Being profitable in retail business is not easy. And the c-store business is no exception to this fact.

Some c-store operators feel that it is just natural that not all of their stores will be successful. There’s a persistent view that this business follows the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 rule, which says most of the time, if you have nine stores, 1/3 of them are “A” stores, 1/3 of them are ”B” stores and 1/3 of them are “C” rated stores. This rating is based on the profitability of the stores.

When the store operators are guided by this simplistic “rule” they consider it normal that only 1/3 of their stores make good money, while 1/3 is catching up to these, and the other 1/3 barely breaks even.

But you don’t have to accept this situation blindly. Sure, there are some store locations where traffic just dried out, or the population is drifting away. But in many cases, and even under the aforementioned circumstances, it is up to the store management to improve the store performance, maybe with the help from the higher echelon of management.

Before writing the store off as a loser, look at the data. Check the demographics of the area: does it lose the population or is it stable? What about the median income stats? Is the income growing proportionally with inflation and rising prices? Get the latest traffic data, not just for the primary road the store faces, but on the secondary and adjacent roads in the trade area, and observe the trends.

If the population did not decline, income is stable and traffic is robust, then the reasons for the store not being a cash cow it should be, is inside the store -  and you have to have a heart-to-heart conversation with the store manager.

Oh, and all that data we mentioned earlier? Make sure it comes from a reliable, experienced provider, committed to supplying only accurate, cross-verified and human-checked analysis – like Ticon.