Four Trends Reshaping C-store Foodservice Offers
AUSTIN, Texas — Health shifts, new production technologies and changing consumer behavior are transforming convenience retail and foodservice offerings, according to the latest "Vision Report" from the Global Convenience Vision Group (GCVG).
Based on the GCVG's May 6 quarterly meeting, the report, "From Convenience to Foodvenience: Adapting to Changing Palates and Production," explores innovative approaches to combining convenience and foodservice, highlights the impact of health-conscious consumers on retail strategy, and examines groundbreaking food processing technologies that address both health demands and sustainability challenges.
[Read more: Closing the Value Gap Through Quality & Experience]
Key trends identified in the report include:
1. "Foodvenience" as a Growth Strategy
Valora Retail is seeing success from strategically combining convenience retail with foodservice offerings, creating more value for customers through integrated concepts.
"The goal is to create more value for the customer by combining the know-how of both areas," said guest speaker and Valora CEO Roger Vogt. He noted that the c-store industry is seeing significant shifts in customer payment preferences, with self-checkout gaining rapid adoption in many of the company's markets.
"It's unbelievable. The share of people who use self-checkout is above 60%," he said of the company's location in Zurich, Switzerland. "So it's unbelievable how they use that. And now we have a queue on the self-checkout, not on the cashier desk."
2. Navigating the Changing Palate: Health Shifts, GLP-1s & the Sober Surge
The growing use of weight-loss medications like GLP-1 receptor agonists is significantly altering food preferences and consumption patterns. This will in turn create both new challenges and opportunities for retailers.
"[Approximately] 6 million people are using GLP-1's in the United States, and they estimate that around the end of the decade it could be 40 million or more. This will have a heavy impact on consumption profile of different foodstuff we find at the market," said Dr. Tilo Hühn, professor at Zurich University of Applied Sciences.
Hühn described how younger generations are shifting away from alcohol consumption, which disrupts traditional beverage categories and opens sales opportunities for no- and low-alcohol alternatives.
"Clearly, the younger consumer today is a lot more health conscious than the majority of us were when we were at that same stage in our life," said Theo Foukkare, CEO of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores. "Will they maintain their views as they change [through] different stages of their life?"
3. Adapting to Regional Differences in Convenience Expectations
Retail strategies must account for significant regional variations in how consumers perceive and use convenience offerings.
"If I look in the streets, we're picking up avocados on street markets, we're picking up bananas on street markets," said Joseph Boyle, CEO of FreshStop, describing the South African market. "If I look at our differential and our supermarkets, it's a theater of food."
4. Healthy Demand Meets Economic Reality
Retailers face the need to meet increased demand for healthier options while addressing cost concerns in a challenging economic environment.
"It's a very interesting equation because there is a demand, but who is willing to pay for it and who can afford those products, which are usually pricier than the mainstream?" asked Zsuzsa Hordai, head of strategic projects at SPAR International.
The GCVG brings together convenience retail leaders from around the world for quarterly virtual meetings during which members identify trends, challenges and disruptions in retail as well as present possible solutions and opportunities.