The convenience store industry continues to grow sales at record numbers, but the stakes have never been higher as convenience store owners face competition from multiple retail channels and the growing home delivery industry. As competition increases across the board, savvy retailers are learning to take cost out of their operations to run lean, efficient top-quartile businesses.
The National Advisory Group (NAG) has created an environment where small, mid-sized and family-owned retailers can interact with one another and share ideas for reducing operating costs and increasing sales. The proof can be found in our world-class educational lineup for the 2019 NAG Conference in Minneapolis.
To help retailers return home with actionable ideas to boost sales and cut costs, the 2019 NAG Conference encourages an extremely educational yet highly social environment. The multi-phase schedule encourages interactive dialogue among retailers.
The list of speakers at this year’s conference reads like a who’s who of the best companies in the convenience store and petroleum industry, including Wawa, Kum & Go, Sheetz, GetGo, Verc Enterprises, Holiday Stationstores, Alltown, Parkland Fuel, Oasis Stop N’ Go and many more. Additionally, our panel moderators include Ernie Harker, the former executive director of the CREATE department for Maverik; John Schaninger, the former senior vice president of marketing for QuickChek; and John Matthews, the former president of Jimmy John’s.
Plus, this year’s conference will include several breakout Information Exchanges exclusively for convenience store retailers. Topics for the breakout sessions include CBD and vape, foodservice, industry consolidation, new and emerging fuels, human resources and LEED Certification. This is a powerful agenda aimed at helping make you a better convenience store retailer.
NAG provides the convenience store industry the most exclusive environments for small, mid-sized and family-owned retailers to interact with one another and share ideas for reducing operating costs and increasing sales.
The agenda for this year’s NAG Conference again highlights the association’s ability to understand the needs of convenience store retailers and deliver educational sessions designed to help them grow sales and profits. The high level of input from the retailer board of directors ensures that NAG is meeting retailers’ needs with content that will make them better c-store retailers.
Youth Movement
As the convenience store and petroleum industry continues to evolve, training the leaders of tomorrow is more important than ever. That’s the driving force behind NAG’s Young Executives Organization (YEO).
This growing group of emerging industry leaders is keenly focused on education and networking with other next-generation executives who are facing similar challenges in the competitive convenience store industry — something that will be on full display at the 2019 NAG Conference in Minneapolis.
This is not an easy industry for young professionals. In addition to learning the business, they are faced with other daunting challenges such as learning to negotiate with vendors, managing employees who can be much older than them and, perhaps most importantly, making connections with experienced professionals that can help them navigate the rocky terrain.
This is where YEO is helping c-store chains of all sizes. The association provides young executives a platform to demonstrate their leadership abilities and vision for the future while gaining valuable feedback from seasoned NAG members.
More than 50 young executives attended the annual YEO Conference at McLane in May, and we expect to keep the momentum going in September with this growing group of industry leaders. Linda McKenna, a managing partner with EPS Inc., will lead a YEO breakout session titled “How Millennial Insights Can Connect Your Brand With Customers.”
NAG aims to provide c-store operators with a can’t-miss agenda that is full of learning opportunities and networking. There is not a lot of downtime at a NAG Conference and we don’t parade motivational speakers across the stage. You know how to run your business. Our goal is to provide you with insights, ideas and industry experts that will help you be more profitable. I hope to see you in Minneapolis.
For any questions or suggestions for future issues, please contact me at [email protected].