U.S. c-stores set new sales record on 2022
The recently published NACS State of the Industry report reflected $300 billion in sales for the retail industry driven by foodservice.
NACS’ latest State of the Industry report for 2022 revealed a record year in sales for convenience stores across the United States.
The convenience industry achieved a total of $906.1 billion in sales, including $302.8 billion from in-store sales, representing 33.4% of industry sales. According to the report, in-store sales grew 9.0% in 2022, with packaged beverages, other tobacco products, salty snacks, candy and packaged sweet snacks registering double-digit increases year over year.
Fuel sales at convenience stores, which represent almost 80% of the fuel sold on a national level, followed the trend. NACS registered an increase of 41.2%with a total amount of $603.2 billion in sales directly linked to higher gas prices throughout the country, which registered a 33.7% increase.
During 2023 NACS State of the Industry Summit, the entity revealed the results and outlined three main factors that drove these outcomes throughout the sector:
- Higher convenience store count: A 1.5% increase that led to a total of 150,174 operating stores across the country.
- Inflation: The annual merchandise CPI increased 7.9% and the foodservice CPI increased 9.7% last year.
- Continued growth of foodservice: Overall, average foodservice sales represented 25.6% of average, monthly in-store sales and 36.1% of in-store gross margin.
Despite the growth in sales across the industry, operative expenses also registered an increase alongside credit card swipe fees. The latter follows a trend that has been repeating since 2020 and now stands at $19.5 billion. In addition, labor costs climbed in 2022, with a rise of 9.1% in wages for full-time employees and 12.6% for part-time workers.
