Create More Reasons to Visit

This article is brought to you by Cash Depot. 

“When transaction counts are under pressure, growth cannot depend only on building another location or waiting for more fuel traffic,” said Doug Marquis, chief revenue officer at Cash Depot.

Total industry-level transactions were 54.2 billion in 2025, down 3% from 55.9 billion in 2024, according to NACS State of the Industry (SOI) Report® of 2025 Data.

“Profitability is under pressure, and growth is increasingly being driven inside the store,” said Marquis. “The growth question is not limited to how to sell one more item during an existing visit. It also includes how to create an additional reason for the visit to happen.” He posed a question for retailers: How many distinct reasons does a consumer have to choose your location?

Take foodservice, for example. It’s a destination driver that makes up 28.0% of in-store sales and contributes 38.3% of the in-store gross margin, according to the SOI Report. 

“Foodservice demonstrates what happens when a store adds a stronger reason to visit,” Marquis said. “Existing locations become more valuable when they meet more needs.”

But convenience retailers shouldn’t “crowd the store with unrelated services,” Marquis said. Instead, he recommended that operators identify offers that fit the promise of convenience: services that are nearby, fast and available when consumers need them. 

“A recurring financial errand such as withdrawing cash, purchasing a money order or adding funds to a mobile phone can make a c-store location part of a customer’s routine,” Marquis said.

Most convenience stores already have cash and an accessible location. According to Marquis, converting your ATM space to Cash Depot’s all-in-one BANK IN A BOX system expands what a store can accomplish by offering services like consumer deposits, money orders, digital gift cards, mobile top-up and bill payment. 

“A location that helps a consumer buy lunch, withdraw the cash they need and pay a bill has done more than process several transactions—it has reduced the number of stops in their day,” Marquis said. “That is the next expression of convenience: not simply faster shopping, but fewer errands.”

According to Marquis, BANK IN A BOX gives the store’s cash and existing footprint more jobs to serve customers. “The next growth opportunity is not always another product or another store,” he said. “Sometimes, it is giving customers one more reason to walk through the door.”

This is the first article in a two-part series from Cash Depot. Read part two to learn more about how convenience stores are positioned to meet customers’ financial access needs.

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