LAS VEGAS -- So, began Howard Stoeckel, CEO of the 540-store Wawa Inc., we keep firing categories and determining which categories we want to rehire.
At Wawa, you're not going to find money orders, lotteries or magazines. For Stoeckel, these items either don't turn fast enough, clog up the checkout lines or require too much effort to executeclearly, not the message Wawa wants to convey when its reputation rests on fast-ordering, fast-transaction foodservice.
Indeed, for Stoeckel and his team, deciding what the store will not offer [image-nocss] is harder than determining what it will. We can't be everything to everyone, he said. So we keep editing down our offer.
Stoeckel shared the stage at Tuesday's NACS Show opening session, Industry Leaders Roundtable, with five other executives: Dan Abraham, president/CEO at Gark-Ko Inc., Saginaw, Mich.; Lynn Beasley, president/COO at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Winston-Salem, N.C.; Sonja Hubbard, CEO at E-Z Mart Stores Inc., Texarkana, Texas; Rick Lenny, president/CEO at The Hershey Co., Hershey, Pa.; and Grady Rosier, president/CEO at McLane Co. Inc., Houston. Moderating the panel discussion was NACS President/CEO Hank Armour.
At play was the evolving business climate, one where old maxims of bigger is better, lean and mean, and maximizing shareholder value are being replaced by nimble and agile, employee and consumer focused and building long-term value even, occasionally, at the expense of short-term gain.
Or as Rosierwhose McLane business has been under the umbrella of such icons as Drayton McLane, Sam Walton and now Warren Buffettput it: Warren Buffett could care less what Wall Street thinks when he wakes up in the morning.
The panelists were selected based on their past profiles and business observations in NACS Magazine.
Beasley, who is steering an evolving RJ Reynolds that earlier this year acquired smokeless tobacco manufacturer Conwood, was asked about the advantages and challenges of being the No. 2 tobacco player behind Philip Morris USA.
For RJ Reynolds, not being the big dog is good because itdrives us toward innovation. Later, she added, You can't cost your way to long-term success. You have to win with the consumer and you have to have winning ideas. For her, that means taking RJ Reynolds from a cigarette company to a tobacco company.
She then quoted Hockey Hall-of-Fame great Wayne Gretzky, who when asked to explain his prolific output, said, I go to where the puck is going to be.
What Wayne Gretzky said is very profound, Beasley said. To her, Gretzky's message means figuring where the consumer will be and go there.
Armour asked the panelists about being the big dog vs. being nimble. Most of the panelists agreed the ideal is a combinationto enjoy the economies of scale that size yields, but also be agile and attuned to the public.
Regionally, our brand has some awareness and there's so much channel glory, said Hubbard, who directs the 317-store E-Z Mart. We've been big and got bitten. Profits and revenues aren't the same thing. Now, she continued, the company makes the necessary infrastructure investment even if it undercuts revenues in the short run.
Abraham, who at Garb-Ko runs 110 stores under the 7-Eleven brand, talked about being a midsized player under the shade of the country's most visible convenience store chain. We have the advantage with the 7-Eleven brand of enjoying the brand awareness, yet at the same time, we're a small organization within the bigger organization.
Hershey, on the other hand, is the largest confectionary company in the United States. Yet size does not give rise to arrogance. Bigger isn't better, said Lenny. Better is better.
He explained that being No. 1 compels Hershey to regularly bring new ideas to the marketplace. He also noted that while Hershey may be the largest maker of chocolate treats, it is competing in the broader category of snacks, where it is not the leader. That said, a fundamental challenge becomes whether a company should stray from its primary objectivein Hershey's case, chocolateto compete in a broadening category.
You can go a long way staying close to home, Lenny said, adding that while extending the product line is important, you need to stay focus on your core because no amount of incremental [product sales] will make up for that.
[For more NACS Show news, see left column of CSP Daily News.]
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.