Range reviews for convenience retailers are the hardest

I believe that convenience store range reviews are some of the hardest work that you will do and here’s why.

Meeting shopper needs with half a shelf

You know your shopper. You know that they need choice, inspiration and solutions to their shopping mission. But for all of that you have half a shelf where realistically you will be able to site products. That’s hard, as you have to decide what to do when its likely you also have a growth strategy linked to more shoppers, frequency or weight of purchase. So what do you do? Just best sellers? Mostly best sellers and then something a bit different? Different products in different stores based on their location? The list is huge and it will take you more time to unpick and work through this than if you have a whole shelf or even a bay in a superstore to fill.

What’s in the rest of the store

If your category relies on other categories in the store to complete the occasion, meal or mission, does the complementary category have the products needed to do this? Think chicken and fajita packs, cheese and crackers, mince and lasagne sheets, pizza and garlic bread, cake and candles…. the list goes on. But you don’t manage the other category which will be in the same position with limited space to play with and decisions to make. This could create barriers to purchase for your category outside of any direct control, all you can do is highlight it and make wider recommendations beyond your products.

Highly competitive

Back to the lack of space, this makes that which is available very competitive to get into. Think about how many brands you would see in a superstore and then what that would translate into if they were all given a space in a convenience store. It’s not possible to put them all in so it’s likely the retailer will have to choose just one brand. This makes it even more competitive to get into, more so than a superstore. So your rationale to list your brand over another becomes more detailed and needs to be very compelling.

Store segmentation

There are different types of ranging for superstores but it’s unlikely to be as vast and complex as those you may get in convenience stores. Convenience stores can be broken down by mission, location, affluence, size and possibly then overlaid with more segmentations specific to that retailer. This adds more detail to pick through and more recommendations with detailed rationale to make.

Time and return

It’s essential not to undervalue or undersell the effort that goes into category work for convenience stores. Well informed decisions and planning about what to put on the shelves has a big impact on shopper missions and the likelihood that the shoppers needs will be met. This in turn giving shoppers confidence to return to the store again for the same and more missions. The convenience store network is also a lot of distribution to unlock which is a big potential return for a business.