The pumping station and the convenience store at a gas station go hand in hand to provide whatever a motorist might need. However, recent data shows that although there is a growing demand for gasoline every year, convenience store sales aren’t showing the same progress.
Most of the motorists only go to a gas station to refuel and that means missed opportunities for you to increase the sales in your convenience store. Don’t just stand there and let this happen. There are still things you can do to improve the sales in your convenience store.
Why Aren’t Customers Heading To The Convenient Stores?
To figure out the solution to this problem, we should first hear the side of the customer. Let us first figure out why they aren’t going to the convenience store at all. Well, the most common reason why is that they don’t need anything from the store. Secondly, motorists say that they don’t have the time to go to the convenience store.
By focusing on these two reasons, we can come up with various strategies to help increase sales. Remember that there is much more profit to be made in the convenience stores than just the gasoline. That is why it is so important to focus on your convenience store as well.
Make Your Store More Convenient
The first strategy in increasing your sales is to find a way to make your store more convenient for drivers. One way to do this is to make sure that the drivers can easily find whatever they need in your convenience store. Make sure you stock-up on what they need because not being able to find the item once could make them think that you don’t have it all the time.
Another way to make your store more convenient is to market various food items for a specific time. For example, you can advertise that you are giving promotions for breakfast items like coffee and pastries in the morning. This will help attract more drivers to buy their breakfast while they refuel their vehicle in your gas station.
The breakfast promo is just an example. Customize your in-store promotions depending on the customers you have. If you find lunchtime as the peak hour, then provide promos during lunchtime. Make sure your promotions reach your customers. Signages are great and promotional leaflets will work too. Give them to every customer you service at the gas station.
In order to know what promotions will work for your branch, you need to understand your customers. The store manager could help you figure out what products are popular and what isn’t. This could vary from one location to another.
Bring The Convenience Store To Your Customer
Most customers are only going to the gas pumps, why don’t you bring the convenience store to them. You can do this by taking a few items from the store and selling them while they pay for the gas. This process can even be automated by utilizing vending machines.
With this, customers will feel that they don’t have to waste time walking to the store and finding a snack. They can even eat while they refuel their vehicles. This is also convenient for people who don’t want to leave the car because no one will be left behind to watch the kids inside the vehicle.
Although some customers won’t like the exact items you bring them, it could trigger them to think of food and feel hungry. It can also push them to check out what else is inside the convenience stores.
Promoting At The Gas Pumping Station
All your convenience store promotions are useless if the customers don’t know about them. Since the customers are flocking at the gas pumps, it would be best to leave your promotional materials there.
Signages are great and nowadays through technology, you can even have your own commercial played in a loop over screens at the station. It takes several minutes to refuel and you can grab people’s attention by showing these infomercials about your current promos and products.
Final Words
Profiting from your gas station doesn’t only depend on how much fuel you sell to your customers. The sales at the convenience store also play a very important part in it. That is the reason why you should also focus on improving its sales performance. Learning customer insights can better help you strategize on how you can improve convenience store sales.
