As stay-at-home advisories swept across the country, consumers turned to convenience stores for quick fill-in trips between stock-ups at mass merchants and wholesale clubs. In addition to the usual alcoholic beverages and tobacco products, shoppers hunted for dairy products, pantry staples and paper goods, and convenience retailers doubled down on communication efforts to connect with customers and their employees.

During the NACS State of the Industry (SOI) Virtual Experience, Caitlyn Battaglia, associate client director with Nielsen, explored how the pandemic impacted consumers and how convenience retailers responded in the session, How Coronavirus Is Reshaping Consumer Demands for Convenience. Battaglia shared Nielsen data on week-over-week growth for six top NACS SOI categories: cigarettes, packaged beverages, beer, other tobacco products, candy and salty snacks, from the week of February 22 to the week of March 21.

Bigger Package Sizes

Consumers in the “restricted living” weeks in March made fewer trips but bought larger quantities, especially of beer and packaged beverages. “For both beer and packaged beverages, larger pack sizes are starting to become even more important as prepared pantries begin to dwindle when it comes to supplies,” Battaglia said. Beer and many subcategories of tobacco saw significant increases in sales, particularly premium brands.

Center Store Growth

“We’re seeing the largest percent change in terms of dollar growth from that pantry preparation week of February 29 through our most recent week of March 21. Consumers are looking to the convenience channel to fill in things like eggs or laundry care,” Battaglia pointed out. Sales of paper, plastic and foil products, for instance, surged more than 230% in the week of March 21, compared with the week of February 29, and sales of eggs jumped more than 140%. Center-store categories traditionally account for a small proportion of c-store sales.

Who would have thought people would be coming to Casey’s to see if we had toilet paper?

Battaglia said this may signal the opportunity for c-stores to grow the center-store categories as U.S. consumers shift into the recovery phase.

Next Move

Use innovation and technology to connect with community. “Leverage your online presence to ensure that you’re staying top of mind with your consumers,” she advised. “Keep consumers up to date on the things that you’re doing, the products that you’re offering, and the ways that you’re interacting with your community.”

Resolve bottlenecks in supply. Manage stock levels to better prepare for tomorrow not only in core categories but also in center store categories, she said. “It will be really important to ready your supply chains for living a new normal.”

Take a close look at your foodservice supply chain and work with your vendor partners to see if you need to adjust your offerings to account for customers who might not be leaving their homes as often, are looking for more health-minded or safety-oriented packaging or want easier eat-at-home meal options.

Tell Your Story in a Crisis

Because the novel coronavirus has disrupted everything, communicating with customers and team members has never been more important. Jeff Lenard, NACS vice president of strategic industry initiatives, was joined by Chris Jones, senior vice president and CMO for Casey’s General Stores; Nick Ruffner, public relations manager with Sheetz; and Stephanie Sikorski, NACS vice president of marketing and executive director of the NACS Foundation, to address the new challenges for convenience retailers during the session, Pivoting to Meet Communication Expectations in a New Normal.

Lenard asked the panelists to consider how convenience has changed and what the industry might need to look at as the nation evolves during the pandemic. “What we are really focused on at Sheetz right now is leading with our values, that we are community connected,” Ruffner said. “We are working with our store teams and helping them create safe environments in our stores, while also getting ready to welcome [customers] back.”

Customers’ needs have changed, driving a shift from immediate consumption to take-home consumption, and they’re looking for products they wouldn’t typically buy at a c-store. “Who would have thought that people would be coming to a Casey’s general store to see if we had toilet paper in stock?” Jones said.

One way Sheetz has pivoted is to focus on digital efforts, especially on its new Scan and Go app, which rolled out to all 600 of its stores and allows customers to order food and pay for purchases via their smartphones. “We want our store team members to interact with our customers because we pride ourselves on totally focusing on those customers. But if we can limit the physical interaction for now, then I think, that’s a win-win for everybody,” Ruffner said. The c-store chain also introduced curbside delivery.

As for messaging, now is not the time to “pick a new path for your brand,” Jones said. “It helps to have been consistent leading up to this period. And it helps to continue to be consistent and authentic during this period.” Casey’s messaging (in place before the outbreak of COVID-19) is “we’re about being here for good, which means doing good in the community … especially where we have over 1,000 stores that are in towns of 5,000 people or less. That role hasn’t changed,” Jones said.

Sikorski agreed. “At the end of the day, it comes down to being authentic. And consumers can feel that out more than ever right now.” Sikorski shared that the NACS Foundation uses #conveniencecares on social media to amplify positive messages about how c-stores are open and serving their communities. Casey’s and Sheetz are sharing positive feedback from their customers with their team members at the store level. “We have store teams that are working in a really challenging environment right now,” Ruffner said. “And we can’t communicate with them enough.”

Candid Talk

Charlie McIlvaine, chairman/CEO, Coen Markets Inc., and Chuck Maggelet, chief adventure guide, Maverik Inc., joined Britt Brewer, marketing manager at NACS, to share what their companies and leadership teams learned in the early days of the pandemic, and how they are coping with the uncertainty facing us all.

“It’s important everybody has a plan, and the plan has to be something that is not strict, and we need to be able to pivot,” McIlvaine said. Communication is vital. “I can’t stress how important it is to communicate, communicate, communicate,” Maggelet said.

McIlvaine agreed. “Social media has really shown itself to be effective and cost-efficient, a quick pivot way of getting our messages out there and having that bilateral conversation with our guests,” he said.

Brewer asked the executives to share how their companies are maintaining work culture. At Maverick, company managers are “reevaluating their work plan and making sure employees have workforce documents they need.” He expects retailers to face bigger challenges recruiting new employees due to sweetened federal benefits for unemployed workers. “Many retailers have already provided increases of $2 to $3 per hour for their hourly employees, as well as a one-time bonus for salaried employees—it’s battle pay—but is that going to be enough to make sure you can retain the people you need to keep […] your business running to serve your customers?”

McIlvaine said, “We really ought to put ourselves in the shoes of our employees. We’re asking them to go on the front lines, and it’s hard.” He continued saying that the industry has a citizenry obligation as employers to keep our people employed as long as possible and to stave off layoffs and furloughs.

Leverage your online presence to ensure that you’re staying top of mind with your consumers.

When reviewing relationships with banks and vendors, Maggelet encouraged companies to review projects and assumptions and discover pressure points: “Do the downside scenario, or two or 12. Make sure you understand where your break-evens are. What are the outcomes that you need, and what are the scenarios that will help you get there?”

McIllvaine stressed how important communication is with these entities. He said to look out for ways to find cash through temporary term modifications with vendors and to have continuous dialogue with banks to keep them up to date on how the business is doing and if there are opportunities for lower interest rates.

Brewer also asked the executives where they think the industry is headed and how they are designing for tomorrow in this new environment. Maggelet remarked that this is a huge learning moment for his company.

“I’ve been working toward challenging our leaders to stay on the same page and coordinate with others on lessons learned,” he said. “Fundamentally right now we’re doing things in the middle of a crisis this week that becomes normal operating procedure next week. And we need to make sure we’re learning quickly now on what’s working and what’s not.”

Wrapping up the session, Maggelet offered some words of encouragement. “Make sure that you and your teams are leading your employees and customers forward. Don’t expect to be perfect, just make sure your direction is correct.”