ALEXANDRIA, Va. – How large is the convenience store industry? What is the growth rate in store count over the past 10 years? These are just a few of the questions answered in the new NACS State of the Industry Report® of 2017 Data, the U.S. convenience and fuel retailing industry’s premier benchmarking tool, which was released this week.
Published since 1972, the NACS State of the Industry Report provides valuable information to help industry stakeholders maximize their companies’ growth and profitability. The report highlights business-critical categories of finance, store operations, merchandising and fuel sales.
Per the NACS State of the Industry Report, the convenience and fuel retailing industry’s total sales reached $601.1 billion in 2017, a 9.3% year-over-year increase. Inside sales generated 1.7% growth at $237.0 billion, while fuel sales grew 14.9%. Motor fuels experienced a rare combination of increased gallon volume (1.9%) and a considerable rise in retail fuel prices (12.8%). The result was total motor fuels sales of $364.1 billion, the largest amount since 2014.
Amid positive total sales figures in 2017, a challenging labor market and increased retail fuel prices resulted in a second consecutive year in which the growth of direct operating expenses outpaced that of inside gross profit dollars. Direct store operating expense growth was driven mainly by wage and benefits increases, along with rising card processing fees, per the report.
Other key questions answered in the report include:
- How do the growth rates of other retail formats compare to convenience store inside sales?
- What does the profit and loss statement reveal for an average convenience store?
- What are in-store sales and gross margins by category per store, per month?
- How do product categories break down by subcategory on a sales and gross margin basis?
- How has motor fuel performed in the last year with respect to retail and rack margins, retail prices by state and crude pricing?
- How do top quartile firms stores perform versus the average store and other quartiles?
- How does my company compare to the various benchmarks available?
To get your copy of the NACS State of the Industry Report® of 2017 Data, click here.