PRESENTED BY:

Hello!

Welcome to the 7th edition of Always Be Convenient, a weekly newsletter for the industry tackling the toughest job we have: being convenient.

If you’ve been with me for a while, we’ve covered some great ground together thus far. We’ve talked about consumers who are digital by default, how to decide what to digitize, and an outlook on the future.

What you’ll quickly find in this industry is that being convenient never goes out of style. Whether you’ve got a big store, a small store, branded fuel, or a foodservice program, convenience is always key.

And when I talk about convenience and what it means to consumers, the currency of convenience is time. It’s less time to get what I want. It’s time saved from going elsewhere. It’s time I get back to use how I want.

Time saved is time gained. That’s something worth paying for.

Conveniently,
Mike

P.S. If you have time to spare, I’d love to have you take this one-question survey. I’m looking for reader feedback about the newsletter.

A MESSAGE FROM NEXCHAPTER

Advising the convenience retail ecosystem

NexChapter is a strategic advisory firm to retailers, CPGs, and technology platforms. Each day they partner with clients to help them reach their business goals.

Whether you’re just beginning in your digital journey or are seeking guidance to help optimize what you’ve got, NexChapter is dedicated to guiding clients toward sustainable success in digital and beyond.

If you’ve been tasked with tackling what’s next for your brand, trust the expert team of former retailer operators at NexChapter to help support you.

Contact NexChapter to learn more about how they can help.

Time is money

We each have the same 24 hours in a day, regardless of your economic status, your education, or your ethnicity.

What we choose to do with those hours is where people are different. And many are willing to pay to use those hours where they prefer.

Many processes in our stores have been optimized for time. Pay at the pump. Grab and go meals. Ice-cold beverages. Portioned sweets and treats.

The less time a consumer has to spend — in their mind — the better.

And while we as convenience leaders ought to be intrinsically motivated to optimize for the customer’s time, there are business benefits as well.

When you merchandise three fresh-baked cookies in a single package at the counter, everyone wins.

The customer is inspired to buy (impulse) and can quickly grab a convenient package, without having to navigate the bakery case with tissue paper or tongs.

The retailer wins because they’ve instantly added three units to the transaction. Even with a promotion, they’re making more gross margin dollars than selling one cookie alone.

Even the bakery supplier wins, as more cookies sold means more ingredients utilized and more supplies needed to replenish.

It started with making things more convenient for the customer, so they could save time. It meant simplifying the purchase experience so that a decision could be made in an instant. It resulted in streamlining the employee’s make process, saving both time and materials for the business.

All this just from thinking about time and how to use it.

Can you think of other ways you could apply this same practice in your business?

Take some time and you might be surprised with what you dream up.