Trade group expects strong holiday sales at c-stores.
Do your plans for the annual ritual of ingesting copious amounts of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie – also known as Thanksgiving – include driving out of town for the pleasure of doing so? If so, you might have more company than usual on the highways during the already-busy travel period – not to mention the convenience stores en route.
So says the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), which on Monday released its latest monthly NACS Consumer Fuels Survey.
According to NACS, 93 percent of American drivers surveyed said that they will drive the same or more over the next 30 days. That 93 percent constitutes a record, added NACS, which also found that 72 percent of consumers plan to spend the same or more in stores in the next month. It also means that "c-stores" anticipate strong sales for fuel, food and drinks through the end of the year. Bolstering NACS' prediction are the American Automobile Association and IHS Markit, which project that Thanksgiving automobile travel volume this year will be the highest since 2005.
"Prices at the pump continue to drive consumer optimism," stated NACS, pointing out that 75 percent of those surveyed said that fuel prices affect their views of the economy. In fact, the convenience store trade organization found that 61 percent of consumers expressed optimism about the economy – on par with October's result and 11 percentage points higher than the November 2015 figure. By U.S. region, consumer optimism reportedly was highest in the Northeast (65 percent), followed by the South (62 percent), Midwest (59 percent) and West (57 percent).
According to Lenart, whether the prediction of robust sales at c-stores actually pans out over the next several weeks hinges on a trio of conditions.
To examine detailed results of the survey, which queried 1,100 U.S. adults who purchase fuel for a vehicle at least once a month, visit the NACS website.