Just the other day something happened to me that I thought I must share…

Quick shop

I had an experience with a store that demonstrates the essence of creating a successful experience in convenience retailing. The watchwords are: “customer service”. Continue reading →

Previously I wrote about airports and their new profit centres – providing passenger convenience.

My focus back then was on how airports are evolving from being a hub for travel to becoming a destination in themselves. This time, however, I’m focusing specifically on c-stores in airports.

But before I begin, I am going to reiterate the conclusion I ended with last time: Continue reading →

Business travel in most cases is similar whenever you have a journey to make: leaving home, taking the train to the airport, waiting at the airport… flying, arriving, taxi, meeting, taxi, waiting at the airport…flying, train, home. Aside from the endless meetings and travelling on buses, trains and taxis, the most time you spend is at the airport.

While this can be really boring, I realised over the last couple of years this ‘airport time’ is being used more and more efficiently.

A modern airport could be likened to a full service, 24/7 convenience store with all amenities that you would expect of a c-store… and more. Continue reading →

Recently I have been on a business trip to China. Just spending a couple days there I was able to see a true metropolis, Shanghai, with a population of over 23m and the largest city in the world. From there I travelled south west to the ‘smaller’ city of Kunming with ‘only’ approximately 6m inhabitants and then a further two hour car ride further south towards the border of Laos to a ‘really small’ city called Yuxi with ‘only’ 3m people living there… and, of course, I visited c-stores on every step of journey Continue reading →

When I think back to my childhood, and think about vending, I remember machines where you insert a coin, turn a knob and out comes a funny packet of chewing gum or a small gift…

Then, some years later, ‘really futuristic’ machines arrived: they could brew a cup of instant coffee, hot chocolate or chicken soup… luckily not at the same time, but one after another. I don’t know if it was the chicken soup taste or the ‘cool new machine’ itself that made the coffee so desired by customers. Nevertheless, that was the vending market a long time ago. Since then, a lot has happened in the market. The vending machine market has evolved and altered large parts of the convenience market and today vending is on the edge of change again. Continue reading →

With the third quarter of 2012 almost over, we will start thinking about all of those things that still have to be done this year and first thoughts will turn to what 2013 will bring. This may be the earliest 2012 review, publishing in September, but a lot has happened this year. This provides me with a good opportunity to look back and think about how retailing has accelerated; in so many ways. Continue reading →

I just returned from the annual NACS Global Forum in Sao Paulo, Brazil and got a very good impression on the opportunity for convenience retail in developing countries such as Brazil.

I admit, visiting Sao Paulo to attend a conference just for the weekend is crazy when you have travelled all the way from Europe.

Sao Paulo is a metropolis with 18m people and, if you want to see a fair bit of the city, it’s impossible to do over one weekend. Unfortunately, my schedule didn’t allow it but, thanks to the action-packed programme NACS had organised, I had the opportunity to see some really interesting c-stores. Continue reading →

Think of a retailer…a food retailer. It is one of the biggest chains and operates supermarkets and hypermarkets. It has a lot of experience in FMCG, expertise in fresh products and has developed a foodservice offer in its stores.

All of its logistics are run efficiently, its stores are clustered by shop-size under a couple of sub-brands and it enjoys nationwide distribution.

Then ask yourself, what could be next for this retailer? The answer: to enter the convenience market. Which is not such a bad idea, I think. The retailer has the experience, the logistics and a highly trained property department capable of finding the best store locations. Continue reading →

Two weeks ago I travelled to New York and, of course, visited some c-stores and foodservice providers. As a returning guest to the city, I wanted to check on a foodservice format that I discovered last year, just to see how it was doing.

To my surprise I found it had closed down just recently. I asked a few people what had happened and also did some web research to read blogs and comments.

The bottom line is simple: a concept, which is best in class in one place in the world, might just not be in another. Continue reading →