Poor outdoor lighting outpaces bad customer service as biggest c-store deterrent, study says

Dive Brief:

Negative ratings of outdoor lighting deterred consumers from visiting convenience stores in 2022 far more than negative ratings of other elements of the business, according to a new consumer study from retail loyalty and technology company PDI Technologies and fuel savings platform GasBuddy.
Specifically, about 8.5% of consumers said that insufficient outdoor lighting would deter them from visiting a c-store, which outpaced poor cleanliness (4.6%), customer service (4.5%), coffee quality (3.9%) and restrooms (1.3%), according to the study.
The impact that poor outdoor lighting can have on a c-store’s foot traffic underscores just how much one aspect of a retailer’s experience influences the way consumers perceive both the forecourt and in-store environment, the study said.

Dive Insight:

In the report, PDI and GasBuddy agreed that although negative ratings for factors like outdoor lighting have more impact than positive ratings, c-stores are able to control these conditions and, consequently, their ratings.

“Improve the overall appearance of your site and ensure that your staff are incentivized to keep it clean,” PDI and GasBuddy said in the report.

With challenges like retail theft and vandalism continuing to persist throughout the c-store industry, good lighting on c-store forecourts at all times could go a long way toward crime prevention, experts say.

“If something looks run down, crime is more likely to occur,” Wade Horton, director of Pinkerton, a corporate risk management services firm, said in a previous interview. “A single store operator on a dark street will probably see an increase [in crime] than one on the corner of two major highways with major lighting.”

PDI and GasBuddy’s study surveyed more than 15,000 convenience retail consumers across the U.S. based on visits in 2022. The data was evenly represented across gender, location, age, and household income. Besides foot-traffic ratings, the report analyzed dwell time and daypart trends, in-store category sales and margin performance and more.