Inside the Consumer Mind: Luring Fuel Customers Into the Store

Last February, before COVID-19 began spreading rapidly across the United States, 46 percent of convenience store shoppers said they purchased in-store merchandise and/or foodservice every time or almost every time they stopped for fuel at a c-store. Fast forward a year, and that number has dropped to 33 percent, a decline of 13 percentage points, according to the findings of the 2021 Convenience Store News Realities of the Aisle Study, which surveyed 1,500-plus consumers who shop a c-store at least once a month. Other key insights from the study include: