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market through deals, including a $3.3 billion purchase of Sunoco LP gas stations announced in 2017.
NACS Announces SOI Summit Virtual Experience NACS recently announced that its 2020 State of the Industry (SOI) Summit was recast as a virtual, on-demand experience available for viewing as of April 14. The “2020 NACS State of the Industry Summit Virtual Experience” includes nearly a dozen sessions analyzing industry performance, trends and economic forces in a new era of “anytime, anyplace convenience.” The virtual offering also features a special session looking at how coronavirus (COVID-19) is shaping consumer demands for convenience, in addition to informative sessions that will explore how to take the headwinds of retail disruption, technology and changing consumer need states and turn them into tailwinds to accelerate innovation and win customer trips. The new NACS SOI Summit Virtual Experience is offered as a bundled enterprise registration, opening up
“e virtual offering also features a special session looking at how coronavirus (COVID-19) is shaping consumer demands for convenience.”
participation to attendees from a single organization through one shared license. “In this virtual experience format, we realize one of the most powerful benefits of the live State of the Industry Summit—networking with industry friends and peers—cannot be replicated. We’re excited to bring new virtual collaboration, interactive questions and discussions to the 2020 SOI Summit Virtual Experience. Each session will be accompanied by interactive discussion boards, an ‘ask the presenter’ question-and-answer forum and opportunities to engage with other attendees on your thoughts and ideas for each presentation,” said NACS Vice President of Research Lori Stillman. Complete topic details and speaker bios, along with registration details, can be found at convenience.org/SOISummit.
U.S. Retail Sales Took A Big Hit In March With the pandemic keeping most Americans at home, U.S. retail sales slumped 8.7 percent in March, their worst monthly decline on record in the data available from the Census Bureau, which dates back to 1992, reported CNN Business. Excluding autos and gas, retail sales fell by 3.1 percent. While retail trade fell overall, one category stood out: grocery store sales surged 26.7 percent in March. And sales at non-store retailers, a category that would include e-commerce sites like Amazon, increased 3.1 percent. But sales at clothing and accessories stores, meanwhile, plunged 50.5 percent in
March. Sales at furniture and home furnishing stores declined 26.8 percent, sales at sporting goods stores fell 23.3 percent, and electronics and appliance sales declined 15.1 percent. Except for grocery stores and other “essential” retailers, companies have shuttered stores and furloughed or laid off workers. Consumers have also pulled back their spending on discretionary items. That combination led to the steep drop in retail sales. The coronavirus crisis will widen the gap between big box chains like Walmart and Costco, which are benefiting from panic shopping for groceries, and struggling clothing chains, experts predict.
Amazon Opens Its First Cashierless Grocery Store Amazon recently opened Amazon Go Grocery, its first full-size cashierless grocery store, in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, reported CNBC. At 10,400 square feet, the store at 610 E. Pike St. incorporates the same technology found in the two dozen or so Amazon Go locations. Shoppers can walk in, scan a QR code from their Amazon mobile app at a turnstile, carry or add whatever they want to their baskets throughout the store, and walk out when they are finished. Zero human interaction is required, though the store has a staff of a couple dozen people to help stock shelves and answer shoppers’ questions. The new store is stocked with about 5,000 items, includcontinued on page 66
“Amazon has opened its first cashierless grocery store in Seattle with over 5,000 items.”
convenience.org/SOISummit AVANTI m a r c h | a p r i l 2 0 2 0
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