Electric Vehicles are Transforming Convenience Stores
Are there Unintended Consequences?
For a while, I was an industry insider in the retail technology field dealing with convenience stores and travel centers. Less than 2 years ago, I asked the question “What are you planning to do to prepare for the transition from gas-powered vehicles to electric?”
I received two responses to my inquiry. One was laughter and the other was deafening silence followed by “What do you mean?”
C-Store operators, and the companies that support them, seem to be willfully ignorant of the changing landscape around their businesses.
What’s happening to convenience stores?
Electric vehicles are slowly gaining market share. The transition from ICE (internal combustion engine) to EV is accelerating. Tesla sales jumped 87% from 2020 to 2021 worldwide according to Car & Driver which equates to almost a million vehicles. How many EV’s have to be on the road to begin having a real impact on the c-store business?
The convenience store business is built around offering gas and luring customers into the store. The not so big secret in the c-store industry is that their biggest profit margins come from selling pop, snacks, and sundries, not gasoline at the pump. The…
