Rising gas prices are having all sorts of ripple effects on shopping behavior. And one habit that may be most acutely threatened is the tradition of picking up a soda, bag of chips or energy bar at the gas station.During its second-quarter earnings call on Thursday, PepsiCo executives said that sales at “impulse channels” like gas stations and convenience stores have been challenged, likely due to rising gas prices and the Iran War. As of July 13, the national average price for a gallon of regular gas was $3.87, according to AAA.
“We’ve seen a slowdown of the conversion of traffic into purchases,” Ramon Laguarta, chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, said during the earnings call. PepsiCo’s net revenue was still up 6.4% year over year during the second quarter.
Retail executives at convenience stores, warehouse chains and CPG giants like PepsiCo are all trying to figure out how rising gas prices may affect their businesses. If people don’t visit gas stations as frequently, it stands to reason that they may not make impulse purchases there as frequently.
And there’s data to suggest that gas station owners have a right to be worried. Location analytics firm Placer.ai, which tracks weekly foot traffic to different retailers year over year, has noted a consistent decline in visits to gas stations since mid-April. For the week of June 29, visits to gas stations were down 4.1% year over year. It’s worth noting that Placer.ai analyzes foot traffic data from over 30 gas station chains across the U.S., exclusively tracking those with on-site convenience stores.
