How Retailers Tell Their Stories in a Crisis

By Kim Stewart

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Convenience retailers have had to swiftly refocus operations in just a month, and every day brings new changes, so communicating with customers has never been more important. As part of the NACS SOI Summit Virtual Experience, which went live yesterday, a panel of industry leaders from NACS, Casey’s and Sheetz addressed the new challenges the convenience industry faces.

The session, Pivoting to Meet Communication Expectations in a New Normal, looked at where the industry was pre-pandemic, and where the industry could possibly be going and what the new normal is. A critical part of that is communications because the novel coronavirus has disrupted everything.

(View this session and the complete NACS SOI Summit Virtual Experience on demand by clicking here. Video presentation viewing is available for download until September 1, 2020.)

Jeff Lenard, NACS vice president of strategic industry initiatives, was joined by Chris Jones, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Casey’s General Stores; Nick Ruffner, public relations manager with Sheetz; and Stephanie Sikorski, vice president of marketing at NACS and executive director of the NACS Foundation. Iowa-based Casey’s operates nearly 2,200 convenience stores in 16 states, and Pennsylvania-based Sheetz has about 600 stores in seven states.

Lenard asked the panelists to consider how convenience has changed and what the industry might need to look at as the nation evolves during the pandemic.

“What we are really focused on at Sheetz right now is leading with our values, that we are community connected,” Ruffner said. “We are working with our store teams and helping them create safe environments in our stores, while also getting ready to welcome [customers] back.”

One way Sheetz has pivoted is to focus on digital efforts, especially on its new Scan and Go app, which just rolled out to all 600 of its stores and allows customers to order food and pay for purchases via their smartphones. “We want our store team members to interact with our customers. Because we pride ourselves on totally focusing on those customers. But if we can limit the physical interaction for now, then I think, that’s a win/win for everybody,” Ruffner said. The c-store chain also recently introduced curbside delivery.

Lenard asked Jones if people will change their c-store routines in the longer term?

“Convenience has changed, because some of the things we are offering to our guests have become immediately much more important; things like delivery,” Jones said. Casey’s has expanded its focus on delivery with a partnership with DoorDash. But customers still crave their routines and have needs and wants to be met, he said. “The way people are getting those products is shifting in terms of the mix of coming to store or staying at home and having someone deliver that to them,” Jones said.

As for messaging, now is not the time to “try to pick a new path for your brand,” Jones said. “It helps to have been consistent leading up to this period. And it helps to continue to be consistent and authentic during this period.”

Casey’s messaging (in place well before the outbreak of COVID-19) is “we’re about being here for good, which means doing good in the community…we have over 1,000 stores that are in towns of 5,000 people or less. That role hasn’t changed,” Jones said.

Sikorski agrees. “At the end of the day, it comes down to being authentic. And consumers can feel that out.” She added, “Those that are true to the attributes that they stood for 60 days, 90 days, 120 days ago, that works. For those that are just starting to pivot and try and do that now, and to capitalize on it, it won’t.”

In focus groups NACS conducted in February before the pandemic in the U.S., consumers emphasized that convenience stores are part of daily lives. Has that messaging changed, Lenard asked?

Ruffner offered, “We are still communicating to our customers that we’re here whenever you need us, but I think that it takes additional weight during this crisis, too. Even more importantly we’re being there for our communities as a whole. We’re there for first responders and members of the medical community. Folks that have to go out and work. We're providing a really valuable service right now.”

So how do convenience retailers tell their story about values when people are facing economic stress, Lenard asked the panel.

“It’s important to point out that the one thing that you can’t disrupt, at least in my opinion, is caring,” said Sikorski. That includes supporting employees, customers and communities, not just during the pandemic but year-round as Casey’s and Sheetz do.

“Our team members have really rallied around the idea of the essential nature of our business,” Jones said, “the role we play in communities, the role we play for these truly essential workers in healthcare and frontline individuals. So, we are really rejoicing in the role we can play in doing that.”

Sikorski shared that the NACS Foundation uses #conveniencecares on social media to amplify positive messages about how c-stores are open and serving their communities. “The whole purpose of the NACS Foundation is really to help amplify the efforts of individual convenience operators from Sheetz and Casey’s and others,” she said.

Casey’s and Sheetz are sharing positive feedback from their customers with their team members at the store level. “We have store teams that are working in a really challenging environment right now,” Ruffner said. “And we can’t communicate with them enough.”

Travis Sheetz, Sheetz president and COO, has been visiting stores to talk to team members on the frontlines, and the videos are shared on the company’s internal website. “Going to the stores, hearing from the store team members themselves on the challenges they’re facing—it’s so important right now, and something that I think that will continue into the future as well,” Ruffner said.

Kim Stewart is editorial director of NACS and editor-in-chief of NACS Magazine.

Market share