Convenience Stores: Understanding How Consumers Shop

This white paper is derived from a major Hartman Group retail study, Shopper Insights: How Cultural Occasions Frame the Consumer Experience, that focuses on shopping and how cultural occasions frame the consumer experience.

In the context of convenience stores, the paper explores shopper behavior as taken from data collected through consumer life histories, ethnographic accounts of consumer home life, extended convenience store ethnographic observations and detailed quantitative data collection and analyses. The paper explores the impact of cultural occasions on shopping in convenience stores and the role of ambiance, relevance, authenticity and community. The paper ends with a thorough analysis of key factors of success for convenience store operators seeking to develop new capabilities in retailing fresh foods.