COVID-19’s Impact on Convenience Stores - What to Expect 4/27
Although recent months have been filled with uncertainty, opportunities for growth in the post-COVID market still exist.
Over the past 6 weeks, we’ve seen revenue shift from being driven by fuel to being driven by in-store purchases. This trend, according to NACS, had already begun to shift over the past several years, with fuel generating 40% of gross profit in 2014, compared to only 36% in 2019. Stores can look to use current momentum to sustain higher levels of in-store profitability by continuing to refine their in-store product mix.
In addition to overall revenue trends, we also dove into the percentage change in average weekly revenue from AB InBev & Molson Coors products and percentage change between immediate vs future consumption for packaged beverages, with more information below.
Average Weekly Revenue per Store
With the price of crude oil dropping to a 20 year low this past week, we’re continuing to see fuel revenue decrease, with a week-over-week change of -6%. We also saw in-store revenue take a slight hit this week, although it remained relatively stable over the past 4 weeks.
% Change in ABInBev and Molson Coors Revenue per Store
Since March 1st, AB InBev and Molson Coors have both seen revenue per store increase, showing similar trends. While in some instances revenue has decreased week over week, when compared to the week of March 1st, both brands still maintain higher revenue levels than before the pandemic. Overall trends per state are illustrated below.
% Change in AB InBev & Molson Coors Revenue per Store
Alcohol sales continue to be strong, with most states experiencing increases in weekly revenue for both ABInBev and Molson Coors when comparing the week of March 1st to the week of April 12th. Minnesota, Indiana, and Pennsylvania saw the highest changes in revenue, with Minnesota experiencing a 60% increase in ABInBev revenue.
Packaged Beverages: Immediate vs Future Consumption
As people continue to follow stay-at-home orders, we’ve seen key consumer behaviors shift, not just in what they are purchasing, but also in how they intend to consume their purchases. Since the US national health emergency announcement, future consumption (measured by sales of multi-packs, etc.) jumped from 6% of sales to 8% of sales.
Conclusion
And because we all need a little more positivity in our lives these days, we thought we’d bring you another highlight from the industry. This week, we enjoyed reading this article about different C-Stores and their food donation programs for first responders and those in need.
In addition to reporting on industry sales trends, we’ll also be following along with the proposed Giving Retailers and Our Convenience Employees Relief Act (GROCER Act), which aims to provide a federal tax holiday for grocery and convenience store employees.
