2026 Convenience Behavior Tracker benchmarks reveal changing shopper traffic, trip missions, checkout behavior and front end opportunities ahead of the NACS Show
State College, PA - October 1, 2026 - VideoMining, a leader in behavioral shopper insights and retail analytics, today announced the completion of two major 2026 benchmark studies from its Convenience Behavior Tracker program: the Convenience Front End MegaStudy and the Convenience Channel Total Store Benchmark. Together, they provide a fact-based view of how convenience shoppers move through stores, what drives their trips, how they engage at checkout, and where retailers and CPGs can unlock incremental growth.
The studies draw on VideoMining's nationwide convenience in-store panel, which analyzes more than 400 million shopper trips annually. Using AI-powered observational research, transaction data and shopper survey input, the program reveals the behavioral story behind sales performance - what shoppers see, where they go, what they engage with, what they walk past and what ultimately converts.
The benchmarks arrive as convenience retailers and manufacturers navigate changing traffic patterns, economic pressure, evolving trip missions and rapid changes in checkout and merchandising. With in-store traffic under pressure across the channel, there is growing urgency to make every remaining trip more productive and capture more incremental sales from existing traffic.
A Total Store View of the Changing Convenience Shopper
The Convenience Channel Total Store Benchmark examines the complete in-store journey and pairs the latest 12 months of data with a three-year trend view of channel performance and shopper behavior. Its six analysis streams cover total store performance, fuel-buyer behavior and pump-to-store conversion, trip missions, dayparts, storewide traffic heat maps and shopper attitudes. Findings from a new shopper survey are integrated with observed behavior and transaction data through VideoMining’s BehaviorSync™ platform to add context to what shoppers are doing.
A New Playbook for Front End Productivity
The Convenience Front End MegaStudy focuses on one of the highest exposure impulse areas in the c-store. It examines the full Front End path to purchase, wait and checkout times, shopper composition, daypart and trip-mission performance, sales counter merchandising, self-checkout, queues, other Front End merchandising locations, 20 key categories and the productivity of space allocated to those categories. It compares 2026 behavior with VideoMining’s 2022 MegaStudy and adds a shopper survey on the checkout experience.
"For CPGs, the key question is no longer just whether a category is growing or declining; it is why shoppers are or are not converting in the store," said Dr. Rajeev Sharma, Founder and CEO of VideoMining. "These studies let brands see the behavioral path behind the sales number - where shoppers go, what they notice, how they engage, what they walk past and what finally converts. That creates a much stronger fact base for category strategy, front-end merchandising, innovation and retailer collaboration, especially in an environment where every trip has to work harder."
"For retailers, small improvements across traffic flow, fuel-to-store conversion, checkout, merchandising and the front end can add up very quickly," said Richard Poye, Head of Retail Strategy and Engagement at VideoMining. "These benchmarks give retail teams a channel-level fact base to challenge assumptions and identify where store design, placement, daypart strategy, checkout configuration or category execution may be leaving sales on the table. The real value is being able to connect what shoppers actually do with practical actions that improve the in-store experience and store productivity."
Together, the studies support decisions across category management, merchandising, shopper marketing, store design, operations and innovation - adding observed behavior to the traditional POS, panel and survey data used in retailer and CPG planning.
Availability and NACS Briefings
Both reports will be released mid-October, with limited pre-launch insight share outs at the NACS Show. VideoMining will share selected findings and meet with convenience retailers, CPG manufacturers and other stakeholders. Retailers and brands can request a briefing here to review implications for their retail, category or shopper strategy and explore deeper category-specific analyses through the Convenience Behavior Tracker program. Convenience retailers can also learn about joining the program as a partner to access these studies, future studies and other benefits from the Tracker program.
About VideoMining
VVideoMining is a leading market research and retail analytics company pioneering Behavioral Shopper Insights for retailers and CPG brands. By fusing patented AI technology with behavioral science, VideoMining transforms the in-store blind spot into a blueprint for shopper-centric growth. Its proprietary platform captures and decodes precise shopper responses to the retail environment - from store design and aisle flow to product placement, category organization, and promotional displays - based on real behavior observed during natural, unscripted shopping trips.
Drawing on insights from more than 1.6 billion in-store trips a year across multiple retail formats, VideoMining helps clients improve category performance, strengthen shopper marketing, optimize merchandising, refine store design, and unlock new growth opportunities grounded in real-world behavior. With more than 16 years of experience serving leading retailers and CPG companies, VideoMining turns shopper truth into a strategic advantage.
Media Contact:
Alicia Cleary
VP, Marketing and Industry
solutions@videomining.com
www.videomining.com
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