Methodology

The 35th annual Convenience Store News Industry Report features data from a variety of sources in order to provide a complete picture of the convenience store industry.

CSNews commissioned Preston/Rogers Associates Inc., based in Medfield, Mass., to conduct a survey among a random sample of c-store retailers on a confidential basis and coordinate the various data used in this report.

Fig. 55

Industry Report Participants by Company Size

Store census data was provided by Nielsen TDLinx, which maintains a national count of both chain and single-store retail locations.

Dollar sales and unit volume data for a variety of categories was provided by The Nielsen Co. from its Convenience Track retail measurement service, which is based on UPC sales and other retail conditions measured through the use of point-of-sale scan data, as well as from data captured via electronic invoice and sales audits.

Data for competitive channels was also provided by The Nielsen Co., through its Strategic Planner retail measurement service, which covers supermarkets (with sales of $2 million or more) and drug stores with more than $1 million in sales.

A total of 232 companies representing 21,618 stores are included in the Industry Report results.

Additional data for tobacco was provided by McLane Co. Inc. and Philip Morris.

Government sources include the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Department of Energy and the Federal Tax Administration.

2010 Industry Report

Purchase the full report online at www.csnews.com.