Upside

Deputy General Counsel Michael R. Purdy joined Upside in 2022 after stints at Intelsat and Google, among others. Read more about his role, how he got into technology law, and how he’s developed his career at Upside: https://bit.ly/3LH72XO

Dynamic pricing has been in the news a lot across the first half of this year, and it’s rarely portrayed in a positive light. But there’s nuance to the topic that merits some discussion. Dynamic pricing drives costs up or down based on business need, and can sometimes be predatory. Personalized promotions, on the other hand, drive costs down based on personal need, and are always mutually beneficial. This more targeted approach gives customers more value while driving desired behaviors — like new customer foot traffic or increased order size — while protecting profit margins from unnecessary discounts. It’s a win-win: retailers thrive, earning more profitable transactions, and customers feel valued and incentivized. Want to go deeper on the differences between dynamic pricing and personalized promotions, and find out how they could help or hurt your business? Read more here: https://bit.ly/3zOvkMH

Thanks to CSP Daily News for hosting today’s webinar with David Poulnot and Art S.. They discussed today’s convenience store transaction and revenue trends, the state of c-store demand, and what retailers can do to protect and grow market share. All of that and more is in our new c-store report. Download to give it a read: https://bit.ly/3ydc6zt

Last call! Save your spot for a conversation with c-store veteran Art Sebastian and Upside’s David Poulnot. They’ll talk about inflation-adjusted sales across the industry, the consumer and market forces behind these trends, and everything retailers need to know before making investment decisions for the rest of the year. Register here: https://bit.ly/4cultu3

An Upside survey of 1,900 consumers shows that, just because a customer belongs to a given loyalty program, that doesn’t mean they’ll actually *behave* loyally. In fact, shoppers often join more than one program in each retail category: ⛽ Fuel and convenience retail: 2.3 programs 🛒 Grocery: 2.5 programs 🥗 Restaurants: 4.1 programs (the highest of all categories surveyed) Want to know more about the latest loyalty customer perspectives and behavior? Watch our on-demand webinar: https://bit.ly/3yEUP2p

Industry headlines tell us c-store revenue is up, but looking at the inflation-adjusted data tells a different story. Observed top-line revenue growth is actually being driven by inflation. In fact, as of January 2024, transactions were down 12% year over year. CSP Daily News is hosting a webinar next week featuring c-store industry veteran Art Sebastian and Upside’s David Poulnot to contextualize c-store demand data, dig into what’s behind long-term trends, and offer key considerations for retailers to change those trends in their favor. To join us live 🗓️ next Wednesday, July 24, at 2 p.m. ET, sign up here: https://bit.ly/4cultu3

In the context of today’s competitive pressures and economic headwinds, retailers have to look for ways to maximize profit. How they choose to do that — whether it’s passing increased costs onto customers, or finding a more efficient pricing strategy — matters a lot. Our perspective? Retailers should prioritize *mutual benefit.* #pricingstrategy

Deflation has arrived — but it seems restaurants didn’t get the memo. This month’s BLS Consumer Price Index shows that the cost of dining out (up 4.1% year-over-year) continues to outpace inflation. Despite all the headlines about new menus and discounts, the data shows these are the exception to the overall trend. ❗The good news is that we’re seeing the price of gas going down, which is helping drive down prices on this month’s basket of goods. Though to date we’ve seen just one month of deflation — and driven by fuel, which is famously volatile — it’s still indicative of cooling prices. Here are the numbers: Month-over-month changes: 📈 Core inflation excluding food & energy: 0.1% 📉 Total inflation: -0.1% ⛽ Gas (all types): -3.8% 🛒 Food at home: 0.1% 🍔 Food away from home: 0.4% Year-over-year changes: 📈 Core inflation excluding food & energy: 3.3% 📈 Total inflation: 3.0% ⛽ Gas (all types): -2.5% 🛒 Food at home: 1.1% 🍔 Food away from home: 4.1% You can read the full BLS release here: https://bit.ly/3O5zHpr

With fuel demand in flux, the pressure is on for c-stores to drive growth. Although the headlines report higher c-store sales numbers year-over-year, there's a bigger story hiding in the data. Join us 🗓️Wednesday, July 24, at 2 p.m. ET for a live conversation with Upside’s David Poulnot and c-store industry veteran Art S. as they discuss: 💸 Inflation-adjusted sales across the industry 👥 The consumer and market forces behind those trends 🧠 What c-store retailers need to know before making investment decisions for the rest of the year Sign up now: https://bit.ly/4cultu3

Glad to see reports of improved buying power, and this change in perspective. A recent White House analysis found that the combination of declining inflation and rising wages are making it easier for the typical U.S. consumer to afford the week’s groceries. This is a marked shift from the “greedflation” arguments we’ve been reading about recently. It now takes about 3.6 hours for typical non-managerial workers to earn enough money to buy the groceries they need for a week — about the same amount of time as in 2019. In the same way that it’s meaningful to measure prices as “inflation-adjusted,” it’s also meaningful to measure them as “income-adjusted.” And over the past year, wages have moved ahead faster than grocery prices. Grocery Dive has more on the WH analysis here: https://bit.ly/4bG8dkB