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WHAT
CONVENIENCE STORE CUSTOMERS WANT
By Phil Eastham, Convenience Channel Controller, Ginsters Foods
The market
for convenience food grew by over 6% in 2009, twice as fast as the big
supermarkets. There were wide variations within this picture, and many
rural retailers will have done well to stand still.
Obviously
store location is key to any convenience offer, but the other main factors
for shoppers are:
Product
Availability 46%
Friendly Staff 33%
Value for Money 33%
Speed of Service 26%
Not having to go to the Supermarket 25%
The two ranges driving convenience store growth in 2009 were:
-
Fresh Food
- Food to Go
The
best ways to maximise business from Food to Go are:
- Create a breakfast offering - 20% people leave home without eating and buy
on the move – spending on average £2.86
- Coffee is a key driver in bringing people into a store
- Introduce a Meal Deal to offer value to your shoppers
- Stock the recognised brand leaders, in this market shoppers are looking
for quality and are prepared to pay a little more
The
RSA view
Food
to go can work in the most unlikely places. A shop we visited recently, in
a sleepy rural village, couldn’t see up before 10.30 because they would
be too busy serving breakfasts to workmen. When we got there all was revealed
– a building site with 30 new houses going up and builders keen for
the hot pies and bacon butties the shop was providing.
On three of these top five reasons listed in the research, local retailers
should be winning hands down. They really should be delivering friendly and
fast service, and as for not having to go to the supermarket – real
music to a small retailer’s ears. This is really worth thinking about
and if necessary acting upon. If these are the most important things to shoppers,
then focus on these areas.
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