North American study reveals a trend towards pre-pandemic consumer behaviors with convenience stores and gas stations

Ottawa, Canada (November 30, 2020) - Intouch Insight, a leading provider in Customer Experience Management software and services, followed-up their spring 2020 study into changes in consumer habits due to COVID-19 with a six month review into the implications for Convenience Stores and Gas Stations.

With measures around the pandemic in full force in May 2020 across many North American jurisdictions, 73% of survey respondents indicated a decrease in frequency of visits to convenience stores and gas stations. Today, as businesses and workplaces begin to open up, the numbers appear to be making a come-back, with 50% of respondents reported a decrease in frequency of visits.

“Though comfort levels have increased over the past 6 months, the study also showed that visibly reinforcing safety measures and social distancing guidelines continues to be of great importance to today's consumer,” says Cameron Watt, President and CEO of Intouch Insight. “It is important to note that the data suggests consumers are once again motivated by things like convenience, location and price when making buying decisions. A shift that greatly resembles pre-pandemic consumer behavior” said Watt.

Key findings from the study include:

• Consumers are demonstrating a return to pre-pandemic priorities, with 80% of respondents reporting convenience and location as an extremely important factor, compared to only 22% in May.
• Availability of disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer was identified as one of the top drivers of comfort in the October study, with 82% of respondents rating it as extremely important, up 33% since May.
• Activity around self-serve options continues to decline, with an average of 9% more respondents reporting that they are extremely unlikely to use self-serve condiments or coffee bars, purchase self-dispensed beverages, or purchase food from a bakery case or roller grill, since May.

For additional details on the results of the study you can download the full report here: https://go.intouchinsight.com/cstore_survey_report_oct_2020-1/.

Intouch Insight will be releasing subsequent reports covering specific industry verticals. For more information, or to request specific data and insights, please contact Sarah Beckett at sbeckett@intouchinsight.com.

About Intouch Insight
Intouch Insight (TSXV: INX) (OTCQB: INXSF) offers a complete portfolio of customer experience management (CEM) products and services that help global brands delight their customers, strengthen brand reputation and improve financial performance. Through its flagship SaaS product, LiaCX®, Intouch helps clients collect and centralize data from multiple customer touch points, gives them actionable, real-time insights, and provides them with the tools to continuously improve customer experience. Founded in 1992, Intouch is trusted by over 300 of North America’s most-loved brands for their customer experience management, customer survey, mystery shopping, mobile forms, operational and compliance audits, and event marketing automation solutions. For more information, visit intouchinsight.com.

For further information, please contact:

Sarah Beckett
Director of Marketing
sbeckett@intouchinsight.com  
613-270-7922