Convenience Directions

fast facts:

• Keep the digital prepaid experience simple. • Stay on top of customer preferences as well as successful prepaid programs of other retailers. • Subscription or prepay/pick-up in-store capabilities can help make your store a destination for everyday purchases like food and beverages.

The obstacle with including fuel, though, is that those suppliers already have their own loyalty programs and apps. Plus, Soapy Joe’s offers different fuel brands across its locations. It can be difficult integrating prepaid services to be compatible across different point-of-purchase hardware and software.

“We’ve got Chevron, ARCO, Mobil, and they’re all on different point-of-sale (POS) systems, which is discrete from our car wash POS system,” Mauler explained. “So as soon as we can figure out that technology layer, it’s something that we want to do.”

Whether its offering the ability to order and prepay via a mobile app before collecting items at the store, or adding prepaid coffee or other subscriptions, savvy retailers are looking for ways to ensure they’re part of their customers’ daily routine.

Looking to the future, c-stores would be wise to consider adding prepaid capabilities around everyday purchases, including food and beverage purchases, if they haven’t already. To find success with prepaid services, it’s imperative that a retail operator knows what its regular customers want. Soapy Joe’s does an annual survey of its Wash Club members to stay on top of their preferences.

Raycroft advised c-stores to also stay on top of what other retailers are doing, especially those that have shown the greatest success with prepaid offerings. Right now, Starbucks is the gold standard, where customers can order and pay ahead for beverages and food. By incorporating prepaid capabilities, convenience stores can capture some of that market that stops at Starbucks several days a week because it’s on their daily route. That’s a great opportunity for convenience stores with strong coffee programs or quality breakfast programs, Raycroft said. “They should be trying to compete with those everyday spend vendors or everyday spend merchants to get attention from a customer perspective.” CSD

CONNECTING WITH HISPANIC SHOPPERS

Retail media networks join brands and Hispanic shoppers at convenience stores.

Suzy Silliman • NRS

The Hispanic shopper is a critical buying group for both retailers and brands in the convenience channel.

As the fastest-growing demographic group in America, and with a gross domestic product greater than $2.6 trillion, it is important for convenience retailers to attract and retain the Hispanic shopper, and it is crucial for brands to build awareness, equity and trust with this key customer segment.

Marketing to the Hispanic shopper should not be an afterthought or a checkbox, but should be a primary requirement of overall marketing and convenience channel strategies.

NielsenIQ’s “La Oportunidad Latinx: Cultural Currency and the Consumer Journey” reported that Hispanics prefer shopping convenience to other retail channels ~50% more than the average shopper for food purchases and ~180% more than the average shopper for nonfood purchases.

Convenience stores, which are often bodegas or other independently owned neighborhood stores, represent not just convenience, but also community to the Hispanic shopper — an important factor to keep in mind.

The NielsenIQ study also cited that the Hispanic shopper is more open than the general population in considering information consumed in-store to create product attention across every major category, including health and personal care items, food, non-food and beverages.

GROWING ENGAGEMENT

Retail media networks, which are increasing in popularity across the convenience channel, have become a significant vehicle for both the brand and the retailer to inform and engage with the Hispanic shopper.

In fact, these in-store advertising networks should be part of every brand’s Hispanic marketing mix. While social and digital platforms are top of mind for most Hispanic marketing campaigns, overlooking convenience channel place-based media is a mistake.

These networks present an opportunity to engage with the Hispanic shopper: • within their community, • in a venue that they trust, • multiple times a week if not a day, • and can immediately influence a brick-andmortar purchase decisions across a wide variety of categories.

The venue alone does not guarantee success, however. The messaging or campaign creative needs to be thoughtful and deliberate, including: • comes across as authentic, • demonstrates that the brand understands the Hispanic shopper and their heritage and culture, • is eye-catching with vibrant visuals.

Additionally, Hispanics are more likely than non-Hispanics to be influenced by a celebrity spokesperson who represents their culture and values.

These suggested practices apply regardless of the medium and fall to the brand or agency to consider within their creative.

Advertising through retail networks like National Retail Solutions (NRS Digital Media) that has screens in over 12,000 independently owned bodegas and convenience stores also offers a higher spend efficiency than other outof-home vehicles because NRS can:

“The buying power of the Hispanic shopper will continue to grow and outpace other demographic segments. Getting this ‘right’ now is a critical call to action. “

retail®

• target screens based on specifi c in-store, geographic and demographic conditions, • assure an ad is served only on screens where brand is sold, • optimize a campaign to specifi c daypart to heavy up impressions during peak selling periods, • leverage point-of-sale scanner data from those same stores to measure campaign effectiveness.

Retailers offering in-store media networks need to partner with brands in this way to fi rst assure the stores are carrying the right products, second to deliver the right messaging at the right time to the Hispanic shopper, and lastly provide measurement against these campaigns to understand their impact and test and learn where refi nement is necessary.

The buying power of the Hispanic shopper will continue to grow and outpace other demographic segments. Getting this “right” now is a critical call to action.

Not reaching and authentically engaging with the Hispanic shopper through all infl uential touchpoints across their purchase journey is a missed opportunity for today, but more importantly can have a long-term impact on this growing and valuable demographic’s relationship with any given brand.

Suzy Silliman is senior vice president of data strategy and sales with National Retail Solutions (NRS). At NRS, Silliman works with manufacturers, distributors and retailers to harness data-based learnings from a robust and representative inner-city independent retailer network and urban multicultural shopperbase to identify profi table growth opportunities and measure return on existing retail execution and marketing investments.

Car Washes Innovate to Keep Sales Bubbling

From subscriptions and free add-on services to e ciency and speed, car washes innovate to woo customers in a changed landscape.

Erin Del Conte • Executive Editor

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in spring of 2020, car wash sales took a hit as various regions instituted lockdowns and customers took fewer trips, but car wash subscriptions helped some retailers hold onto sales. Now, as more customers return to life as usual, retailers are eying the weather, fuel sales and economic outlook to inform expectations on fall car wash sales.