The Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) 2020 State of Industry Report was released yesterday at the Connect 21 Conference held at the Crown Palladium in Melbourne.
The State of the Industry Report, prepared and launched by Brett Barclay from CMA, has highlighted that while fuel sales were down 14 per cent in 2020, shop sales improved 5.1 per cent.
Theo Foukkare, CEO of AACS, said that convenience stores have continued to invest in new formats and have extended their range into areas like hot coffee and foodservice and this helped the industry get through the year despite the 11 per cent decline in total transactions.
Basket value excluding fuel was up 8.4 per cent as customers purchased more despite visiting less, driven by grocery items, tobacco and beverages.
Store numbers were also up 0.8 per cent passing 7,000 stores for the first time, despite the lockdown restrictions.
Fuel volumes climbed above the 2019 average for the first time in December 2020, which has shown people are back out and about and that has extended into a strong start to the year in 2021 as well.
“AACS would also like thank the team at CCA for the amazing support of the industry and being the exclusive sponsor of the 2020 State of Industry Report.”
Written by James Wells