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Leveraging the Forecourt to Drive Impulse Sales

Retailers and brands can use retail media networks to spark consumer trial of candy and snack items.
Melissa Kress
GSTV's Kristal Walton talking at the 2024 Sweets & Snacks Expo
Kristal Walton of GSTV

INDIANAPOLIS — Candy and snack items are often considered impulse buys, but that doesn’t mean retailers and brands can't give consumers a little nudge. That's where retail media networks can play a role.

Speaking at the 2024 Sweets & Snacks Expo in a session entitled "The Surprising Relationship Between Fueling Up & Shelling Out," Kristal Walton, senior vice president/general manager of retailer partnerships at GSTV, explained that retail media networks offer ad placements to monetize and create meaningful shopper connections. 

[Read more: Convenience Stores Hit the Sweet Spot With Consumers]

As Walton laid out, there are three areas of the retail media proposition:

  1. Access to first-party data
  2. Closed loop attribute, allowing brands to draw a direct line from ad to purchase
  3. Return on the retailer relationship
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Previously a popular marketing tool among other types of retailers, convenience store operators such as Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven Inc. (Gulp Media), Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey's General Stores Inc. (Casey's Access) and Media, Pa.-based Wawa Inc. (Goose Media Network) have been making inroads. 

Walton pointed out several factors that make the convenience channel "an excellent space" for retail media networks:

  • Increased frequency: The average c-store shopper is in a c-store 2.5 times a week.
  • Impulse oriented and impressionable ads at the pump: Forty percent of consumers would be enticed to go inside the store. 
  • Single-purchase channel: Nearly all in-store trips (95%) end with a purchase. 
  • Specific pack sizes: An overwhelming majority of consumers (71%) discover new products in convenience, allowing brands to trial, test and learn. 

Retail media networks are not only a good fit for inside the store; c-store operators can also leverage their forecourt space, according to Walton. 

"Consumers are getting things done," she said. "Eighty-one percent of fueling customers continue spending money — and most involve getting food."

Additionally, 68% of people say they notice ads on the way to shop in-person, she noted. That makes ad placement at fuel locations an ideal spot for brands. According to a GSTV study, within three hours of a fuel transaction, consumers spend more across all retail channels. 

The 2024 Sweets & Snacks Expo took place May 14-16 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. The annual trade show features new product launches, business-building solutions and merchandising innovations. The event is sponsored by the National Confectioners Association, the leading trade organization for the $48 billion U.S. confectionery industry. 

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