Not Just Another Pretty Face

When you think c-store merchandise, makeup and skin care products aren’t top of mind. Maybe they should be.

Today’s modern c-stores are extending their appeal. As a result, the merchandise they carry has never been more varied.

The newest food and drink concepts always get a lot of attention, but there’s more potential in what a c-store can offer a consumer, especially as localities increasingly look to their neighborhood stores as all-around retail destinations.

Take Health and Beauty Care (HBC), for example. It’s a well-established convenience store category—21 in the brand new NACS Category Guide, to be exact—but like the rest of the industry, it’s grown and diversified to include everything from baby care products to liquid vitamins. In fact, to someone with an old school mindset, some items within the category might appear out of place in a c-store, like makeup and skin care products.

That’s just how it seems, though. While HBC may not create the buzz of foodservice or a beer cave, insightful operators recognize that the category can provide a steady stream of income when run effectively. The growth potential of the category, supported by larger store footprints and broader consumer expectations for c-stores, is gone over in great depth in this NACS Online article. And it’s not too surprising to find the retail appeal of an effective HBC category extends across the Pacific Ocean, as well.

When discussing the positive potential of HBC, the key, as is the case with so many other store-related concerns, is detailed management and oversight. For the HBC category, this can be challenging given the distinct types of items and categories within, some of which are highly changeable within a brief period of time.

Thankfully, convenience store technology exists that can make tracking HBC sales easy and consistent, while being flexible enough to handle trending demand. SSCS’s Computerized Daily Book (CDB) back-office software is a good example of a tool that can help you mine more profit from your HBC category. If this sounds like something you’d like to know more about, or if you have any questions, please call us at 800-972-7727.