But the biggest incentive to stop smoking is from higher taxes, which are pricing the weed out of reach of some. That's the main reason why PriceWaterhouseCoopers predicts convenience stores' sales will grow 3.7 percent a year over the next five years, down from the 5.4 percent rate of growth over the last five. But everybody seems to be getting into their business. But those higher wages are especially hard on that business because the stores are far less likely to use automation such as scanners at the cash register. Only about 42 percent use that technology, which is almost universal now in supermarkets.
Scanners do more than speed checkouts.
They cut labor costs over a wide area, from not having to put price marks on each item to using the data picked up by the scanner to keep the books and order replacement stock. While there's a lot of gloom about the convenience store industry, it also has some strengths, and opportunities. One way is to expand into other convenience businesses. In Japan, convenience stores are the pickup place for orders over the Internet. One area where convenience stores can quickly pick up new business is by cross-selling gasoline customers.