Petro-Canada, Wholefoods, Couche Tard and a Tobacco Display Ban Guide

  In Toronto we will be getting an insider look at PetroCanada’s Worldclass new Neighbours forecourt format and drive thru. Our study tour will include hosted site visits, presentations from leading Canadian convenience retailers and an industry dinner. Our group will then fly on to the NACS Show in Las Vegas.

Petro-Canada, the Canadian forecourt convenience operator, is developing its Neighbours convenience store format as a destination outlet, famous for coffee and foodservice. Neighbours format and branding are separate from the fuel brand, attracting commuters and female shoppers with a food-for-now offer, rather than impulse purchases.

Ed Burcher, Senior Director for Foodservice at Petro-Canada, sees Neighbours as the next generation of convenience store. “We wanted to leapfrog the competition and move away from our heavy dependence on tobacco and snacks and over-reliance on fuel and carwash. Petro-Canada has looked to the U.S. and U.K. markets for inspiration as well as outside its core channel”.

The new design places food as the centrepiece and includes speciality coffees rather than self-serve, freshly made sandwiches, a signature panini offer plus all-day breakfast. Inside, pod merchandising allows for an open flow and there exists open case merchandising on soft drinks. The exterior, meanwhile, is stone-fronted with a patio and outside seating area. Neighbours also features touch-screen ordering, but for limited time offers. According to Burcher, this ensures staff can deliver customized orders in fewer than two minutes.

At the drive thru, meanwhile, two till points have been installed to deliver orders within 30 seconds, including breakfast. Offering a fast and friendly service is a key differentiator. Read more on our Global C-Store Focus Newsletter

Also included will be visits to other best practice operators including Wholefoods, Couche Tard, Esso on the Run, Tim Horton’s, Pioneer Petroleum, Sobey’s and Richtree Market Restaurants.

A Tobacco Display Ban Guide for International Retailers

  World Class Formats like Neighbours are not our only reason to go to Canada this year. Canada now has a display ban on tobacco products and we are also using the trip as an opportunity for international Convenience retailers to start to prepare for pending future bans on the display of tobacco products. Our tour will educate international retailers on the likely impact of the tobacco display ban to their businesses in the future and give them a head start on possible strategies to deal with it. Part of our store visit programme will focus on a practical evaluation of the ban’s impact in Canada, including the following questions:

• What impact does the display ban have on footfall, impulse sales and shopper behaviour in-store in Canada?
• What competitive implications will a display ban have regarding larger store competitors?
• Will tobacco companies’ support of the C Store sector be adversely affected by market changes?
• What will replace the sophisticated tobacco display/storage and marketing fixtures? What are the costs involved?

Order online now
Price: $2,495
Includes 3 nights hotel accommodation, breakfasts, presentations, networking dinner, coaches and study tour pack. Not including flights.

I attended the 2007 NACS Study Tour and found the event inspirational - great networking opportunities, great stores and inspirational speakers. It was time well spent and I got a great feel for the US retail environment in a very short time. The whole event was well organized and enabled me to relax and focus on increasing my knowledge and bringing learnings back to the UK.
Paul Whittaker, Trade Marketing Manager, The Wrigley Company Limited.

List of companies who attended NACS tours organised by Insight in 2007-8:
7-Eleven Convenience Stores, Allied Bakeries, Applegreen, Arla Foods plc, Associated Newspapers Ltd, Baron pa-ku Company Ltd, BP Retail UK, Bradley McGurk Partnership, Buytheway Inc.,Cadbury, Cadena Comercial OXXO, Camelot Group plc, Cosmo Oil Sales Company Ltd, Couchetard, David Sands Ltd, Delice de France plc, Deutsche BP AG, DHL, Dippsa, DTV Tabakwaren-Vertriebsgesellschaft, Gallaher Ltd, Gardiner Petroleum Pty Ltd, Ginsters, GlaxoSmithKline, Gold Axis Company Ltd, Green & Black’s Ltd, GS Retail Co. Ltd, him!, HLT Enterprises LLC, Imperial Tobacco Ltd, Inner Space Stations, James Graven & Sons Ltd, JMEL Enterprises, Kraft Foods UK Ltd, Martin McColl, Masterfoods, Merrychef Ltd, Musgrave Retail Partners GB, Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland, Nestle UK Ltd, News International plc, Newtrade Publishing Ltd, Nine One One, One Stop, Palmer & Harvey McLane, PayPoint, PepsiCo UK, Proctor & Gamble, Rautakirja Oy, Repsol Argentina, Scottish & Newcastle UK, Select Service Partner, Sewell Distribution Group, Shaw Petroleum, SPAR (UK) Ltd, Statoil Retail Europe, Storefit Shopfitters Ltd, The Co-operative Group, The Murphy Group LLC, The North West Company, The POP Company, The Wrigley Company Ltd, Tine BA, Torex, Unilever Bestfoods UK Ltd, United Biscuits, USP Market Intelligence GmbH, Visa, Wagro Tabakwaren, Wilson Fuel Co. Ltd, YPF SA, YX Energi Norge AS