Convenience Stores Rule

Convenience stores are now very common and are probably the modern day equivalent of the old Milk Bars – but with much more stuff available. Fuel, food, tobacco and general groceries are just some of the stuff you can get there.

In Australia, there seems to be more and more convenience stores appearing. In fact according to the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) 2016 State of the Industry report, this industry sector is outperforming grocery with sales (without fuel) at A$8.3 billion per year.

The Convenience sector is also ahead of both liquor and pharmaceutical in terms of sales per year.

AACS’s Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Rogut, said; “The short and long term outlook for the convenience industry in Australia is undeniably positive and the 2016 result underline the value proposition of convenience stores in the Australian retail landscape.”

It is innovation which is leading this growth, with new and focused foods being a key part of the increase.

“Convenience stores are increasingly capitalising on important growth categories like On the Go Food and fresh coffee, continuously elevating the quality, variety and freshness of the food on offer,” said Mr Rogut.

Although petrol prices in these stores has dropped by 9.2 percent since 2015, purchases of more food and other items whilst at the store has lead to overall fuel sales volume rising  to5.9 percent (from 1.8 percent in 2015).

It continues to be tobacco which is the mainstay of Convenience Store with cigarettes etc making up 38 percent of the total sales – even with increased taxes, horrible photos, covered displays and plain packaging.

The future of Convenience Stores looks bright and may become even brighter if they are allowed to sell packaged alcohol. Australia is one of the few countries in the world which does not allow alcohol sales from convenience stores.