C-Store Operations Best Practices

C-Store operations best practices evolve with experience, technology and creativity. Retail competition is high. Therefore, smart owners and managers seek new ways to serve customers. Naturally, they want to provide new items that are desired. Obviously, they desire higher margins for higher convenience and value.

New products, faster service, cleaner shopping, home delivery, choices, and sometimes just simpler options are all included. Successful C-Store operations best practices make use of hot products as well as long term service excellence. Monitoring results, listening to customers and measuring ROI are all part of choosing the items of value.

In addition to great merchandise and service, operations have a direct impact on results. Operators that achieve high growth, stable margins and increasing loyalty operate well. Technology, management and training drive operations success. Best practices apply to technology selection. Of course, management is critical. Top performers have the same items as the bottom performers. Different cashiers in the same store have different outcomes. Stores are the same. Management and execution make a difference.

C-stores that thrive study best practices. They measure their results with POS scan data analytics and compare themselves internally and externally. The use of data is an objective way to find areas of strength. Of course, objective data will show weakness as well. The key is to know the actual status and focus energy on the priority work that drives sales and provides control.

The Tyranny of OR in a Business Intelligence Environment.

The Tyranny of OR in a Business Intelligence Environment.

C-Store Analytics & Scorecards | C-Store Operations Best Practices
May 19, 2015 — 

Simplicity is an excellent method of assessing goals, designs and decisions. Every businessman understands how much easier it is for staff when things are straight-forward and clear. Simple is a friend to action and results. Sometimes, however, simple can be confused with easy. Simple is almost never easy. Albert Einstein is credited for defining the …

Accountability - Six Things to Get Right - 6. Tracking

Accountability – Six Things to Get Right – 6 – Tracking

C-Store Operations Best Practices | Focus - Accountability Principles | Managing C-Store Change & Accountability
July 10, 2014 — 

Accountability – Six Things to Get Right – 6 – Tracking. Tracking is last of the six items.  It measure progress towards goals. Goals are measured to determine success. They expose actions and results. The assessment of goals judges the level of success. It tells us where we are and where we need to go. …

Accountability – Consequence versus Punishment

Accountability – Consequence Versus Punishment

C-Store Operations Best Practices | Focus - Accountability Principles | Managing C-Store Change & Accountability
May 26, 2014 — 

With Accountability, consequence versus punishment is the key to success. The toughest part about accountability is applying consequences when performance is not as desired. There comes a point when there has to be a negative consequence. If done correctly, such a point only comes when shared expectations were not met and the responsible party had …

Convenience Store Accountability Rules – Oh Yeah!

Convenience Store Accountability Rules – Oh Yeah!

C-Store Operations Best Practices
May 12, 2014 — 

Entering the store for coffee and a snack, a warm ‘hello’ springs from behind the counter while several clients form short lines at 3 registers. The busy store is clean and well organized. Such management does not happen by accident. Oh yeah – convenience store accountability rules make a difference. Accountability is a key component …

What I Learned as a Child Makes a Culture of Accountability Easy

What I Learned as a Child Makes a Culture of Accountability Easy

C-Store Operations Best Practices | Focus - Accountability Principles | Managing C-Store Change & Accountability
January 28, 2014 — 

What I learned as a child makes a culture of accountability easy. My family taught me everything I needed to know to create a culture of accountability. Growing up, a set of values and rules governed our lives. These tenets fit well into the six items that exists within a culture of accountability. Vision / …

The – ‘Accidental’ Sheetz Brand

The – ‘Accidental’ Sheetz Brand

C-Store News & Work Shops | C-Store Operations Best Practices | C-Store Tips
August 10, 2013 — 

I had the good fortune to attend a Sheetz vendor meeting at which Joe Sheetz, the next CEO shared a bit of the history regarding the company’s valuable brand. He discussed how the brand was built ‘accidently’ rather than by a marketing plan. That is, it was created without specific intent. As I listened, I …