Jacksons Food Stores, a prominent convenience store chain across the Western United States, is leveraging innovative technology to enhance its store layouts and elevate customer satisfaction. Operating over 300 locations under brands like Chevron, Shell, and Texaco across seven states, Jacksons is implementing Blue Yonder’s category management solution to strategically manage store space. This move underscores the growing importance of data-driven decisions in the competitive convenience store sector, particularly for retailers focused on food and beverage offerings.
With each store stocking approximately 5,000 SKUs, Jacksons Food Stores aims to move beyond manual processes in category management. By adopting Blue Yonder’s SaaS solution, facilitated by partner Plantensive, Jacksons intends to harness advanced analytics. This will enable them to accelerate the transition from strategic space planning to effective execution, ensuring that valuable shelf space is used optimally to meet consumer demand.
The core objective for Jacksons Food Stores is to utilize data and analytics to inform more strategic space allocation. This approach facilitates the localization of product assortments at the store level. By providing each store with tailored assortment and shelf placement plans, Jacksons aims to efficiently operate with a localized approach. This localization is crucial in better serving the diverse preferences of their customer base across different communities and regions. For a food-focused convenience retailer, understanding local tastes and preferences is paramount to driving sales and minimizing waste.
Ultimately, by optimizing store layouts across their extensive network, Jacksons Food Stores anticipates significant improvements in space productivity. This includes maximizing sales per square foot and crucially, reducing out-of-stock situations. For convenience stores, especially those emphasizing fresh food and quick-grab meals, consistent product availability is a key factor in customer loyalty and repeat business.
“We are deeply committed to providing our customers with the service, products, and convenience they expect – whenever, wherever, and however they need it,” stated Cory Jackson, president of Jacksons Food Stores. “To maintain this level of service in today’s dynamic retail landscape, we are excited to implement Blue Yonder’s category management solution in collaboration with Plantensive. This technology will empower us to effectively cater to the unique needs of each of our stores and the communities they serve.”
Vince Beacom, senior VP of retail at Blue Yonder, highlighted Jacksons’ innovative approach: “Jacksons is recognized as a leader in transforming food service within the convenience retail channel. We are thrilled to be their category management solution provider as they embark on this digital transformation. Jacksons required a solution capable of adapting to evolving customer preferences and localized demand. Blue Yonder’s category management solution enables them to create and maintain store-specific planograms, facilitating more localized assortments and efficient operations, ultimately driving increased sales.”
Derek Cesarz, managing partner at Plantensive, added, “We are pleased to collaborate once again with Blue Yonder on a transformative category management project. This partnership will support Jacksons in enhancing customer service through strategic space allocation and assortment optimization.”
Founded in 1975, Jacksons Food Stores has grown from a single service station to over 300 company-operated convenience stores. Their footprint extends across Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, California, and Utah, operating under the Jacksons Food Stores and ExtraMile by Jacksons Convenience Store brands. This expansion underscores their commitment to providing accessible and convenient food and fuel options to communities throughout the Western US.
In a parallel development, discount grocer Save A Lot is also utilizing Blue Yonder technology to modernize its merchandise, space, and floor planning processes, demonstrating the broad applicability of these solutions across different retail formats focused on food sales.
