Speaking of convenience stores (below), here’s another take from Lisa Margonelli’s Oil on the Brain. (There are some books you know from the first page are going to be good reads. This is one of them.)
A gas station owner with a convenience store can make more money selling water than gas – at least if the water has sugar in it.
Markup on gas: 7 percent, and falling.
Markup on sunglasses: 100 percent.
Markup on ice: 60 percent
Markup on candy: 43 percent.
Markup on cigarettes: 19 percent.
Best of all is what’s in the ‘vault’ – the coolers, always opposite the door, that bring in a high percentage of the store’s profits.
Impulse buys make up three-quarters of the $132 billion (US) Americans spend in convenience stores. After driving around, looking to save a few cents, complaining loudly about the price of gas, we happily blow it on sugared water.
