NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Jan 12, 2012) - Convenience stores might not top the average person's list of marvelous technological achievements, but as The History Channel's "Modern Marvels" makes clear in a new episode on the convenience-store phenomenon, there is much more to America's go-to pit stops than coffee, soda, snacks and hot dogs. Indeed, these remarkable profit centers are carefully designed for maximum speed and efficiency, explains Joseph R. Bona, President of the Retail Division for global branding firm CBX, in on-camera interviews for the hour-long program.
"The successful development of any store starts with the layout," says Bona, who has designed convenience stores for more than 30 years, often relying on a zoning system that maximizes impulse-buying while also making the shopping experience as quick and easy as possible. Such innovations, the program notes, have been responsible for the c-store industry's impressive track record in recent years. Today, there are more than 144,000 stores across the country, with the sector accounting for about one out of every 23 dollars spent in the United States in a given day.
Busiest from 6 to 9 a.m., c-stores are a symphony of coordination -- built for speed, designed to influence customers, constantly on guard for crime and equipped to stop it, the show explains. During the morning rush alone, U.S. c-stores sell about 11 million cups of coffee, along with millions of donuts, bagels, breakfast biscuits and other items. The average customer visit, however, lasts only 3.5 minutes. To make this happen in clockwork fashion, c-store companies in North America and abroad have relied on Bona's design expertise for decades. During the program, Bona tells viewers about some of the important principles of good c-store layout, such as specific zones designed to help customers get their bearings, to encourage them to make impulse purchases or to help them find everyday items like the morning newspaper.
During the show, Bona appears at a metro New York area 7-Eleven store (which was not designed by CBX), where he walks viewers through some of these features. In a typical convenience store, he notes, the design of the coffee service area makes it possible to sell hundreds of cups of coffee in a given day with a minimum of wait time for customers. "It's like a production line," Bona tells viewers. "Somebody comes in, they grab a cup, get their coffee, add their cream and sugar, and then they're able to move out of the way."
Explaining that a third of a c-store's sales can come from cold beverages, Bona points out that coolers are deliberately placed farthest from the door, which helps drive traffic through the store. Even subtle details like the location of a cooler's door hinges can make a big difference in directing how customers move through the space, he explains.
Likewise, the visual experience in any store is critically important. "People buy with their eyes," Bona says, in describing what he calls the "Impulse Zone," an area of the store stocked with common impulse purchases.
While the featured 7-Eleven store offers about 5,000 different items, its total selling area amounts to only about 1,600 square feet. Certain merchandising principles help maximize the efficiency of this diminutive space, Bona explains. "One of the important things is putting like things together," he notes.
The show, which covers everything from the history of 7-Eleven's Slurpie to recent innovations in convenience store security, is downloadable from iTunes. To watch the program online, visit http://www.history.com/shows/modern-marvels/videos/modern-marvels-convenience-stores#modern-marvels-convenience-stores.
About CBX
CBX, www.cbx.com, is a fully integrated creative agency specializing in retail design and operations, brand and corporate identity development, packaging, research, and motion branding. The award-winning company maintains offices in New York City, Minneapolis and San Francisco in the U.S., and in Seoul, South Korea. As a full-service consultancy, CBX offers architecture, interior design, merchandise and store planning, identity and branding, graphics and environmental graphic design, media design, product design, master planning, construction detailing and consumer research.