The Shape of Food Retailing in the New Normal 5: ROADSIDE RETAIL

The paper features insights from 65 global retail leaders and experts and explores the need to quickly refocus business models on the needs of people and not vehicles.

Throughout the decade, fuel and convenience retailers will be tasked with answering a simple question: “why will the customer of 2030 visit my roadside outlet?” Roadside retailing faces a variety of disruptive headwinds that threaten long-successful business models.

The paper’s five authors call for an immediate repositioning around the needs of people rather than vehicles. “The global fuel and convenience industry is at a crossroads,” says lead author Scott Annan. “The internal combustion engine’s appetite for fuel is declining, and much of the demand for charging electric vehicles will be satisfied at consumers’ homes. Future opportunities are plentiful for those retailers who recognise that our needs for mobility and food remain interconnected.”