Convenience Store Sales Hit Record High

The convenience store segment saw record sales in 2023 with consumers spending nearly $860 billion, according to figures from the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS).

In store sales accounted for $327.6 billion in the previous year with the average basket per trip up 3.7% to $7.80. Total revenue across the segment was $859.8 billion.

Industry foodservice sales—which includes prepared food; commissary; and hot, cold and frozen dispensed beverages—represented 26.9% of in-store sales, up 1.3 percentage points in 2023 from the year prior. Foodservice also accounted for 37.3% of total in-store profits.

Four of the five categories that comprise foodservice made the top 10 in-store sales categories, led by prepared food, which grew 12.2% to $51,500 per store per month, making it the No. 1 category for in-store sales. Other foodservice categories in the top 10 were hot dispensed beverages, cold dispensed beverages and commissary items.

Convenience stores, which sell an estimated 80% of the fuel purchased in the country, saw total fuel sales decrease in 2023 to $532.2 billion, largely as a result of lower gas prices, which decreased 11.2% to $3.53 in 2023. Fuel sales accounted for 67.3% of revenues, but only 38.6% of profits for the convenience store industry in 2023.

Factoring in both transactions at the pump and inside the store, the average convenience store had 45,312 transactions per month in 2023, or 1,491 per day, a 0.4% decrease from the year prior.

Store count across the convenience store segment of retail grew 1.5% to 152,396 stores.

Complete analysis of industry data and trends will be detailed in the NACS State of the Industry Report of 2023 Data, which will be published in June.