Beverages & Cold Vault
From beer and adult to energy drinks, juices, iced tea, bottled water, enhanced water and soda, convenience stores offer a dazzling array of cold beverages aimed at serving today’s on-the-go convenience store customers. More importantly, the packaged beverage category is an industry catalyst spurring sales of salty snacks, baked goods and foodservice items making it one of the most important convenience store industry categories. This section tracks beverage category trends in U.S. convenience stores to ensure retailers are armed with the latest information available to help them market and merchandise the cold vault.
Dispensing Variety and Value
When it comes to dispensed beverages, customers are still looking for new and unique products that provide them with instant gratification. By John Lofstock, Editor. Dispensed cold and frozen beverages are proving to be not just popular year-round products—sales are strong and getting stronger as summer approaches—but excellent tools for driving traffic through promotions and [...]
Healthy Trends Extending to the Cold Vault
New products and core beverages will always drive cold vault sales. So when is the right time—and how often does that right time come—for category managers to reset them? “We do cold vault resets twice a year, which means we’re making fairly minor adjustments all the time,” said Richard Ginther, category manager for Kum & [...]
Beer Bounces Back
It’s always nice when a general statistical look at an industry can be confirmed locally, and that is the case with convenience store beer sales as 2011 closes. The Beer Institute confirms that the convenience channel is one of the most important for beer. The category accounts for 30% of total U.S. industry volume. A [...]
Solid Growth Projections for Bottled Water and Sports Drinks
Water continues to briskly flow into and out of convenience stores. The key for retailers is to cut through the clutter and put together the most profitable set possible. Bottled water volume overall grew a little over 4% in 2011, according to preliminary tracking figures from the Beverage Marking Corp. (BMC). The single-serve retail PET [...]
Anheuser-Busch Announces Personnel Moves
Anheuser-Busch has announced personnel changes in its National Retail Sales organization, led by Chris Williams, vice president NRS. Effective April 2, 2012 Manny Zayas will become the vice president and team lead, Walmart, Sam’s Club and Walmart International. Zayas joined the organization last year as vice president of convenience and successfully merged the c-store and [...]
Energy Shot Sales Expect to Grow in 2012
Energy shots showed remarkable growth in 2011 and are on the same meteoric rise that energy drinks experienced four years ago, but they appeal to a different demographic. That was the uplifting news in a 2011 report on energy shots from Chicago-based research firm Mintel International. For example, the largest consumer group of 5-hour Energy, [...]
Customers Energized About Energy Drinks
The energy drink market has been on an upward growth trajectory since 2010 and with the improvement in the economy is expected to continue on this positive growth path, according to Chicago-based research firm Mintel International. Energy drink sales were up about 16% in 2011 in convenience stores, as well as up about 16% across [...]
Customers Crave Premium and Value-Priced Teas
As customers seek more healthful beverages options, look for robust tea sales in 2012 and beyond. Packaged Facts projected that the retail tea market is set to grow from approximately 6.6% in 2012 to 8.7% in 2014, reaching $8.3 billion in that year. Tea was up 5.1% in 2011, according to Chicago-based research firm Mintel [...]
Milk Starts its Rebound at Retail
Look for a rise in consumer demand for milk, and an increased interest in flavored products in 2012. “We see flavors, particularly chocolate milk, as a key opportunity at convenience stores in 2012,” said Vivien Godfrey, CEO, MilkPEP. “Convenience stores are really over indexed in terms of flavored milk, so of all milk sold in [...]
Coffee Consumption Surging
One in four coffee drinkers are now choosing gourmet products daily as younger consumers embrace upscale brews. By John Lofstock, Editor. Coffee consumption tracks strong and steady, according to the National Coffee Association’s (NCA) National Coffee Drinking Trends, with sales data suggesting a solid footing for future growth. Rebounding youth consumption, strong gourmet allegiance and [...]
Building Bottled Water Sales
New products and core beverages will always drive cold vault sales. Retailers have to know how to market them effectively to maximize profitability. By Howard Riell, Associate Editor. Bottled water sales continue to rise steadily, which is good news for overall packaged beverage sales in convenience stores. NACS reported recently that in the wake of [...]
Boosting Energy Sales
Although some c-store operators admit to being worried about regulators turning their focus toward energy products, many believe the category has at least another year of strong growth ahead. By Howard Riell, Associate Editor. Sales of energy shots are soaring despite the lingering recession. New products, flavors and marketing messages are making it one of [...]
Building Better Beer Sales
While many trends impact the beer category, the one that will most directly influence how marketers do business is the continued demand for more choices by the consumer. By Joe Bush, Contributing Editor. It’s been two years since Walgreens jumped back into the beer and wine business, and at least three convenience store operators in [...]
Capitalizing on Coffee Trends
Hot beverages anchor the industry’s foodservice offering, but the category is also a top in-store destination and among the most profitable. By Howard Riell, Associate Editor. Numbers don’t lie–and when it comes to consumers and coffee, they show a category poised for even greater growth in the months ahead.Coffee consumption among consumers aged 18-29 [...]
Customers Take Coffee Personally
Convenience stores are expanding their brew programs and condiment offerings, allowing guests to customize each cup. By Heather Henstock, Contributing Editor. Jerry Weiner watched in awe as a customer crafted coffee to her specification at a Rutter’s Farm Store. She combined three coffee varieties in her cup and added at least five different creamer flavors [...]
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