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Headquarters
1130 W Warner Rd Bldg B Tempe, AZ, 85284-2816 United States -
Annual Global Sales
$4,300,000,256
Total U.S. Sales
$5.7 billion in merchandise and service revenue in Alimentation Couche-Tard's fiscal 2022 (ending April 24, 2022)
Total U.S. Stores
Alimentation Couche-Tard’s network includes nearly 7,070 stores in the U.S. and 2261 stores in Canada (as of its 2023 annual report), primarily operating under the Couche-Tard, Corner Store, Circle K and Holiday banners
Key Facts
- Acquired in December 2003 by Alimentation Couche-Tard, a leader in the Canadian convenience store industry
- The largest independent convenience store operator in the U.S. by store count
- Divided into 13 geographic business units in the U.S.
- Stores average 2,400 to 3,200 square feet
Key Executives
- President and Chief Executive Officer: Brian Hannasch (retiring Sept. 6, 2024)
- Chief Operating Officer: Alex Miller (assuming CEO role Sept. 6, 2024)
- Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer: Ed Dzadovsky
- EVP, Operations, Europe: Hans-Olav Høidahl
- EVP, Chief Marketing Officer: Kevin A. Lewis
- EVP, Chief People Officer: Ina Strand
- EVP, Chief Financial Officer: Claude Tessier
- Senior VP, Operations, Europe: Niall Anderton
- SVP, Operations: Brian Bednarz
- SVP, Real Estate: Aaron Brooks
- SVP, Global Shared Services: Kathleen K. Cunnington
- SVP, Operations: Rick Johnson
- SVP, Operations: Jørn Madsen
- SVP, Merchandising: Dennis Tewell
- SVP, Global Fuels: Louise Warner
- SVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary: Valery Zamuner
Financial Information
- Alimentation Couche-Tard Annual Report 2023
- Alimentation Couche-Tard Annual Report 2022
- Alimentation Couche-Tard Annual Report 2021
- Alimentation Couche-Tard Annual Report 2020
- Alimentation Couche-Tard Annual Report 2019
- Alimentation Couche-Tard Annual Report 2018
- Alimentation Couche-Tard Annual Report 2017
- Alimentation Couche-Tard Annual Report 2016
- Market Position and Strategy Overview
- Must-Know Terms
- Promotional Strategy
- Merchandising
- Collaborative Alliances
- Displays and Signage
- In-Store Media
- Store Formats/Growth
- Special Departments/Services
- Customer Segments
- Internet Marketing
- Mobile Marketing
- Social Media
- E-Commerce
- Circulars
- Loyalty Programs
- Private Label
- Cause/Community Programs
- Advertising Strategy
- Solution Providers
- Sponsorships
- Marketing Expenditures
Market Position and Strategy Overview
Market Position and Strategy Overview
Circle K is the second-largest convenience store chain in North America, trailing channel leader 7-Eleven. Founded in 1951, in El Paso, Texas, Circle K was acquired by Canadian convenience-store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard in 2003. Today, the Canadian parent company operates more than 7,200 stores in the U.S. under the banners Corner Store, CST, Kangaroo Express and Circle K, the latter being its largest. It remains focused on growth, with plans to build 500 stores by fiscal 2028. (See Store Formats/Growth.)
Couche-Tard maintains a decentralized organizational structure within the U.S. consisting of 11 largely autonomous divisions for Circle K: Arizona, Florida, Great Lakes, Gulf Coast, Heartland, Coastal Carolinas, Southeast, Rocky Mountains, Texas and West Coast. Due to Couche-Tard's decentralized strategy, vendors typically must negotiate in-store programs separately with various operating regions. Promotions, sweepstakes and product offerings also can often differ by region.
Must-Know Terms
Must-Know Terms
- Polar Pop: The retailer's fountain service offers a wide-range of beverages from top manufacturers in up to 32-ounce cups.
- InnerCircle: A rewards program launched in 2023, at more than 400 stores in Florida. It has since been expanded to seven U.S. business units and nearly 3,000 locations, with more than 2.7 million enrollees. The program is free, and offers members fuel and food rewards as well as personalized offers. InnerCircle is gradually replacing the EasyRewards loyalty program.
