Profile of the Convenience Store Customer

Convenience stores continue to be a popular destination for shoppers, with two-thirds of adults and three-quarters of teens reporting that they shopped at a c-store at least once in the past month.

Convenience store usage appears to be part of a daily routine for many shoppers. Among both adults and teens, about one in 10 visits a c-store virtually every day, while a third stop in at least two or three times a week. This is not surprising since both groups are most likely to shop at a c-store on their way to or from work or school.

Though gasoline remains the product most frequently purchased by adults, buying food and beverages was cited as the primary reason for stopping at a c-store. Candy and gum tops the list of items most frequently purchased by teens, followed by bottled or canned soda. Meanwhile, shoppers continue to hold a favorable image of c-stores, though pricing and cleanliness were most often targeted as areas ripe for improvement.

The latest CSNews/NFO Shopper Panel is designed to identify and examine shopper behavior patterns and attitudes. In this profile, we will examine who shops at c-stores, when and why they shop, how much time and money they spend, and what they think needs improvement at the stores they frequent.

This profile of the convenience store customer will be followed by shopper behavior reports on specific product categories throughout the year. Research for these studies was conducted exclusively for CSNews by NFO Research Inc. Telephone interviews were conducted in October 2000 among a nationally representative sample from NFO's panel of more than 425,000 households. Only adults age 18 and older and teens age 13 to 17 who indicated they had shopped in a c-store within the 30 days prior to the interview were included in the study. Interviews were completed among 1,000 adults and 500 teens.

Two-thirds of adults and three-quarters of teens reported that they shopped at a c-store at least once in the past month. These figures have declined slightly, though not significantly, over those reported for 1999, and they have remained ahead of figures posted for 1998.

Among adults, men are more likely to shop at a c-store than women, while the genders reverse this pattern among teens with girls more likely than boys to shop at a c-store. As has been seen in previous years, the gender gap is more pronounced among adults than teens in this respect.

Among age groups, those from 15 to 17 among teens and 18 to 29 among adults are most likely to shop at a c-store, with more than 80 percent of each group reported to have shopped during the past month. Again, as in previous years, the likelihood of adults shopping declines with advancing age.