In Q2 2024, 20 of 32 reported countries experienced gains in convenience store value sales versus a year ago, according to the Q2 2024 Global Convenience Store Industry Report from NACS and NIQ. The report measures convenience store value sales across several markets, including the United States, Canada, Latin America, the Asia-Pacific region, and Europe. The 41-page report looks at overall sales by country, unit sales increase, and unit price increases, in addition to a deeper dive singling out five “what’s hot” and five “what’s not” categories.
Of the countries delivering growth in Q2, five experienced double- or triple-digit growth—down from seven in the prior quarter. Among the 20 countries registering growth, nine were in Latin America, seven in the Asia-Pacific region, and four in Europe. Only five countries had improved growth in Q2 2024 versus the prior quarter—down from twelve in the previous quarter. Except for the Philippines, most countries with improved growth experienced modest increases from those in Q1 2024. Growth rates in many of the countries with declining performance in Q2 2024 fell sharply from the levels achieved in Q1 2024.
“While many countries have shown improvements in convenience store value sales, inflation continued to be a major driver for countries in Latin America. Our report sheds light on current performance trends across regions,” said James Hunt, senior vice president, North American retail at NIQ. “Snacking and non-alcoholic sales continue to outpace the rest of stores in Europe, and personal care and food items for consumption in the home are key sales drivers in Asia-Pacific.”
Across the nine NIQ-measured Latin America countries included in this report, seven had better convenience store Q2 2024 value and unit sales growth than the total market: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay. All reported countries achieved convenience store value growth, and it was the highest in Argentina (+264%), followed by Uruguay (+24%), Brazil (+13.4%), Colombia (+9.9%), Mexico (+8.0%), Peru (+7.9%), and Chile (+6.5%). There was unit growth in seven countries with the largest increase in Uruguay (+21%), followed by Brazil (+9.7%), Peru (+9.2%), and Columbia (+6.5%).
With the most extreme inflationary pressure of all Latin America countries, all five “what’s hot” categories in Argentina had triple-digit value growth. There was double- or triple-digit growth for all “what’s hot” categories in six countries, while Panama experienced single-digit growth in all “what’s hot” categories. Soft drinks were on the high-growth lists in four countries, while water appeared on the high-growth lists in three countries.
U.S. convenience store value sales fell 1.3% in Q2 2024, while value sales grew 1.1% in the remaining market. Excluding tobacco products, convenience store dollar sales growth fared slightly better versus the remaining market (-0.1% and +1.1%, respectively). Inflationary pressures remained elevated for convenience stores versus the remaining market in Q2 as average unit prices in c-stores grew 3.6% (+4.2% excluding tobacco products), and just 1.4% in the remaining market (with and without tobacco products).
Frozen dispensed beverages (+16.7%) delivered the best value sales growth in Q2 2024, while packaged ice cream novelties (+9.9%) was third best. Three of the top five growth categories in Q2 2024—ice (+10.5%), wine (+6.9%), and liquor (+6.8%)—were also on the Q1 2024 and Q4 2023 top five growth lists. Hot dispensed beverages (-8.7%) and fluid milk products (-8.6%) had the largest value sales declines on the top five “what’s not” list, followed by cigarettes (-5.5%), packaged sweet snacks (-5.5%), and alternative snacks (-5.3%).
Published quarterly by NIQ and NACS, the Global Convenience Store Industry Reports focus on global, regional and country-level views of the convenience channel. They were created to help convenience channels understand changing consumer dynamics, uncover the issues impacting consumers globally, showcase opportunities and challenges in the industry, and contribute to a unified understanding of trends impacting individual trade areas for the global convenience store industry. The quarterly reports are only available to NACS members.