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 Fact Sheets 
Technology 
Posted: July 1, 2006                          

The integration of technology into convenience stores continues at a fast pace. Over the past decade, the convenience store industry has gone from being a technology laggard to a technology leader in using new technologies to deliver convenience. (All statistics are from the NACS 2006 State of the Industry report.)

Key technologies in convenience stores:
(Findings from a survey of 117 convenience store companies.)

  • Scanning: 79 percent of companies indicated that they have scanning in at least some of their stores. The most common benefit of scanning is using the data as part of a back-office/home-office package. The large amount of information generated by scanned data enables retailers to implement loyalty marketing programs and optimize category management. Less than one in 20 convenience stores had scanning in 1994. 
  • Pricebook: Most companies (72 percent) indicated that they have a store-level electronic pricebook in place, and the vast majority of those with pricebook said that it was maintained centrally.
  • Company Web sites: 62 percent of convenience store companies have their own Web sites. More than one quarter (28 percent) of all companies with Web sites say that the Web site is used to provide a company history/overview to visitors. Other popular uses were employee recruiting (21 percent), promotions (19 percent), customer feedback (15 percent), electronic coupons (7 percent) and business-to-consumer commerce (7 percent). 

Technology trends in convenience stores:

  • In 2005, the investment required to open a new convenience store, which includes land, building, total equipment and inventory, was $2.85 million for new urban stores, and $1.92 million for new rural stores (in areas of less than 50,000 population). Of that, more than one-third of the investment was for equipment and technology at urban stores ($1.13 million), and at rural stores ($821,000).
  • Most of the convenience store companies (86 percent) in the NACS 2005 NACS technology survey say that they realized the expected ROI in less than two years, with investments made in WAN and scanning/data analysis among those providing the greatest return on investment.
  • Convenience stores indicated that they plan to devote 16 percent of their capital expenditures to information technology in 2006.