BOSTON (May 3, 2018) — GasBuddy, the only smartphone app connecting drivers with their Perfect Pit Stop, and Cuebiq, the leading location intelligence and measurement company released today their joint quarterly study examining foot traffic in the $600 billion convenience store and fuel retailing industry across the U.S. in Q1 2018.
The report separates fuel and convenience brands into four categories based on the number of locations. Brands who received the most foot traffic per station in their respective categories include Ohio-based Speedway (1000+ locations), Washington-based Costco (250 – 999 locations), Kentucky-based Thorntons (50 – 249 locations) and Indiana-based Ricker’s (30 – 49 locations).
“More than half (53%) of visits to gas stations and convenience stores lasted less than 5 minutes,” says Frank Beard, convenience store and retail trends analyst at GasBuddy. “Knowing how often your customers frequent your stores and tailoring your offerings to take advantage of high traffic points during the week can prompt your customers to spend more time in the store and increase their basket size.”
Key study highlights include:
Better Offerings, Better for Business: In the 1000+ location category, four of the top five are convenience brands that emphasize in-store offerings. Speedway captured the top spot in this category following improvements in their fresh food service and putting a bigger emphasis on their loyalty program.
Cumberland Farms #1 in Most States: Cumberland Farms captures the highest average footfall traffic in six states, all of New England, despite falling short of the Top 10 overall within its category of 250 to 999 locations. Wawa comes in second with five states, including hotly-contested Pennsylvania. Costco and Kroger tie for third place with four states, and Speedway and Pilot tie for fifth place with three each.
Hump Day is the Busiest Pump Day: Wednesday at 5 p.m. was the busiest time time for fuel and convenience brands, followed by Friday from 4-6 p.m. Busiest days overall include Friday (1), Thursday (2) and Wednesday (3).
Consumers Reward Quality with More Visits: Findings indicate that strong correlation exists between below-average ratings in the GasBuddy app and below-average foot traffic. For example, stations with below-average customer service ratings experienced 15 percent less visits than the industry average. Conversely, stations with above-average customer service ratings experienced an uplift of nearly 7 percent, showing that today’s consumers actively seek quality retail experiences.
See the full report here.
Methodology
From January 1 to March 31, 2018, GasBuddy and Cuebiq analyzed location visit data at more than 100 fuel and convenience store brands and more than 32.6 million consumer visits across the U.S. to understand foot traffic trends, provide geo-behavioral and consumer insights, and identify the impact of key factors such as ratings and reviews on POI visits. To be considered a “visit,” a user must be within 30 meters of a fuel pump for between 2 and 30 minutes.
