Ice cream and pizzas are still the fast sellers at the gas station

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Ice cream and pizzas are still the fast sellers at the gas station

Interview with Torsten Eichinger, Managing Director MCS Marketing and Convenience-Shop System GmbH in Offenburg

Frozen food products are an important market segment for gas station shops. Nonetheless, business has gotten tougher since supermarkets are open longer in the evenings, explains MCS Managing Director Torsten Eichinger. A trade cooperative of eight grocery wholesalers, by their own account MCS supplies 15,000 gas stations, bakeries, kiosks and grocery stores. In 2008, the group made about 500 Mio Euros in sales turnover with confectioneries, drinks, groceries, phone cards and tobacco products. The systems headquarters in Offenburg coordinates marketing, purchasing, sales and distribution.

In price fights at the gas pump, gas station tenants earn less and less. How does the Shop business develop? Which product categories are increasing in business?

Our customers still have to grapple in parts with the buying resistance of consumers. Particularly in the German federal states, which by now have definitely expanded opening hours, this is also reflected in the Shop’s sales volumes. In addition, the prohibition of alcoholic sales in the evening in Baden-Württemberg boosts the sales volume of gas station operating companies. The few hot weeks in July have done a world of good to ice-cream- and drink sales. To which extent this can have a positive effect on the overall turnover in 2010 remains to be seen, since after this short intensive interlude summer is almost over.

Which frozen foods are a must and which should be in the product selection?

In the frozen food line of goods at gas station shops there are primarily two focal points: Ice cream and pizzas. With ice cream we again have a differentiation in family size packages and the fast seller popsicles. Besides ice cream, mainly pizza plays a big role in the frozen food segment. Despite bistros it still enjoys a weighty share of sales and is especially valued by customers when they forgot to shop for something or need to shop somewhere.

Manufacturers offer additional advertising material: displays, wobblers, special chest freezers. The space in the shops is scarce. What can tenants do?

Each manufacturer delivers advertising material for “their“ products. As a result, there is often a “patchwork“ of the most diverse advertising material, which in particular is sometimes frowned upon by oil companies and in most cases not ideally perceived by the customer. We have thus decided to offer our customers a complete package with posters, wobblers and information toppers for advertising at the gas pump. These advertising materials are coordinated with each other and can serve as the basis for a supply-oriented policy of the shop owner. We offer all of these advertising materials to the members of our customer club in line with our “Initiative POSitiv“. Our customers like to utilize them. Additionally, we offer our customers all fast sellers in one freezer with our ice cream concept “Ice Dreams“. The “Ice Dreams“ chest freezer contains the most important popsicle types from various manufacturers.

Do Shops place more emphasis on freezers or open or closed chest freezers for their frozen food presentation? And why?

It depends: pizzas or ice cream bulk packs should ideally be placed in an upright freezer, because they are better noticed that way. Popsicles are traditionally placed along the “race track“ to the cash register to trigger an impulse buy from the customer.

Do environmental aspects play a role in the selection of refrigeration units? Or is it mostly about reducing operating expenses?

At present operating expenses are in focus. However, there is also an increasingly “greener“ awareness in the selection of freezer equipment noticeable.

Do you see a chance for Digital Signage, this meaning advertising on large TV screens or little displays?

The length of stay in gas station shops is usually quite short. Spots and information would therefore need to be directly adaptable. On the other hand, gas stations have always been open-minded toward new topics, so that I can also picture something like this nationwide really well with an adapted content.

How is your frozen food line of goods at gas stations going to develop in the following years?

This is largely also dependent on the innovations of our suppliers. Particularly gas station customers are open-minded about innovations and hereby offer great sales potential. Our “trend scouts“ from the purchasing department are always on the lookout for new products. Due to the changed store opening hours, our customers partially have suffered sales volume losses. More specifically, there is less demand for pizzas compared to the past, because Shop customers have more time to meet their needs resulting from their forgetfulness in super markets or convenience stores.

Interview: René Schellbach
InterCool.de