With the right data, convenience stores could transform the fortunes of retailers and suppliers

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Bucking the trend: While the overall grocery market has seen a drop in sales in France, convenience store sales have increased ( relevanC)

relevanC is a Business Reporter client

With annual growth of 9 per cent globally, convenience stores have proved remarkably resilient. In France for example, while the overall grocery market has struggled against an inflationary headwind seeing a drop in sales over the last two years, during the same period, convenience store sales have continued to increase.

Growing urbanisation, busier lifestyles and the hangover from the Covid-19 lockdowns are cited as some of the key reasons for why customers increasingly prefer to shop local. But they also like the fact that many convenience stores provide a range of services – post, ATMs, or even luggage check – in a hassle-free way.

Retailers and their suppliers therefore need to make the most of the huge growth potential offered by convenience.

To that end, they must address the specific needs of customers visiting convenience stores. People go to convenience stores because they are, put simply, convenient. They are designed for quick and easy shopping, with customers invariably knowing what they want, and where in the shop to find it. Unlike supermarkets on the edge of town or in retail parks, customers at convenience stores tend to shop fast.

Retailers and brands must, therefore, be innovative. They need to find ways to collect data on customers who spend little time in-store, develop methods for advertising, and experiment with new products in stores with limited ad and shelf space.

In short, only those who go that extra length to build an accurate picture of convenience store customers and their shopping behaviours – and, importantly, that ensure their products are convenient in and of themselves – will capitalise on this growing and strategic space.

The value of a single view

One retail group in France has been able to do just that. Casino Group, which owns high-street chains such as Monoprix, Franprix, Casino, Spar, Naturalia and Vival has developed highly effective strategies for enhancing the customer experience in convenience store settings, thereby winning their loyalty.

It’s done this by using data collected and strategically collated by relevanC, the Group’s retail media and data management subsidiary.

relevanC, one of Europe’s most innovative retail data organisations, tailor-built a centralised repository, or DataHub, for the vast array of data from Casino Group’s outlets – client data, sales data, advertising inventory data, assortment data, product data, store data and more.

The creation of a DataHub means that Casino Group now has a single view of the millions of data points for customers using its convenience stores. On the back of this data resource, relevanC has built a stack of tools and services perfectly adapted to local commerce, from customer segmentation to personalised promotions.

“With a market share in Paris of over 40% and a really strong local presence across France, Casino Group’s convenience grocery chains serve a unique customer base,” says relevanC’s CEO, Olivier Morin.

“By collecting and centralising data from across the group’s different retailers, we can offer sharp business insights for the Group as well as a single point of access for brands wanting to target convenience store customers at scale.”

This carries additional value. relevanC has been able to use another category of data stored in its Datahub – promotional data, drawn from the budgets each brand allocates to promotions – to develop AI-powered personalised promotions, or special offers, for convenience store customers.

These promotions are complementary to the more generic promotions that have been traditionally offered in-store. This is because they are based on individual customers’ shopping habits, and they reach the customer in a meaningful way wherever they are in the purchase journey: social media ads, WhatsApp, chatbot, mobile app, till receipt.

While the value of personalisation on a purely sales front is well-known (according to some studies, 80 percent of customers are more likely to make a purchase when a brand offers personalised experience), less well known are the added benefits it brings.

Beyond just better sales, personalised promotions support a range of different marketing objectives for Casino Group retailers and suppliers, whether it be customer loyalty or customer attraction, brand awareness or promoting a new product launch.

“At Group Casino we are laser-focused on leveraging data in all its forms to create the best shopping experience for our customers, whether that’s personalising every touchpoint on the purchase journey or simply ensuring the product a customer is looking for is in stock in their local store,” says Olivier Morin.

Keeping customers happy

Everyone knows the frustration that comes when a shop doesn’t have the very thing you need from it. In a convenience store where shelf space limits assortment, this is felt even more keenly by customers whose need is often specific, and urgent.

That’s why a final dataset of relevanC is proving so transformative for Casino Group’s stores: logistics data. relevanC uses in-store cameras to monitor individual shelves, and by combining this with client and sales data, both retailer and brand are able to work hand-in-hand to minimise out-of-stocks and optimise assortment.

“Data is the cornerstone of effective assortment planning,” says Olivier Morin. “By leveraging advanced analytics and real-time insights, we are empowering the group’s retailers to curate assortments tailored to individual customer preferences, ensuring that the right product reaches the right customer at the right location.”

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Visit relevanc.com to learn more about how relevanC is using retail data innovation to support the Casino Group and its suppliers.