CNBC has a story about how, while “gas stations have been reinventing themselves for the past decade with food offerings that rival many established grub-only chains,” now they are “doing something else: growing in physical size and attracting legions of fans along the way.”
Buc-ee’s is described as the poster child for this transformation:
“On a recent summer evening at the Dayton (Ohio) Buc-ee’s, almost all of the station’s 120 pumps were occupied, but the real action was happening in the store.
“There, employees chant ‘Brisket on the Booooard’ every time fresh brisket moves into a carving station. And customers snap up sandwiches of brisket, three-meat sandwiches, and anything else. The largest Buc-ee’s, in Texas, is over 75,000 square feet. For comparison, gas stations like Sheetz and Wawa usually are around 7,000 square feet. A low-end Walmart comes in at around 150,000 square feet.
“‘The traditional gas station is rapidly transforming from a transactional stop for fuel into a sprawling, multi-faceted retail and travel destination. This evolution is driven primarily by razor-thin profit margins on gasoline, forcing operators to leverage fuel as a loss leader to draw customers into high-margin convenience stores and food service,’ said Sudip Mazumder, senior vice president, retail industry lead, North America at Publicis Sapient, a digital business transformation and marketing consultancy.
“Other factors fueling this growth include changing consumer expectations for cleaner, more experiential stops, the need to accommodate electric vehicles requiring longer charging times, and the long-standing need to cater extensively to professional truckers.”
It isn’t just traveling folks who patronize Buc-ee’s, the story says – it also locals, who will use it as a de facto grocery store, and know they can gas up their vehicles with a minimum of wait time.
And, there’s a new entrant in the segment – Dolly Parton.
From the CNBC story:
“And, now, there’s Dolly’s, where the gas seems almost an afterthought — only 16 pumps at the 25,000-square-foot, 18-acre behemoth, which includes a dog park, a theater, restaurant and bar, trucker showers, and lounge. But look for more — and bigger — Dolly’s locations after the grand opening last week of the first Dolly’s in Cornersville, Tennessee, which even brought out the establishment’s namesake, who took a light-hearted jab at Buc-ee’s as she cut the ribbon.”
Elizabeth Lafontaine, director of research at analytics firm Placer.ai, tells CNBC “The convenience store channel has, in many ways, evolved past its name to become a full-service one-stop shop for consumers. As the lines blur between grocery stores, convenience stores (c-stores), and quick-service restaurants, convenience chains have effectively changed shoppers’ perceptions, becoming must-visit destinations during a typical weekday or as a special stop on a vacation.”
KC’s View:
The larger lesson is that retailers like Buc-ee’s are looking to move on from a transactional model to one that is a differentiated, experiential and intentional destination that meets a variety of shopper needs.
Isn’t that what every retailer needs to do when looking to thrive in a competitive environment that is simultaneously consolidating and fragmenting?
Transactional relationships, by their very nature, are perishable and momentary – usually dependent on price, not value. While it is much harder, and requires greater investment and vision, to create enduring relationships between a shop and a shopper, it seems to me that in the current environment, for the vast majority of businesses, that’s where success can be found.
Buc-ee’s may be selling a lot of stuff to a lot of people. But what it really is selling is a vision of what shoppers need and want, and it is creating a powerful brand that represents that differentiated vision.
(And that doesn’t even account for the fact that retailers like Buc-ee’s have put a wonderful and identifiable face on the US for the many global visitors who have come here for the World Cup.)
The post C-Stores Grow, In Both Size And Ambition appeared first on MNB.
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