COVER STORY
NAVIGATING THE ROAD TO RECOVERY
As more Americans begin to venture out again, c-stores can map out an improved customer journey for them By Renée M. Covino
AS MORE STATES AND local municipalities loosen restrictions, consumers are starting to step out again, and convenience stores have a great opportunity to attract them back. But things have changed since the masses shopped brick-and-mortar stores. And even though some consumers never abandoned their local convenience store during the height of the pandemic, they, too, are evolving alongside those trying to establish what a post-COVID shopping experience should deliver. So, what is recovery going to look like for the convenience channel — and how can it adapt to customers most effectively? Industry experts have many ideas regarding changed consumer wants/ needs, both at the pump and inside the store. Here are some of those visions, as told recently to Convenience Store News:
Consumers Want Safe When customers first return to stores, safety will be top of mind, according to Stefan Read, senior vice president of strategic advisory and strategy practice lead at Jackman, a “reinvention” company that has worked with such retailers as Duane Reade, Walgreens, US Foods, and Lululemon. “It will be important for retailers to communicate their safety efforts and provide the necessary protocols, such as sanitizer stations and contactless payment options, as a way to reassure customers,” Read said. The desire for clean and contactless
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stores will likely remain even after safety guidelines are no longer needed, echoed Samuel Mueller, CEO and co-founder of Scandit, a provider of barcode scanning, text recognition and object recognition solutions. C-stores should think about “making safety part of their branding,” and walking through their own stores to check out safety through the eyes of the shopper, which can provide insights such as recognizing narrow aisle locations where customers may feel uncomfortable walking too close to others, added Mark Delaney, retail industry principal at Zebra Technologies, an enterprise technology company. A structured way for retailers to know how many customers they have, their conversion rate, peak traffic times, if customers are wearing masks, if they are appropriately spaced, and how much room is available is through people flow management software, explained Nick Delyani, director of retail, North America for Xovis, which recently launched an integrated software as a service (SaaS) solution called FLOW. Utilizing such software is a way for retailers to keep employees and customers safer in these times, he said.
Consumers Want Connection After spending so much time in their homes, customers will be looking for connection with others more so than ever. “Retailers should be thinking about how to leverage their space to engage with customers differently to fulfill this need, rather than acting just as a place to transact,” Read suggested.
