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Gas and Convenience Store Marketing and Promotion Ideas

Gas and Convenience Store Marketing and Promotion Ideas

Some products sell themselves, but more marketing and promotion can take your convenience store sales to the next level.

To ensure that your marketing and promotion activities give you a large boost in revenue, you should use data in your Inventory Management System to identify good products for marketing and promotions.

For example, if the data in your Inventory Management System or Convenience Store Software shows you that two items are regularly purchased together, you can offer a small discount on this pair of items to encourage further sales and provide loyalty incentives to regular customers who buy these products together.

Gas Station Promotion Ideas for Convenience Stores

You can use these promotions ideas to incentivize more sales in your gas station convenience store by providing greater value to your customers.

Paired Item Discounts

Giving discounts on items that your customers tend to purchase together (bags of chips, car charger and headphones with mic, hot dog and soda, etc.) is a great way to drive sales and secure the loyalty of customers already buying these items together. Use inventory purchase data to pick item pairs already being bought regularly and to find good items to discount as a pair.

Customer Rewards/Loyalty Program

Customer reward/loyalty programs are a great way to promote your store and get more repeat business from people who visit your store all the time. Whether you’re offering discounts or free items, rewards should be substantial enough to be appreciated by your customers, so don’t be stingy with your loyalty incentives!

Hold Contests Regularly

Holding and advertising contests is a great way to generate local buzz for your convenience store and attract passers by who hope to win big. Contests can also be a great community outreach tool for increasing local interest and sales. For example, a contest for local kids to color in a simplified drawing of your convenience store. Just be sure to offer prizes that are truly buzzworthy ($100 gas card, 10 free lunches, etc.).

Partner With Nearby Businesses

Partnering with nearby businesses substantially increases the draw that your convenience store has for passers by, and can greatly increase your in-store traffic. For example, you can partner with a major tourist attraction in your town to offer a discount to admission, gaining you a flood of tourist traffic to your store. You could also partner with a local restaurant to level-up the hot food your store offers, as long as you follow required health code requirements.

Convenience Store Products for Fill Up

Offering convenience store products for a fill up (coffee, soda, snack, etc.) is a great way to get people choosing your convenience store/gas station over the competition. This offer also incentivizes greater fuel purchases when people are filling up.

Cash Discount For Gasoline

Cash discounts for gas sales are used by many convenience stores with attached gas stations, and is especially effective in areas where cash is more frequently used, such as rural areas with uncertain internet connections for POS systems.

Gas Station Marketing Ideas for Convenience Stores

You can use these gas station marketing ideas to increase the visibility of your store and the interest levels of your target customers, thereby increasing your overall sales.

Advertising on Price

When you have secured margins that let you beat your competition on price, advertising this fact is a quick and easy way to get more traffic in your store. A banner stating that “We beat (Competing Station) on (Product) prices” can kick off a price battle with competitors, but if you have them beat, then it’s a great way to steal their customers and increase the loyalty of your regular customers.

Advertise Breakfast and Other Daily Essentials

Everyone needs breakfast, it’s the most important meal of the day! Marketing breakfast items and other daily essentials can turn your convenience store into the “go to” spot for many of your customers who need a convenient breakfast served fast at an early hour.

Advertise at the Pump

People filling up at the pump have a minute or two to kill, so don’t miss this opportunity to get them into your convenience store with ads at the pump. To target the best products to advertise, look for the most common purchases people make with a fill up.

Advertise to Your Target Customers

Your target customers represent the greatest spending power in your area, and targeting your advertising to the needs and wants of this demographic can greatly boost sales and loyalty. For example, if your target customers are tourists on the way to a nearby attraction, creating signage, cutouts or promotions that reference this attraction can get you more tourist attention on your station.

Paid Search Advertising

Paid search advertising on Google and other search engines is a great way to drive traffic to your convenience store from people searching for stores in your area. By being the top search result for “Convenience store near me” or “Gas station near me” in your area, you can greatly increase your in-store traffic, especially for people not familiar with your area.

Social Media Marketing

Creating a social media profile for your convenience store is a great way to increase your online presence and gives your regular customers a place to tell the world about your great service. By promoting contests and special offers on your social media profiles, you can ensure social subscribers see value in their daily lives, thereby increasing their engagement with your social profiles and the effectiveness of this advertising strategy.

By creating promotions that appeal to your target customers and advertising these offers more broadly, you can greatly increase the sales of your gas station/convenience store. For more ideas that will help you increase sales in your convenience store, check out our blog post How to Increase Gas Station Sales.

 

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