Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit three years ago, many independent c-store operators hadn’t given online shopping a second thought.

But as more people have adopted e-commerce into their shopping routines, companies have reevaluated their position. Quality Mart, a chain based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, that operates more than 60 locations in the Tar Heel State, was among those that saw a need to add digital sales to the mix. 

“We think inside sales remain the future of the business; it’s where we’ll continue to innovate and focus our efforts on providing customers with high level of convenience and superior customer service,” said Michael Robb, vice president of marketing for Quality Oil, Quality Mart’s parent company. 

E-commerce, he said, can provide “another tool in the toolbox to achieve these goals and makes the shopping experience more convenient for our customer.”

The company looked for a vendor to help it build out an ecommerce arm, and kept things local when it chose to work with fellow Winston-Salem e-commerce company Swipeby. 

Quality Mart is piloting Swipeby technology at five of its locations, focusing on the Winston-Salem area for now. Delivery is available in a 20-mile radius from the stores. There is no timeline for expansion of the program yet, Robb said.

Swipeby began operating in 2019 “with the goal to turn any restaurant into a virtual drive-through,” said Carl Turner, the company’s founder and CEO. The startup is still ramping up, with its technology available in less than 100 c-stores at the moment. It offers not only pickup and delivery options, but also review capabilities and easy options for communicating with the customers, which matched what Quality Mart was looking for. 

Although founded with restaurants in mind, Swipeby has quickly found that c-stores had many of the same needs for meal prep and fulfillment.

Turner said a “top five” c-store chain initially expressed interest in Swipeby’s technology. A deal didn’t pan out, but “it put focus on an industry which in the end is somewhat similar to restaurants, which is actually moving very aggressively into QSR,” he said.

Swipeby helped Quality Mart set up delivery and pickup, and let visitors know about the addition via signs and videos at the pumps, direct mail and more. Customers can use the app to place an order for pickup, pay from the phone and run in to grab it when they reach the store.

Alternatively, if they have something they want when they’re filling up, they can scan the QR code there, place the order, and go in to grab it once they’ve finished pumping gas or getting a car wash.

“You can convert straight on the pump,” Turner said

Building toward the future

Swipeby also helps Quality Mart gather feedback on its delivery orders via its five-star review tool, which invites customers to rate orders once they’re complete. The customer is also prompted to share their review, along with comments, in places like Google or social media pages. If the review is less than stellar, the tool will ask for feedback and push that information to the store.  

Encouraging more customers to leave reviews can help a store gain visibility with new visitors, who may not check out a shop with too few public reviews, Turner said. It can also be valuable for a convenience store.

“They right now have a tough time actually collecting feedback when people just are at the pump,” he said.

Since the partnership only started in early February, Robb said there hasn’t been enough customer feedback yet to have a good feel for how it’s being received. 

“As with any pilot, it will take some time to capture a better understanding of its consumer’s use along with other key measurables,” said Robb.  

But as they innovate, Turner sees c-stores like Quality Mart as well positioned to challenge other industries.

“Just looking at the future … we will really see convenience stores becoming core competitors to coffee, grocery convenience and food,” said Turner. “Because they have the locations, they have the infrastructure, and it should be really easy for them to roll some of these things out.”