Supplier Spotlights: GasBuddy, Swedish Match & NCR

NATIONAL REPORT — While it's important for convenience store retailers to market themselves, new products, services, promotions and other initiatives by c-store suppliers are a major part of capturing consumer interest. Convenience Store News will regularly highlight such efforts in this roundup.

Here are the latest supplier spotlights:

CURALEAF HOLDINGS INC. 

Curaleaf Holdings, an international provider of consumer CBD and hemp products, signed a national distribution agreement with beverage alcohol distributor Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits. The agreement brings Curaleaf's Hemp and Select CBD product lines into Southern Glazer's distribution network.

The distribution agreement combines Curaleaf's expertise in creating high-quality non-psychoactive hemp products with Southern Glazer's national scale, route-to-market capabilities, state-of-the-market sales team, and its industry leading Proof e-commerce platform, bringing operating efficiencies that will drive growth within Curaleaf's family of CBD products, the company said.

"At Curaleaf, we are as committed to innovation and setting the highest possible standards for product quality as we are committed to customer accessibility — and our success lies not only in our ability to provide exceptional CBD-infused products, but to distribute them to the finest retail stores for safe, easy and reliable access to consumers around the country," said Patrick Larkin, senior vice president of sales at Curaleaf.

GASBUDDY

GasBuddy's payments program Pay with GasBuddy surpassed the milestone of $1 billion in fuel transactions in January. Half a billion gallons have been pumped since the program launched in 2017.

The program offers cents off discounts to American drivers through its free, checking account-connected gas card.

"Pay with GasBuddy has become the fuel-savings platform of choice for over a million consumers in the U.S., providing a simple, convenient and affordable way to save money at the pump," said Mark Coffey, senior vice president and general manager for GasBuddy. "Our mission at GasBuddy is to help everyone spend less at the pump, regardless of what their credit score is or what fuel brands are available to them. The Pay with GasBuddy program has proven to deliver just that, and becomes especially prominent today when many people are struggling to afford rising fuel costs."

Pay with GasBuddy saw more than 400,000 new enrollments in 2021, almost double that of 2020.

GSTV

GSTV formed a strategic partnership with leading shopper intelligence and omnichannel media provider Catalina to make GSTV an integral part of more retailers' and consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands' retail media strategies. Catalina will provide the required measurement metrics that demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of advertising on GSTV to help retailers and brands close the measurement loop and optimize the impact of specific GSTV ads on in-store sales.

"GSTV is a unique waypoint in the shopper journey, making it a valuable component to an advertiser's retail media strategy," said Tiffany Southwell, vice president of out of home media at Catalina. "Working together, we will help retailers and brands close the measurement loop and accurately assess and optimize the impact of specific GSTV ads on actual in-store sales."

In recent months, Catalina has beefed up is digital out of home capabilities, adding it as part of the company's omnichannel media strategy and leveraging its data insights to support innovative new targeting and measurement solutions.

"Reaching the c-store shopper via GSTV is valuable for brands not only because of the network's proven ability to drive sales at c-store, but also because c-store shoppers spend a lot more on promoted items in other retail channels," added Eric Z. Sherman, executive vice president of insights and analytics at GSTV. "Catalina's Shopper ID Graph spans more than 109 million households and 1.9 billion digital ad IDs. Thanks to the depth of their shopper intelligence, Catalina can provide unique audience-level insights and prove shoppers make purchases as a direct result of the ads they saw on GSTV."

THE HERSHEY CO.

The Hershey Co. was named as one of America's Most JUST Companies by JUST Capital and its media partner CNBC for the third consecutive year. The company ranked fifth in the food, beverage and tobacco industry category, and 84th overall of the 100 companies leading the way in investing in communities and employee well-being, reducing their impact on the environment and creating a more sustainable future.

"A legacy of goodness is synonymous with the Hershey name and our 128-year history. We are focused on long-term sustainability for our business and creating a positive impact on our people and planet for years to come," said Leigh Horner, vice president of global sustainability and corporate communications at Hershey. "Being named to the JUST 100 list recognizes our steadfast commitment to doing what's right."

JUST Capital annually evaluates the 1,000 largest publicly traded companies in the U.S., based on a comprehensive survey conducted on public attitudes toward corporate behavior. The top 100 companies are celebrated for setting the standard in just behavior and serving as socially responsible examples for the business community.

Hershey's 2020 Sustainability Report discusses many of the key factors that contribute to the company's inclusion on the JUST 100 list, including setting ambitious new goals to reduce its global emissions in line with the global best practice of the Paris Agreement, to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. Hershey also achieved aggregate gender pay equity in the U.S. in 2020 and in 2021, aggregate pay equity for people of color and salaried employees in the U.S.

NCR CORP.

NCR completed its acquisition of cryptocurrency software provider LibertyX in mid-January.

According to the company, LibertyX is a strong strategic fit for NCR as it accelerates the organization's ability to rapidly deliver a complete digital currency solution to its customers, including the ability to buy and sell cryptocurrency, conduct cross-border remittance and accept digital currency payments across digital and physical channels.

"The completion of this transaction enhances our ability to provide digital currency solutions and capabilities that help run our customers' businesses," said Don Layden, executive vice president and president, payments and network, NCR Corp. "We are pleased to welcome LibertyX and its outstanding team to NCR."

The LibertyX digital currency solution runs on ATMs, kiosks and point-of-sale systems. The provider partners with ATM operators — such as NCR's Cardtronics, which owns and manages ATMs and the Allpoint network in the U.S. — at locations like convenience stores, pharmacies and supermarkets. Moving forward, NCR will utilize its Pay360 platform to offer the LibertyX capabilities as part of its solutions for banks, retailers and restaurants.

PHILLIPS & KING INTERNATIONAL INC. 

Phillips & King International Inc. kicked off 2022 with a new brand identity and the announcement of an impending new wholesale e-commerce platform. 

As a contemporary refinement of the company's "shield and knight" badge, Phillips & King's new logo signifies its mission to modernize the business, while paying homage to the equity earned over its 116-year heritage.

The company has also embarked on a complete digital transformation of its business to better serve the evolving needs of its retail customers and brand partners. Over the course of this year, Phillips & King will launch a series of enhancements to its business, including a new web platform designed to make it easier than ever for stores to discover and stock their customers want most. Phillips & King will also greatly expand its product and category assortment to give emerging brands the ability to reach more buyers.

"The future of B2B wholesale commerce is both digital and highly-personalized. Our new web platform will enable us to more easily connect buyers and sellers across the industry and offer a more expansive array of products and categories — all while improving the personal connection our sales teams have with customers," said Phillips & King President Jason Carignan. "We believe that retailers should be able to manage their entire business with ease from their mobile device and have access to business intelligence — and expert guidance — that helps drive inventory-buying decisions. This new platform is the first step in our quest to helping stores thrive in the new retail reality."

Phillips & King is a subsidiary of Kretek International Inc. that has distributed thousands of diverse products since 1906.

SWEDISH MATCH 

Swedish Match's Red Man chewing tobacco brand has rebranded to America's Best Chew. The name change comes as the product celebrates its 135th anniversary and is meant to reflect the success of the No. 1 product in the category while providing greater alignment with company values, according to the organization.

The new name has also been the product's tagline for decades.

"Understanding that an essential part of being America's best means being a leader, Swedish Match worked diligently over the past several months to make changes in response to our heightened awareness and our desire to be more inclusive," stated Joe Ackerman, vice president of marketing. "Consumers and diverse agency partners were selected to participate in the rebranding research. It was critical and valuable for us to gain these insights and recommendations to develop America's Best Chew packaging."

Transition to the new America's Best Chew packaging began earlier this year.

"I applaud the Swedish Match company for retiring the use of 'Red Man' as a product name," said Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. "Nationally, we are moving away from the use of derogatory terms and depictions of Native Americans as product mascots because representations are stereotypical caricatures, and they do not honor us or reflect how we live and thrive, both as individuals and as unique Tribal Nations today. The announcement to change the brand's name and imagery gives us hope that more companies, schools and sports teams hear us, and that we will continue to make impactful national changes for the betterment of Indian Country."

TALKING RAIN BEVERAGE CO.

Talking Rain, maker of Sparking Ice beverages, launched its new "Live in Full Flavor" advertising campaign that celebrates all of life's flavors and reminds consumers to drink it in and embrace little moments of joy in everyday life. The campaign illustrates the brand's commitment to providing a fizzy, flavorful beverage that welcomes every type of consumer to celebrate their everyday.

"The Live in Full Flavor campaign recognizes the importance of embracing life's everyday moments for all that they're worth," said Talking Rain CEO Chris Hall. "We hope that our consumers will be encouraged to seek out moments of joy and celebration, no matter how small or large. Similar to Sparkling Ice, life can be that much sweeter with simple flavor and fizz."

As part of the campaign launch, the brand will be supported by an integrated marketing campaign that will feature targeted media placements across numerous channels, including digital display, premium video, paid search, paid social and audio.

THE MURPHY GROUP CONSULTANCY LLC

The Murphy Group Consultancy LLC (tmg Consultancy) and CORe Crowd have formed a strategic alliance to offer a broad suite of global advisory services. This formalizes a longstanding relationship between the firms, which assist energy and convenience retailers with state-of-the-art training, mergers and acquisitions, marketing, and financial and operational advice.

"We recognize the fast pace of change impacting our channel both in energy, as well as convenience retailing. This strategic alliance combines the resources of both firms to collaboratively guide our retailer clients and help them grow profitably. This partnership helps us leverage our experience and expertise to provide our clients forward-looking insights and advice," said Jeff Murphy, tmg managing director and founder.

Claudio Reboredo, founder of CORe Crowd, added, "I am delighted with this strategic partnership that combines the proven experience of both firms in serving the USA market as well as the vast and diverse territory of Latin America. There are many clients eager to receive precise and indispensable advice that quickly allows them to transform ideas into profitability or competitive advantages."