PRESENTED BY:

Hello!

Welcome to the sixth edition of Always Be Convenient, the weekly newsletter for convenience leaders like you who are navigating this complicated, demanding, digital world we all call home.

And really that only begins to describe what it is like to be an operator today. You’ve got stores, inventory, employees, and customers, all coming together in less than 5,000 square feet of space.

Bricks and mortar alone is enough to overwhelm, and then you layer on the new expectations of a digitally-connected, always-on consumer armed with a supercomputer in their pocket and the ability to wield the entirety of the internet at their fingertips.

So what’s a c-store professional to do?

It’s possible to ignore it all. And you’ll be OK. At least for a little while. But this is the new world we live in, and it’s the world that up-and-coming generations are even more familiar with.

If you’re looking for lasting growth, digital must be part of your future.

Newsletter readers here are somewhat split. Many see themselves as digitally mature, while others are just starting or developing. This divide shows you’re neither too early or too late… yet.

Your commitment to this community – tackling the digital divide in convenience – shows you’re interested in being better, for today and for tomorrow, for the good of your customers. And that’s what will give you an edge as you continue to compete for sales day-to-day.

Speaking of getting better, will you help me with what you’d like to see more of in this newsletter? Take this quick poll to share your feedback.

Now on to the rest of the newsletter!

Conveniently,
Mike

A MESSAGE FROM CSTORE MOMENTUM

An exclusive event tailored for young leaders

CStoreMomentum is a catalyst for personal and professional acceleration, where young leaders converge to shape the future of convenience retail.

This unique gathering, organized by the National Advisory Group, the Young Executives Organization, and CStoreDecisions, is an experience designed to propel emerging leaders to new heights. Attendees can immerse themselves in engaging sessions, interactive workshops, and networking opportunities.

This year’s event will run September 18-20, 2024 (next week). It will be hosted by Yesway at the Texas Motor Speedway in Forth Worth, TX.

Learn more about CStore Momentum. And act fast if you want to register!

Working from big to small

Digital transformation is an expansive topic. It almost feels too tough to tackle when you reflect on its size and scale.

Digitizing a business, top to bottom, with the intent to make a transformative impact on the organization, simply seems too big to swallow.

But when you break things down, from one large aspirational goal to a sequence of smaller achievable events, then you gain the courage to proceed.

Digitizing convenience is a tall task when you consider all the areas it can touch. Front of house. Back of house. Customers. Employees. External interactions. Internal processes. The list goes on and on.

But again, when you break down the underlying functions and capabilities, you can begin to map a plan.

As I think about the main functions to address in a digital engagement model for convenience retail, there are four places I would focus:

• Digital Presence

• Omnichannel Marketing

• Unified Commerce

• Loyalty Experience

Each of these areas is worthy of a deep dive in their own right. The capability merely serves as a category. The larger body of work can be broken down and organized, enabling each item to be tackled independently, at pace, rather than all at once in an overwhelming fashion.

Take omnichannel marketing as an example. To have marketing messaging that reaches consumers across channels and devices, whenever they need it and wherever they are, brings much complexity.

You need systems, tools, content, creative, measurement, analysis, and more.

If you want to be everywhere your consumer may find you, the work is merely multiplied several times over. That’s the big version.

Before you get lost in every message for every channel and every need, you should start with a list of priorities. Prioritize the top customer need, choose a channel of focus, and then develop the messaging to fit.

Once you’ve deployed your work and can understand whether you’re hitting the mark, then you can consider expanding — to other needs or other channels.

That’s how you go from big to small.

And once you know where you are, then you can plot what comes next.