PRESENTED BY:

Hello!

Welcome to the third edition of Always Be Convenient, a newsletter helping bridge the digital divide in the c-store industry.

You know that convenience must be convenient, and that digital is helping drive new ways of delivering that. But not every application of digital may be right for you and your business. You have to understand the why.

This week I’ve been thinking more deeply about this — the why — especially having come off a great event in California where retailers shared what they’ve been doing with digital. The same theme was also addressed in a webinar I participated in recently. I hope you’ll give it a listen (link down below).

Speaking of listening: did you know you can listen to this email? Hit the ‘Listen Online’ link in the header to visit the Always Be Convenient website. From there you should see an audio player right at the top of the page. Would love to hear your feedback on this.

New folks are finding this newsletter every week, by the way. Thanks for coming back again. I’m excited to bring it to you.

Conveniently,
Mike

A MESSAGE FROM SHEP DIGITAL SOLUTIONS

The all-in-one platform for store-based digital content

When it comes to controlling digital content across your stores, you want it to be simple. The challenge is that with so many individual players – from the forecourt to inside the store – synchronizing those systems seems nearly impossible. But omnichannel retailers need omnichannel solutions. And that’s where Shep Digital Solutions fits in.

Shep is an all-in-one digital content management platform that can power every digital surface across your store. Shep connects to each of your digital displays, including fuel dispensers and in-store screens, to ensure every touchpoint is working for you.

Are you ready to take control of the digital experience at your stores?

C-store chains across the country are discovering there’s a better way. Shep’s proprietary technology is enabling omnichannel retail media networks that drive sales, grow basket sizes, and increase profitability.

See how Shep can help you.

Find the right opportunities

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Have you ever heard that saying before? The same can be true for digitization, if you let it.

As I’ve worked in digital roles, the playbook has felt largely the same. Digitize the process, enable new capabilities, and drive growth in pursuit of the goals.

I’m oversimplifying it, of course, but I imagine you know what I mean. Take a situation that has no digital, then add some digital into the mix!

Digital becomes the fix because digital is new. If it is new, it must be better. Right?

Many people default to thinking that new means better. Or that digital is better than analog, simply because time has passed. And thus digitizing anything should automatically lead to an improved experience and business success.

What I can tell you is that dealing in ultimatums is never a good idea.

If you digitize a bad process, it is still a bad process. It’s just been digitized.

When you add digital capabilities to a situation, but don’t take the time to improve the experience as a result, you’re no better off than you were before.

It reminds me of another saying I’ve heard over the years; I like this version from Gary Vaynerchuk the best: “The best marketing in the world can't fix a bad product.”

No amount of digital can solve for not having the right products, not having a presentable store, or not being convenient for your customers.

You can have a loyalty program, a mobile app, and be delivering orders through a marketplace — all things that are well and good — but have them drive no value for your company if they don’t deliver on the promise your brand makes to your customers.

The easy path of digital is tempting for companies to consider. They’ve been to the conferences, watched the webinars, or read the articles. All signs point to digital as the thing that will save them. Though it’s the very application of digital and the way you operationalize it inside your business that matters most.

As you look at the opportunities in front of you, including those where digital can make a difference, carefully consider how you’ll approach them.

You can bring digital to any situation, but every situation may not be suited for digital. Or at least maybe not in its current form.

Examine each idea from the point of view of your customer, asking how digital will impact the experience — for better or worse — and be honest about it.

Digital is convenient. Unless you’ve made it inconvenient.