ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Success or failure rarely occurs in a vacuum, so it’s critical to understand how you stack up against the competition. Every year, NACS provides a unique benchmarking opportunity for convenience retailers by hosting the NACS State of the Industry survey, which collects financial performance data on fuel and key categories. The anonymized data is used to produce the comprehensive NACS State of the Industry (SOI) Annual Report, published each June.

Convenience retailers use the report to compare their financial performance against the industry, and to uncover problems and new opportunities for their business. Companies tap into the SOI report to aid in making data-driven decisions and improve the profitability of their businesses.

Companies submitting data are positioned to make better use of the report because they have already prepared their own company’s information. It’s always important to compare “apples-to-apples” when benchmarking. For the first time, NACS will provide a customized report to each company that submits data, making comparisons of the company’s performance with the industry a snap.

Survey participants and savvy business leaders who prefer learning about insights and opportunities in addition to the reading the report should head to the annual State of the Industry Summit, to be held April 10-12 in Chicago. Each spring at the SOI Summit, business professors, economists and top-performing c-store retailers break down the latest consumer, financial and operational data from the latest SOI Survey to highlight the most actionable findings. Attendees don’t just come for the insights—they also come for the high-powered networking with the 62% of attendees from the C-suite.

Learn more about the SOI Survey and SOI Summit on NACS website, and watch highlights from 2017 in this video.