Convenience Stores Gear Up to Take On Discount, E-commerce Retailers

Mark Wohltmann discusses Convenience Summit Europe and what’s happening with convenience stores in that sector.

March 15, 2017

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Mark Wohltmann, the new director of NACS Europe, recently sat down with Petrol Plaza News to discuss what’s going on in convenience retail on the European continent and Convenience Summit–Europe.

Here is a brief excerpt of Wohltmann’s interview. Read the entire interview here.

On the goal of NACS in coming to Europe. “Convenience is a very connected global industry and as NACS we have always been very engaged in the different markets to provide knowledge, identify best practices, meet with industry leaders to learn and connect, and to support local associations in their local advocacy efforts by being an advocate for the industry ourselves. And this is not going to change, we will just intensify what we already are doing, together with our partners.”

On how the convenience community brings the industry closer. “One key task of any association is to help connect people. If you are a single-store operator, the owner of a small chain or the CEO of a multi-country operation, you have a limited amount of time to spend networking, so it is necessary to spend it on meeting with the right and relevant people in an efficient way. You want to meet your peers to discuss trends and learn from others’ experience. We are helping to connect our members with their relevant counterparts and make the most of their time spent.”

On where the European convenience store industry might be going. “The anonymity of hypermarkets is being rejected by more and more consumers and they are looking for advanced, modern, local neighborhood stores—a place where they know who is selling and where they sourced it from. Market data shows growth in Europe for e-commerce, discount and small stores, the latter basically meaning convenience-retail.”

On the future of the European convenience store industry. “In Europe, we face many unknowns: politically, economically and fiscally. Our society is changing. Hot topics are basic salary algorithms that will take over white collar jobs, and how far globalization should go. So it is going to be a bumpy ride. Things will change, but if there is one sector that has shown in the past how to successfully deal with change, that is convenience retail. But we need to get ready for it … get prepared, be informed, get connected and stay engaged.”

Join Mark Wohltmann at the NACS Insight Convenience Summit–Europe on June 11-16 in Zurich and London. The Summit’s agenda is quickly developing; for more information on the event, visit conveniencesummit.com.

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