Speedway Holds Pole Position in C-store Digital Scorecard
NATIONAL REPORT — Competition between convenience store retailers continues to expand from brick-and-mortar to online engagement with shoppers.
A recent study by Ameex Technologies compares top c-store retailers based on website performance, site traffic analytics, and social media engagement. A composite score based on these factors allows for ranking retailers by overall online engagement.
Comparing July 2019 metrics, Speedway LLC ranks No. 1 overall with solid scores for website performance, site traffic, and social media engagement. Sheetz Inc., QuikTrip Corp., Kwik Trip Inc. and Wawa Inc. round out the top five. 7-Eleven Inc. leads all retailers in site visits, and Facebook and Instagram followers, but its site performance and bounce rates are below average.
Website performance can be measured several ways. This analysis compares page load speeds using both desktop and mobile devices. Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool is used to measure seconds required to load each retailer’s main website. Page load times are often four times slower on a mobile device, but new solutions are shortening these mobile load times dramatically.
Color Code for Chart: Green is better than average. Red is below average. All color coding is based on a comparison across the 10 banners.
Web traffic analytics used in the Ameex Technologies report are from SimilarWeb, a tool for measuring online activity across websites. Speedway, Sheetz and Casey’s General Stores Inc. all show site visitors spending more time and visiting more pages.
Personalization enhances online engagement by allowing sites to focus their content on individual customers based on their online behavior. Enhancing the user experience and user interface (UX/UI) can also drive stronger customer engagement. And another topic to consider is site security. This will become increasingly important as more c-stores offer online ordering.
C-store retailers show a wide range of approaches to social media engagement. While 7-Eleven dominates Facebook and Instagram, Sheetz and Wawa are much stronger on Twitter. Wawa’s number of Facebook followers is about average, but a high number of Facebook likes per follower sets it apart.
Site features like online ordering, specials and frequent shopper programs play a role in retailer differentiation. “Retailers have always been customer-focused and many leading c-stores now invest in making their online engagement faster, more relevant and easier to maintain,” said Ranga Srinivasan, chief technology officer at Ameex Technologies, based in Schaumburg, Ill.
Ameex Technologies is an award-winning leader in digital transformation, helping retailers, CPG brands and other industries optimize the e-commerce and digital experience for their customers. The company delivers integrated and optimized user experiences across all digital touchpoints throughout the customer engagement journey. Ameex combines its industry knowledge with expertise in data-driven analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning to deliver personalized engagement across digital platforms.