National Convenience Show 2016

Convenience is getting fresh. It might even be getting healthy. It’s certainly sleeker and more streamlined than ever. And everything indie retailers need for an invigorating business workout will be at the National Convenience Show over three days in Birmingham later this month.

It could provide a much-needed fillip for indie c-stores. The Grocer’s Grocery Retail Structure 2015 revealed that while the overall number of c-stores in Britain has grown 1.5%, it’s the mults driving this as they muscle in on independent territory. Convenience multiple store number grew 10.6%, co-ops by 3.2% and symbols by 1.6%, while 0.7% of unaffiliated indie convenience stores closed.

The mults continue to make fresh and chilled produce more prominent in convenience. Other parts of the sector are responding in a big way, says NCS event director Jack Halliday. “Fresh and chilled is a huge growth area, which is continuing to develop,” he says. “People expect to be able to buy fresh from a c-store and the show will allow visitors to find solutions in that area.”

There will be no shortage of kit aimed at helping operators up their game in fresh, such as Metro green wire shelving, ideal for small fruit & veg displays outside stores, on the Slingsby stand, and refrigeration solutions from Epta and DWM. New chilled product exhibitors, meanwhile, will include Bernard Matthews and Crediton Dairy, which recently launched its Moo milk drinks in a single-serve format.

Ornua Foods has a renewed focus on the c-sector, and debuts at the show with brands including Pilgrims Choice, Mull of Kintyre, Pembrokeshire and Kerrygold, which has a 200g PMP for ­convenience. Show partner Friesland Campina will showcase its Optiwell and Yazoo drinks, and Nomadic’s lassi drink is a candidate for the Great New Idea prize, voted on by NCS visitors.

“More health and nutrition-led products are breaking into smaller format stores,” says Halliday. Under the healthy halo, there’s Aussie liquid breakfast brand Up & Go, TypicalGreen’s NFC juice smoothies and healthier snack brands Propercorn and Popchips. Gluten-free products also have a presence through free-from brand Nature’s Store and gluten-free beer Daura Damm. Primal Pantry’s range of raw paleo bars is soon to be supplemented by two new protein bars, which will be sampled at the show.

Streamlining operations

Getting lean has more than one meaning in convenience. This year, several exhibitors will be helping c-store owners streamline their operations. Universe HTEC will launch new integrated head office, back office and PoS systems with its user-friendly dashboard. Jupiter head office system is a web portal allowing access from any location, while back office system Callisto is integrated into PoS set-up Europa, so when an item is scanned Callisto automatically adjusts the stock level, reducing reliance on PoS for holding data. “There’s so much stuff independent guys need to know and the system is a way for them to access it quickly and easily,” says creative designer Josefine Nilsson.

Swedish-Norwegian company StrongPoint enters the UK market this year with a specialist vending solution for high-value goods like tobacco and razor blades (see Innovations), and will also be exhibiting CashGuard, its take on cash management technology. Made up of secure coin and note recycling units and associated software, the system tracks and holds the cash passing through the business, issues change and reduces the amount of time spent dealing with cash. “You have no more internal theft of cash and you negate the risk of losing cash during a robbery,” says sales director Peter Ahnegård.

In the face of competition from the mults, discounters, forecourts and symbols, indies have to develop a point of difference - but what do customers want? With internet shopping now a way of life, the option to collect deliveries from a convenient location is high on the list. Parcelly, which partners with shops and businesses to form a network of collection points, is exhibiting at the show. There’s no cost to retailers to join the network and they can control the number and size of parcels they receive to stay on top of potential storage issues.

When it comes to cash, customers want a simple, free ATM, according to Clive Marshall of DC Payments. “Customers are keen not to pay,” he says. As well as providing a service, increasing footfall and boosting basket spend, ATMs benefit retailers in other ways - self-fill machines recycle cash from the tills and save on bank charges. Both Marshall and Nicole Freeman of ATM supplier YourCash agree that demand for more complex banking machines with the ability to handle, for example, bill payment and deposits, isn’t strong in the c-sector - ads and special offers displayed on screens or receipts are a more common request. With this in mind, Cashzone will showcase its ATM ad solution, Joono, at the show.

One service for which demand is still rising, says Halliday, is food to go. “Just over 60% of customers have a food to go mission in mind, or would consider it, when they go to a convenience store or forecourt. Only one in four retailers have a coffee or food-to-go offering. It’s a massive opportunity,” he says. 

It’s not just food to go, of course; hot drinks are increasingly sought after. Midlands-based My Coffee Station thinks it has the edge in hot drinks, especially where retailers are serving a price-sensitive customer base. Its ‘pods’ produce bean-to-cup coffee, tea and hot chocolate at a £1.50 price point. Machines are filled, cleaned and serviced by its team rather than shop staff. “Retailers are stripping down the amount of time they spend in stores and the amount of staff they’ve got,” says My Coffee Station director Laurentt Davies.

To support a more complex food-to-go offer, refrigeration company Adande will showcase its compact chilled and frozen storage units, some of which have load-bearing worktops to allow for use as a prep station or a base for cooking equipment.

And once the convenience customer has finished shopping, they need somewhere to put their haul. Basket and trolley specialist Formbar will be bringing the Loop 100 to the show. With a capacity of 34 litres, it has 360 degree castors and a bright grab rail encircling the basket, so can be pushed or pulled in any direction. Formbar will also showcase the Snupy two-tier basket trolley, which has a 60-litre capacity with a small footprint.

Sleek, streamlined and with the capacity for profit: sounds just like the future of progressive convenience retailing.