Convenience stores sell the majority of gasoline purchased in the country — 80 percent of all fuel sold in the United States in 2010. Of the 148,126 convenience stores in the United States, 120,950 sell motor fuels.
Convenience stores sold $385 billion in motor fuels in 2010, nearly triple the $134.2 billion sold just a decade earlier in 1999. In 1989, convenience stores sold $38 billion in motor fuels; in 1979, motor fuels sales at convenience stores were $5.3 billion.
Motor fuels sales accounted for more than two-thirds of the convenience store industry’s sales in 2010 (66.9 percent). However, because of low margins, motor fuels sales contributed less than one-third of total store gross margins dollars (26.4 percent).
For anyone who sells fuel, gasoline (all grades) represents 91.4 percent of total motor fuels sales. If a retailer sells diesel, it represents 8.5 percent of total motor fuels sales. Unleaded regular gasoline accounted for 85.0 percent of the gasoline sold at convenience stores in 2010. Sales mid-grade represented 8.9 percent and premium represented 6.1 percent.
Motor fuels gross margins (or the “markup”) averaged 18.5 cents per gallon in 2011. However, after incorporating expenses, such as debit/credit cards fees — which averaged 4.7 cents per gallon across all payment methods — operating expenses, depreciation and taxes, profit margins in 2011 typically were 3 cents to 5 cents per gallon (average breakeven on fuel sales is around 14 cents). Retailer profit margins over the past five years have averaged 15.4 cents per gallon.
Convenience stores serve as the one-stop shop for food and fuel in states that are dominated by small towns. At least 97 percent of convenience stores sell motor fuels in North Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming.
The states with the lowest percentage of stores selling fuel either have full-service fueling mandates (New Jersey and Oregon) or are in the Northeast, where many stores were built before the early 1970s when motor fuels sales at convenience stores began to flourish.
The five states with the lowest percentage of convenience stores that sell motor fuels are New Jersey (48 percent), Massachusetts (55 percent), New York (58 percent), Rhode Island (62 percent) and Oregon (65 percent). Only 41 percent of stores in Washington, D.C., sell motor fuels.
The average convenience store posted $3.98 million in motor fuels sales and sold 123,449 gallons per month in 2010.