRATEGY - SUPERMARKETS VS. CONVENIENCE STORES

Consumer/Household Economics,

Food Access and Food Security – An Empirical Analysis

This paper analyzes the effect of access to different types of food outlets on households’ food insecurity levels. Two years (2004 and 2005) of Current Population Survey – Food Security Supplement data are matched with MSA-level data on store counts of Wal-Mart Supercenters, small food stores (small grocery stores and convenience stores), medium and large grocery stores, and convenience stores associated with gas stations. Endogeneity of food stores’ location is accounted for to eliminate spurious correlation between households’ food security status and food access. Preliminary results indicate that, before accounting for endogeneity bias, the presence of Wal-Mart supercenters appears to be associated to higher levels of households’ food insecurity, while the presence of other food stores is associated with lower levels. After eliminating spurious correlation, only the presence of small food stores appears helping to reduce food insecurity (across measures of food insecurity and data samples) while the presence of gas convenience stores is associated with higher likelihoods of experiencing food insecurity. The presence of Wal-Mart supercenters and that of medium and large grocery stores have little to no impact on the likelihood of a household being food insecure (the first showing only weak evidence of a mitigating effect, the second, instead, showing weak evidence of a magnifying effect).Food Security, Food Access, 2-Stage Residual Inclusion, Wal-Mart, Convenience Stores, Grocery Stores, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Security and Poverty, Industrial Organization, Q18, L81, P46,

Pareto law of the expenditure of a person in convenience stores

We study the statistical laws of the expenditure of a person in convenience stores by analysing around 100 million receipts. The density function of expenditure exhibits a fat tail that follows a power law. We observe the Pareto principle where both the top 25% and 2% of the customers account for 80% and 25% of the store's sales, respectively. Using the Lorenz curve, the Gini coefficient is estimated to be 0.70; this implies a strong economic inequality.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings of APFA

PLANNING NEW FACILITIES FOR MAXIMUM PRODUCTIVITY IN SERVICING CONVENIENCE STORES

Examines the question of warehousing merchandise that Wawa sells in its stores and presents the results of an in-depth study on this subject.Agribusiness,

Designed for Disease: The Link Between Local Food Environments and Obesity and Diabetes

Examines the link between a community's retail food environment -- the ratio of fast-food outlets and convenience stores to grocery stores and produce vendors, with income level as a factor -- and the prevalence of adult obesity and diabetes