The Evolving Back O ce: Digital Now Does It All

Total ready to drink beverage sales increased in convenience stores by 9.1% within the latest 52 weeks ending Aug. 28, 2021, according to NielsenIQ.

Energy drinks and sparkling waters, up 10% and 6% respectively, are the heartiest RTD beverage categories at Cubby’s convenience stores, which has 36 locations in Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota, said De Lone Wilson, the company’s president. He predicted that these two categories will continue their growth pattern through the end of this year.

“Especially in the energy drink category, there are new entrants that are capturing customer attention,” Wilson said.

Like Arnold, Wilson said trends in the packaged beverage realm may be skewed by the current prevalence of out-of-stocks. With an ever-increasing variety of fl avors available across the packaged beverage categories, retailers must keep a close eye on which ones consumers gravitate toward in their local markets. Straightforward fl avors across the RTD beverage universe generally sell best, Arnold reported. “We’re constantly trying new fl avors, but lemon-, lime- and berrybased fl avors are always the most popular.” CSD

fast facts

• New fl avors keep beverage sales growing. • Consumers are looking for more healthful options. • Flavored waters remain strong sellers in c-stores.

THE EVOLVING BACK OFFICE: DIGITAL

NOW DOES IT ALL

As the digital revolution reshapes the way retailers do business, convenience store chains large and small must still focus on the customer.

Thomas Mulloy • Senior Editor

There was a time when digitizing the back office for a retailer meant installing point-of-sale (POS) units to replace cash registers. Today, the term can include nearly the full scope of operations for a store — and a chain.

Art Sebastian, vice president of digital customer experience with Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey’s, which operates more than 2,300 stores across 16 Midwest states, explained that he looks at digital backoffice functions as creating efficiencies in three spaces, making for what he calls a connected store experience. One of those spaces is inventory management. “(Then) there are systems that allow us to serve our guests; that’s where point of sale fits in. And there are

systems that allow our teams to manage their careers, their schedules, their benefi ts, etc.,” he said. While the newer digital back-offi ce systems can handle a large variety of functions, the operations of the newer POS units are still fairly simple, according to Perry Kramer, managing partner with Bostonbased Retail Consulting Partners.

“They’ll have the basic punch in, punch out type of things,” he said. “They’ll have the basic loading for employees and securities so that the store manager can override (transactions), and these regular associates can do the normal ringing functionality.”

EFFICIENCY PAYS

By combining all of the functions on a digital platform, an operator’s effi ciency level gets a hefty boost. Research and advisory company Forrester Research found the cost savings can be signifi cant. Forrester compiles what it calls a Total Economic Impact Study for digital vendors.

For the retail space, Forrester examined how digital back-offi ce functions affected the effi ciency of a hypothetical retailer with 1,000 stores and 50 frontline employees at each store. The results were detailed in a recent National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) session, titled “Digitizing the Back Offi ce.” Over the course of three years, digital back-offi ce operations saved the hypothetical chain more than $30 million in staff optimization, employee turnover costs and savings in scheduling hours. The hypothetical company would even save nearly $1 million dollars in reduced paper and ink consumption costs. But Sebastian stressed that digital effi ciencies or any other enhancements all lead to the most important person in the retail space — the customer. The premise is the same, advised Sebastian. When you make your team members’ lives easier, you’re taking friction out of all the user experiences — anyone who touches the applications and systems. It all leads to a great guest experience.

“How do we take a good look at this, so we can make things go faster, so we can take friction out of the store, so we can create labor slack? Because we’re doing things better, faster, easier, and then ultimately delivering a better guest experience,” Sebastian said.

SMALL CHAIN OPTIONS

But Casey’s is one of the largest c-store chains in the U.S., with a foodservice offering so big that it qualifi es as the nation’s fi fth-largest pizza operation. What about smaller operators? Kramer said those retailers have options, too.

He explained that retailers who don’t have a complicated environment can usually fi nd a digital back -offi ce operation that is compatible with what they have in-store today.

“If you’ve got something that’s 10 years old, you’re probably going to have to replace it,” Kramer said. “But if you’ve got something that you’ve bought in the last fi ve years, in many cases a lot of these software vendors are building their software light enough or thin enough to run on that stuff.”

Today’s point-of-sale systems are easy for systems are easy for employees to operate employees to operate and offer a digital and offer a digital interface to help interface to help simplify transactions. simplify transactions.