Hard-working families running a convenience stores in Ontario 365 days a year, are in every community and we appreciate the long hours they put in.
In this past year, the convenience sector has changed drastically with the arrival of vaping products. We are seeing more and more tobacco users moving over to vape.
The time has come to recognize the need of the convenience store channel to carry a full line of vaping products to satisfy consumer choices and to continue to professionally handle vape products as required under the Ontario Smoke-Free Act. Age testing is very important to ensure that those under age are not acquiring products in stores. Our channel continues to demonstrate our ability to be the best at handling and selling age-restricted products.
Plain packaging is coming to our shelves for tobacco and this again will define a shift in SKUs and conceivably in customer preferences where the lowest price on the shelf may by the products of choice. Begin the process of how you see the entire tobacco section going forward as we look to an exciting new category in our stores – beer/wine
Our largest traffic generator is lottery sales and we’re pleased to see that the convenience sector accounts for 76% of all lottery sales and is the choice of players in every community. Let’s not lose sight of these customers and work with our Ontario Lottery Representatives to enhance the category while introducing new and exciting games going forward. The OLG has proven to be a great partner.
Times are changing and the future will be beer & wine, lottery sales, healthier products, as well as food service to satisfy the needs of the next generation of convenience store customers.
