Retail Consulting Executive Recommends In CStore Decisions Podcast That Convenience Services Businesses Be 'Proactive'

Editor's note: Automatic retail operators can also benefit from these same strategies since the industries have a lot in common.

Convenience store operators may do well to consider limiting business travel, steering toward enabling employees to work from home and ensuring that customers know that you are open for business, says John Matthews, founder and president of retail consulting firm Gray Cat Enterprises Inc., in an interview with CStore Decisions' Executive Editor Erin Del Conte.

"If you overcommunicate that 'we're open, we're viable, we have business,' I think that's how you can take care of some of your short-term revenue shortfalls that you can address," he says.

Matthews also recommended being proactive in sales, expanding their networks and having multiple strategic plans, with consideration of multiple possible paths. A grand reopening may be another great idea, he said.