By Chrissy Blasinsky

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—We taught my niece how to play hide-and-seek when she was three years old. She hid as well as a grizzly bear in an open field, giggling as she noticeably ducked behind a chair. We played along, counted to 10 and walked around like we couldn’t see or hear her. Then, eventually, we made eye contact and said, “There you are!”

She’s way more adept at the game five years later, but intentionally hiding is not a game that transpires nicely into the real world, especially retail. Unfortunately for our industry, playing hide-and-seek can feel all too familiar when a customer is looking for something that’s sold in your store—and I’m not talking about out-of-stocks.

Lori Stillman, NACS vice president of research and education, stood on stage at the 2022 NACS Show and shared some of her homemade videos of voice searches for products like cigars, coffee and beer. In each instance she was either standing inside her local convenience store or sitting in the parking lot. Search results failed to yield those stores.

This is a problem. Technology makes searching for something you want or need way more sophisticated. Your digital presence needs to be seen and heard, so if your stores are hiding from customers in search results—buried, actually—who are looking for what you sell, then guess where they’re going to go? That’s right, your competitors.

Find out how THRIVR, a new NACS solution that helps convenience retailers build and manage a localized marketing strategy, in this month’s Convenience Corner blog post.

Chrissy Blasinsky is the content communications strategist at NACS and can be reached at cblasinsky@conveience.org—and that’s the easiest way to find her.