College students aged 18 to 24 made 351.4 million visits to convenience stores and spent about $5.2 billion on c-store products in the 12-months ending June 2012, according to a recently released report by The NPD Group.
With the population of full-time and part-time college students currently at 19 million, and their discretionary spending reaching $76 billion last year, the NPD report finds there is significant opportunity for c-stores to attract these young adults and build brand affinity.
Student c-store usage has grown across virtually all spending components, and product dollars grew 15% over a year ago, according to the report, “Making the Grade: Student Consumer Impact on the Retail Fuels & Convenience Marketplace.”
The report, which examines how c-stores can capitalize on opportunities to attract college students, also finds that 31.9% of college students’ c-store purchases are impulse buys, compared to 22.7% of other c-store shoppers’ purchases.
In terms of fuel, students make up approximately 4% of the fuel-buying population in the United States. College student fuel brands usage is more centralized around major oil gasoline brands, rather than high-volume retailers like hypermarket and grocery store gasoline retailers, said the report, which includes findings from NPD’s Motor Fuels Index and Convenience Store Monitor research services. (CSP Daily News: www.cspnet.com)
