When shoppers of today are opting more for quick-stop shops and less for big-box stores, it should come as no surprise that some of the largest chains are looking to capitalize on this format. We already know that Amazon and Wal-Mart are jumping on the trend, so it should come as no surprise that another retail giant is throwing its hat into the race.
Enter Dollar General. Or more accurately, DGX.
Goodlettsville, TN based Dollar General rolled out a new store format on January 20th. Tentatively named DGX, the first location sits on 3,400 sq. ft. of space in Nashville, TN. Placed directly across the street from Vanderbilt University’s campus and near many hotels on the West End corridor, this new store format is targeted toward millennials and on-the-go shoppers.
The store is stocked with a small assortment of grocery items, pet supplies, snacks, cleaning supplies and it even has a small health and beauty section. A feature unique to DGX is the small assortment of home decor, electronics and seasonal items one might not generally find in a quick-stop shop. There is also a coffee station, a soda fountain, and a selection of grab-and-go sandwiches.
Todd Vasos, CEO of Dollar General, states “the DGX format is geared to meet the needs of the millennial shopper, which is an emerging and important part of our customer base.” And he’s not wrong. In fact, per the Pew Research Center, Millennials overtook Boomers last year as both the largest living generation and the generation with the most buying power.
Coming as no surprise, a second DGX store is already in the works. Dollar General plans to open the second location in Raleigh, North Carolina. Throughout the remainder of 2017, Dollar General is planning on creating 10,000 more jobs by opening 1,000 more DGX locations and two distribution centers across America.
If this is something that Dollar General can pull through on (opening 100 more stores in less than a year), this will make DGX one of the fastest rollouts of a big-box-store-turned-convenience-store the market has seen yet.
So, what does this mean for current convenience store owners? For rural-are convenience store owners, currently, not too much. While the new DGX stores will certainly thrive in more urban areas, convenience stores in rural areas should be unaffected by this new roll-out. However, convenience store owners in more urban and metro areas might be a bit more affected.
For those in more urban areas, this is going to drum up major competition. As we all know, competition is both good for business and what keeps businesses growing. Now is a perfect time to take hold of what products you offer in your store.
Is your store convenient and stocked with products tailored to people who are on the go? Is your store’s service quick and friendly? With effective inventory management software you can keep close tabs on which products sell through quickly, and which sit on your shelves for long periods of time.
What’s more, inventory management software helps keep tabs on existing stock, generate profit and loss statements, and identify trends in customer buying patterns. All of this can help to better inform your purchasing decisions as well as setting prices, which is easy to do quickly and efficiently with price book management options.
It’s unlikely that DGX is going to encroach on your territory any time soon. Retail giants like CVS and Walgreens have been counted among C-stores competitors for years. The truth is that the industry has been adapted and overcome adversity in the past. More competition may mean some hard times are ahead, but through careful planning and execution, it should be a boon for all.
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