Since the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, it has steered the course of consumer trends with a heavy hand, advancing the adoption of technology while simultaneously altering food and beverage preferences and demands. Even as convenience store retailers rushed to adapt, food sales suffered at many c-stores. Convenience foodservice sales overall declined an estimated 8.6% in 2020,…
Flyers Energy Acquires Mansfield Energy Sites
Flyers Energy has acquired Fleet Express Commercial Fueling, the Ohio unattended “cardlock” fueling division of Mansfield Energy Corp. The locations—in and around Dayton, Ohio—will be added to Flyers Energy’s Quick Fuel offering on the CFN network. Flyers is actively acquiring commercial fueling companies that fit with their plan to grow nationwide. “This string of locations…
Loyalty Lessons
The first year of Casey’s Rewards customer loyalty program didn’t go according to plan. “We had a great January and February, and then COVID hit,” said Art Sebastian, vice president of digital experience for Casey’s General Stores, headquartered in Ankeny, Iowa. No one at that time could foresee the impact the novel coronavirus would unleash…
OTP & Vape Thrive Despite Obstacles
While flavor bans and supply disruptions caused logistical headaches for retailers in the tobacco category, demand for cigars, vape and modified risk tobacco products (MRTP) chugged along in 2020, lifted by pandemic stay-at-home orders and cross-product consumers. Tobacco as a category steamed along at a healthy 4.2% rise in dollar sales for the 52 weeks…
Coffee Considerations During COVID-19
When the COVID-19 virus first reared its ugly head in the U.S., reducing the number of places customers had to touch became job No. 1 for convenience store retailers. And, for many of them, that meant changing the way they dispensed self-serve coffee. To make matters more challenging, requirements often varied by location. One state…
Is E-Commerce Taking Over the World?
I’m bullish about the need for more digital transformation in retail. At the same time, I have to question if sensational headlines about e-commerce taking over the world actually reflect what happened last year. Investment analyst Elena Burger recently explored this issue in an article that I encourage everyone to read. In short: e-commerce results…
Love’s Offers Extra Pay to Employees Who Take the COVID-19 Vaccine
Love’s Travel Stops announced that it will pay its employees to voluntarily receive the COVID-19 vaccination. All employees are included: Love’s Truck Care and Speedco centers, alternative fuel provider Trillium, its commodity trading company Musket, the Gemini trucking fleet, its hotels and more. In doing so, Love’s becomes the first nationwide travel stop network to…
Alcoholic Beverage Boom
Alcoholic beverages provided one of few bright spots for c-store retailers last year, as customers flocked to convenience stores for large packs of beer and hard seltzer to help them weather lockdowns and social distancing rules. As customers looked to relieve the stress of the pandemic, many also treated themselves to wine or pre-mixed cocktails…
Love’s Plans to Add More Than 50 New Travel Stops in 2021
Love’s Travel Stops announced that it plans to open up to 50 travel stops and add more than 3,000 truck parking spots and 3,000 jobs in 2021. The announcement follows a challenging 2020 in which Love’s opened 38 new locations, added over 3,000 truck parking spaces and donated several million dollars to fight COVID-19, injustice…
Retail Fuel Evolution Lumbers Forward
In response to COVID-19, 2020 saw the convenience industry make quick adjustments to how it keeps and attracts customers. With electric-vehicle charger (EVC) numbers on the rise, increased vehicle efficiency, demands for decreased emissions and new competition, that experience may turn out to be a primer for the changes to come. John Eichberger, president of…