At Your Convenience

In a recent edition of CSP's "At Your Convenience" podcast, our team talked to industry experts Dan Razowsky from R-Marts and Rick Schepp from GTI and Rhythm, discussing the current trends, challenges and opportunities for hemp beverages in the Chicago market.

As the hemp beverage market continues to grow in Chicago, the podcast highlights both the challenges and opportunities of this emerging category. Retailers must remain adaptable to changing regulations and consumer preferences while leveraging partnerships to enhance brand visibility. For consumers, the increasing availability of hemp beverages in familiar retail spaces offers a welcome introduction to the world of THC products. 

Here are the brand assets to share about the campaign to save hemp beverages: https://brandfolder.com/wswa/save-hemp-bevs

Link to take action: https://wswa.quorum.us/campaign/SaveHempBevs/

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Diane Adam talks to Matt Van Gilder, vice president of omnichannel at NexChapter. 

On this podcast, recorded June 24 at the CSP Center Store Forum by Informa, the two discussed digital shelf and other technology strategies c-store retailers can use to drive growth in the center store.

They also discussed what trends are reshaping consumer buying behavior, retail media networks and artificial intelligence. Van Gilder also shared different strategies when it comes to digital merchandising.

In a recent episode of CSP's “At Your Convenience” podcast, Drew Walls, sales director for retail media at Broadsign, discussed the challenges retailers face when building retail media networks. Walls said retailers often focus on deploying screens first without considering monetization strategy, leading to missed revenue opportunities.

"We are still pricing the screen and not necessarily the moment," Walls said, noting that a 7 a.m. coffee run represents different shopper intent than an evening cold vault visit. He advised retailers to maintain control over audience data, direct brand relationships and measurement methodologies while leveraging hybrid approaches that offer flexibility.

Walls stressed the importance of commercial separation and optionality in retail media architecture, allowing retailers to adapt their technology stack as business needs evolve without losing critical data or demand pathways. Listen to the entire conversation above.

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Chuck Ulie talks with Liza Salaria, senior vice president – category management and foodservice, at Chicago-based W. Capra, about crafting promotions with purpose.

The two spoke at CSP’s Foodservice Forum on June 11 in Schaumburg, Illinois.

On the podcast, Salaria offers suggestions on which strategy or strategies to use when promoting an item.

“If you find yourself in a situation where maybe transactions are soft and trips are down in your store, you may elect to run a heavily discounted product, like maybe fountain, with the sole purpose to drive incremental trips into the store,” Salaria said.

In addition, if customers are visiting a c-store less often, “We need to get them to buy more when they are in our stores, and that's called increasing the basket size, and there are certain promotions we do to particularly accomplish that,” she said.

Retailers also need to get creative on how to develop new daypart missions, Salaria said.

“How do we create new reasons for customers to break in the middle of their day, get away from their computers and come to the local convenience store for maybe something unique, like maybe it’s a smoothie, or it’s a hot cookie, or some new reason?” she asked.

“At Your Convenience” brings industry experts and analysts together with CSP editors to discuss the latest in c-store news and trends. From mergers and acquisitions to foodservice and technology, the podcast delivers the story straight to listeners in short-format episodes, perfect for the morning commute or a quick break at the office.

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Conference Content Manager Rachel Gignac talks to Arjun Chakravarti, managing partner at Cogknition Analytics, Chicago.

Chakravarti discusses critical factors affecting consumer behavior and strategies for convenience-store retailers navigating uncertainty in today’s rapidly changing economic landscape. 

In this podcast, they examine the current economic environment, consumer spending patterns, labor market dynamics and the implications of tariffs on convenience retailers. Chakravarti will report the latest economic factors at CSP's Outlook Leadership conference, which takes place Aug. 4-6 at Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

One key takeaway is that while the economy appears uncertain, there has been a notable increase in consumer spending, particularly among wealthier households. This spending boost is not uniform across all sectors, highlighting the need for retailers to identify their target demographics and tailor their offerings accordingly.

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Diane Adam talks to Dave Williams, president of Bump Williams Consulting. 

On this podcast, recorded May 13 at the CSP Cold Vault Forum by Informa, the two discussed category trends and how to maximize a convenience store’s alcohol portfolio. They also discussed how significant nonalcohol beverages and THC beverages are becoming.

Join CSP Executive Editor Hannah Hammond in an exclusive conversation with Stu Heifetz, senior sales manager of Retail Media at Kwik Trip, as he shares insights into building and scaling one of convenience retail's most successful in-house retail media networks.

In this episode, Stu reveals how Kwik Trip transitioned from outsourced media management to a fully in-house operation, monetizing assets across 900+ stores and reaching 12 million weekly customers. Learn about the challenges of building advertiser relationships, working with category managers, and maintaining a family-business culture at scale.

Convenience stores looking to monetize their digital platforms have a new opportunity in post-transaction advertising, according to Jon Nolz, CEO and co-founder of MomentScience.

Speaking on CSP's "At Your Convenience" podcast in May at the RMN Forum in Chicago, Knowles explained how c-store operators can generate revenue by displaying targeted offers immediately after customers complete purchases through delivery, order-ahead or pickup apps.

"It's the moment that really matters where you have people with their wallet out after they make that payment," Nolz said. "Why not get a free trial?"

The technology integrates into existing systems through simple API or SDK implementations, with some partners completing setup in under an hour. Nolz emphasized balancing monetization with customer experience, recommending retailers maintain control over which ads appear rather than simply maximizing revenue.

While many c-store chains lack dedicated retail media personnel, Nolz sees significant potential as digital ordering continues growing. Non-competitive offers like streaming service trials or loyalty program sign-ups work particularly well in the post-transaction moment, he said.

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP Editor Chuck Ulie talked with Yannis Apostolopoulos, CEO of the Irvine, California-based Specialty Coffee Association, at CSP’s Dispensed Beverages Forum in Lombard, Illinois.

“We want to foster a global coffee community and support activities to make coffee more sustainable, equitable and thriving as an endeavor for the entire value chain,” Apostolopoulos said on the podcast, which was recorded in April.

The CEO also discussed how he’s seen a steady shift toward specialty coffee consumption in the United States—as well as what “specialty coffee” means.

“There is not a clear line what is specialty coffee and what is not specialty coffee,” Apostolopoulos said. “I would say it’s a continuum.”

He also discussed trends in coffee consumption around the world, how the association creates standards—and loyalty.

“Having a good cup of coffee can make a huge difference when it comes down to loyalty, and my ask from the c-store community would be really take good care of your coffee offering. It can make a lot of difference for you,” he said. 

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Retail media networks need to shift their focus from scale and impressions to measurable outcomes if they want to earn sustained brand investment, according to Jake Kaiser, general manager at Par Retail.

Speaking on CSP's "At Your Convenience" podcast in May at the RMN Forum in Chicago, Kaiser emphasized that while loyalty programs provide valuable customer data, they typically capture only approximately 25% of transactions—creating a significant ceiling for proving ROI to CPG partners.

"Scale does not equal value necessarily," Kaiser said. 

Kaiser outlined how identity resolution technology and AI can help retailers expand visibility beyond loyalty members, enabling them to identify and measure outcomes across their entire customer base. This approach allows retailers to prove that specific campaigns drive incremental sales at individual locations.

"The aspirational goal should be 100% of our customers are people we can prove are individual human beings," Kaiser said, adding that AI-powered orchestration will enable faster, more intelligent campaign execution while maintaining quality.