As a c-store owner, it's crucial to continually build your business, but it can be hard to find the time or figure out where to start. However, many independent business owners are unsure of the opportunities of internet resources, which wait just a few easy taps away.  To help c-store owners make use of the internet, especially those that may be new to this topic, we've created a C-Store Owner Online Resource Guide.

As experts on the government safety net program, SNAP (also known as food stamps), it’s important to us that retailers considering or currently participating in the program are aware of the facts that surround the way benefits are issued and eventually spent in their store.  While most store owners understand how valuable being a SNAP retailer is to their community and their own business success, there are some business owners that aren’t quite sure just how SNAP could impact them.  Some store...

Consumers continue to want a healthier, greener, and more organic lifestyle, so their switching up everything from their cars to the water they drink. Consumers still enjoy the bubbly fizz soda offers, but desire the health benefits of water. That’s why we’ve seen a spike in sales for sparkling water. Over the last five years, the sales of sparkling water have grown by 42%. The drink offers the fizz like a soda, but most have little to no added sugar or artificial ingredients that a soda does.

UPDATE: This year, Halloween spending is expected to reach $9 billion.  This number is second in 14 years only to last year’s record of $9.1 billion.  While $6.3 billion is expected to be spent on costumes, decorations, and greeting cards, there is still $2.6 billion dollars left to be spent on candy.  If you’re looking for ways to bring consumers into your store to spend their dollars this Halloween season, consider some of these trends. Halloween is just around the corner and retailers in all...

Fresh foods are one of the fastest growing trends in retail and grocery. As supermarkets have adapted to consumers’ evolving eating habits by offering more organic and healthier products, convenience stores have also started to make the change. Aside from healthier foods, they want fresh food, food that is prepared just before they purchase it. Selling fresher and more nutritional foods may seem like a challenge at first, but it is a small change that could have payback. 

Question: “Can I sell energy drinks?” -Ranny Gammo, Peck Market

Although technology has changed shopping to a mostly seamless digital experience for most of us, life is still not as convenient for all consumers. Especially consumers who are primarily low income, unbanked, or underbanked and left without access to online shopping or to debit cards. These also happen to be the consumers that visit c-stores the most.

Customers stop at convenience stores to get a variety of things: gas, food, coffee, soda, tobacco products, but have you ever thought about what products make your c-store so valuable? People don’t go to convenience stores to shop around like they would at a grocery store. They go in looking for a specific product. Often it’s an unplanned trip to buy something they’ve forgotten or needed suddenly.

We’ve written posts before about the importance of making sure that your store is ready to serve the specific customers in your area.  To do this, you should not only understand the interests of your customers, but also the challenges to seeing success at your store’s location.  While you can look at the trends in your city or even state, you should probably start by just looking at what’s happening in the region of the United States where you’re located.  In every region in the United States,...