CONVIENENCE STORE CASE STUDY

Gas stations make money primarily from the attached convenience store, not the gas pump itself. As electronic payment has become ubiquitous, customers can choose whether to enter the store at all, threatening vital in-store foot traffic. Convenience stores have responded by expanding hot food options, but the challenge remains getting people in the door.

Midwestern convenience store chain partnered with DDI Media to design and implement an ad campaign aimed at increasing in-store traffic. They used real-time location data and geofencing technology, combined with smartphone app ownership data, to create and target highly specific audiences. For example, DDI geofenced the gas pumps outside the convenience stores, bringing ads for in-store food products directly to customer’s phones outside. Then they measured the campaign’s efficacy in the form of in-store foot traffic.

The ad campaign led to thousands of unique store visits in locations in multiple states. During 9 months of advertising in-store pickup, the ad campaign resulted in a cost per visit of $2.33. That means every $2.33 spent on the marketing campaign resulted in a unique customer visit, even while the pandemic served as a major deterrent to in-store traffic.