PDI, a global company with leading enterprise software solutions serving the convenience retail, petroleum wholesale and logistics industries, has released a report that provides insights into c-store shoppers’ behaviors toward loyalty programs and recommends actionable strategies on how c-stores can improve their programs to attract new members and increase foot traffic.

“Having a loyalty program is not enough in today’s competitive market. What’s crucial is the program’s ability to keep existing customers returning and spending more with every visit, and convert regular consumers into loyal members”

“The C-Store Shopper Report: How to Fuel Customer Loyalty” is based on a survey of 2,221 consumers and 239 US retailers. It was conducted by a third-party research firm, Researchscape, earlier this year.

Study results confirmed the popularity of convenience stores and their loyalty programs alike. The vast majority of US adult consumers — 89 percent — have visited a c-store in the last six months. Meanwhile, loyalty program membership is expanding, with 42.5 percent of consumers saying they belong to a c-store loyalty program, up 6 percent from 2017.

“Loyalty programs are extremely popular because they work. The good news is most c-stores have a program in place. The not-so-good news is that they haven’t maximized their programs to increase foot traffic and encourage higher spending,” said Brandon Logsdon, senior vice president, Marketing Cloud Solutions at PDI. “Our latest report provides first-hand data that c-store owners, operators and marketers can use right away to understand their customers better and improve the performance and outcomes of their loyalty programs.”

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The report provides unique insights into how c-store customers and operators view loyalty programs. It covers the following areas:

• A profile of the average loyalty member, including age, education level and income.
• Why shoppers visit convenience stores and why they choose one c-store brand over another.
• Why shoppers join loyalty programs.
• What c-store operators consider their most serious challenges.
• The top priorities for c-store operators in relation to their loyalty programs.

While the study paints a picture of an overcrowded market and fierce competition for customer loyalty, it also presents many opportunities. C-store operators identified “decreasing store visits” and “attracting new customers” as two of their biggest concerns. Their loyalty programs can help address both. However, they must first revitalize their programs in three ways: promote customer awareness, increase personalized messaging and take advantage of what technology can offer to improve their capability to interact with members in multiple channels.

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“Having a loyalty program is not enough in today’s competitive market. What’s crucial is the program’s ability to keep existing customers returning and spending more with every visit, and convert regular consumers into loyal members,” said Logsdon.

The new report builds upon a similar research report launched by Excentus last year. PDI, which acquired Excentus last year, has expanded the scope of the independent study to include information from c-store operators, in addition to consumers and c-store shoppers.

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