Consumer Insights Studies and Industry Reports

As we enter the next decade, convenience stores are at a crossroads as generational turnover and technological advancement change c-stores’ mandate and potential for differentiation. Three issues will dominate c-store trends in the coming decade more than any other: fresh and elevated food to-go, frictionless checkout and automation, and cannabis sales. And fascinatingly, each of these issues seems to pivot on generational segmentations.

It’s been some twelve years since Chipotle first went public and the fast casual revolution got underway. We’ve seen better burger and better pizza concepts proliferate to the point of saturation, ethnic concepts penetrate deeper and deeper into America’s heartland (and hearts), and the occasional misstep and overreach (you know who you are). 

Alcohol is big business—sure, cannabis is starting to encroach on the after work ‘take the edge off’ market, but alcohol remains as American as apple pie (which is also a type of moonshine). Among changing demographics, social attitudes, and relationships to substances, we thought it was a good time to put our finger on the pulse of the drinking nation.

How much and how often are people drinking these days, what are they drinking when they do, and what social situations particularly lend themselves to alcohol consumption in today's shifting social landscape? Also, what further insights can be gleaned from generational, gender, and income segmentations? We were honestly surprised by some of the results.

Our 2018 Cannabis Industry Report isn’t about the industry in isolation, it’s about the way it is already impacting consumers' perceptions of retailers, manufacturers, grocers, and restaurants. To what extent are consumers comfortable with these industries incorporating cannabis into their products and services, what is the best way for these industries to go about it, and how can they do so without alienating a portion of their consumer base? What kind of products do consumers want to see, who do they want to buy them from, and what kind of advertising will be most effective?

TrendSource’s 2018 Retail Industry Report is grounded in an analysis of the omnichannel faultlines across retail, particularly the tensions between in-store and online.

TrendSource’s 2018 Grocery Industry Report is centered around omnichannel adoption, asking, to what extent are consumers turning to digital solutions to fill in their grocery shopping gaps, what they like about in-store experiences that digital cannot replace, and how grocer’s can optimize both their in-store and digital operations.

TrendSource's 2018 Food Service Industry Report offers restaurant operators in-depth analyses of their customers' priorities, pain points, and paths to purchase. Breaking down consumers' relationships to the twenty most popular casual dining chains in the United States, such insights should help casual dining operators (and food service in general) increase check size and market share by offering avenues to appeal to distinct and similar segments of customers. 

TrendSource's 2018 Convenience Store Industry Report offers operators in-depth analyses of their customers' priorities, pain points, and paths to purchase. Such insights should help operators increase basket size and capture market share. Highlights include: