Discover the fast-paced world of convenience shopping, where the average trip lasts just under three minutes. Learn how retailers can maximise sales by understanding shopper behaviour and optimising store layouts accordingly.
Think about what you could do in three minutes – you could listen to a short song; you could make a cup of tea and grab a biscuit; you could run 1,878m if you’re as consistently fast as Usain Bolt – OR, you could head to your local Convenience store and carry out an average shopping trip.
Yes, that’s right – the average shopping mission in Convenience stores lasts just 2 minutes and 53 seconds*. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this is far, far shorter than when shoppers are in larger stores, which means that retailers don’t have much time to grab the attention of the average shopper.
What we also know is that the average Convenience shopping mission contains just FOUR items*. It could be bread, butter eggs and juice; pasta, garlic bread, a bottle of wine and some ice cream; or a couple of packs of biscuits, some teabags and some milk.
Understanding how quick shoppers shop Convenience stores and how few items they put into their baskets has significant implications. The key things a convenience retailer should be considering when trying to maximise sales are:
Ultimately, we don’t have long to influence shoppers shopping in Convenience stores, so we must do all we can to reach them before they arrive and make their mission as quick as possible when in store.
Source: * pladis Convenience research study 2024