Convenience shopping grows in tough retail climate

This trend is most notably successful in the UK where the concept is referred to as the 'forecourt convenience format'. "Freshstop has taken its cue from companies such as Marks and Spencer Simply Food, Sainsbury's Local, Tesco Express and Somerfield Essentials, which all compete in the tough UK retail space," says Joe Boyle, Freshstop director.

"Locally Fruit and Veg City's convenience store Freshstop, located on the forecourts of Caltex fuel outlets, is seeing a growing demand for one stop fuel and food purchases." Based on this demand and its fresh and modern convenience offer, the company has embarked on a focused campaign to encourage existing Caltex Star Marts to convert to the c-store model.

"Sales in new stores have shown a growth rate after conversion of up to 60%, with the average being 25%. Stores that have been trading for longer than a year have also shown good like-for-like increase, despite the tough economic climate," he adds.

The stores feature a variety of innovative departments and products that focus on the increasing time-conscious demands of consumers - the focus is on fresh produce and food-to-go categories, which have grown from 10% of sales to more than 30%.

What makes the convenience store model attractive to consumers are the 24-hour accessibility and a wide variety of ready-to-go products in a friendly retail space. "Products are offered loose, pre-packed or prepared for extra convenience. The food-to-go station includes over 50 products and we have taken care to form partnerships with suppliers on a regional level to ensure daily, fresh deliveries.

"We have seen a 20% growth in customers in stores that have been converted from Star Mart to Freshstop and, as conversion takes approximately two weeks only, we're confident that we're offering prospective franchisees a great turnkey solution," concludes Boyle.

For more information, go to www.freshstop.co.za.