- Easy Pay: A debit card that offers cardholders all the benefits of the loyalty card plus 20 cents off every gallon of gas purchased within the first 30 days of enrollment and 6 cents off every gallon thereafter.
- Circle K "Strike Out Meter": The promotion offers Arizona shoppers a digital coupon for a free private label SKU depending on the number of strikeouts the Arizona Diamondbacks preform during a particular game.
- Fresh Food Fast: Launched in 2020, the initiative is focused on providing customers with fresh food, fast. In 2024, it continues to grow the program, both in terms of reach and its offerings; currently it's available in nearly 5,800 Couche-Tard locations globally.
Thought Starters
- Help the retailer continue to develop its digital strategy through Facebook, its social media platform of choice. Mobile is also key.
- Look for ways to tie in to Circle K’s proprietary Polar Pop brand, which it often cross-promotes with national brands.
- Leverage the retailer’s loyalty program that rewards members for purchasing SKUs from various manufacturers and is often used for account-specific sweepstakes and promotions.
Promotional Strategy
Promotional Strategy
Given Circle K's decentralized organizational structure, most promotions are conducted on a regional basis. Stores in the Arizona region, for instance, regularly partner with Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks. Common promotion structures include sweepstakes, contests, free-with-purchase offers and cross-merchandising national brands with its proprietary products.
Merchandising
Merchandising Strategy
Based on shopper purchasing behaviors, Circle K gives its franchisees strategic store layouts and merchandising programs. Additionally, floor plans, store signage and displays all work in tandem to reinforce key messages to busy shoppers. (A "Cold Refreshments" sign, for example, is positioned above coolers carrying beverages in the back perimeter of the store.)
The retailer's merchandising strategy is imported from its Canadian operations, emphasizing product mix tailored by individual stores to meet local preferences. Franchisees are given the flexibility to tailor their store’s product mix and choice of quick-service restaurant. Traditionally, only 20% of a store's SKU assortment (representing chainwide bestsellers) has been mandated at the corporate level, which places a lot of decision-making at the regional and store levels.
Despite the flexibility in product assortment, a typical Circle K still offers the c-store staples of cigarettes, beer, soda, confectionary and snacks, with the average store carrying about 3,200 SKUs. The average store has:
- snack foods in center-store aisles,
- Polar Pop fountain machines along the perimeter,
- cigarettes stocked behind checkout,
- a coffee bar near the back of the store,
- a Simply Great Coffee section highlighting espresso-based beverages along the wall,
- fresh food items in the center of the store, and
- newspaper and magazine racks along the entrance of the store.
Collaborative Alliances
Collaborative Alliances
Circle K regularly works with top vendors in the beer, soft drinks, snacks and candy categories to create exclusive, one-off programs throughout the year, including:
- In 2024, the c-store worked with Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures to help promote the Monsterverse film, "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire." The partnership included five exclusive, limited-time products — two new Froster flavors, a color-changing Froster cup, a Kong Breakfast Slamwich, and a Titan Toffee Crunch Chocolate bar — available throughout the U.S. Customers making a qualifying purchase are entered into a sweepstakes to win movie tickets. Inner Circle loyalty members' qualifying purchases enter them into a grand prize drawing for a trip to Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood and to see the movie in theaters.
- PepsiCo for promotions, sweepstakes and instant-win games throughout the year, oftentimes leveraging the manufacturers' National Football League sponsorship during the football season. In 2023, PepsiCo and Circle K toured to celebrate the retailer's exclusive Mtn Dew Purple Thunder flavor. In 2024, Circle K reinforced its "America's Thirst Stop" messaging with an exclusive Gatorade flavor, Lightning Blast, and a limited-time 79-cent deal on Polar Pop and Frosters of any size (or 69 cents for Inner Circle members who shop through the app) at participating locations.
- Coca-Cola for various sweeps and promotions throughout the year. The manufacturer’s brands also are promoted via a showcase within the retailer’s website.
- Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products, to offer a series of limited-edition exclusive DC Hero Badges featuring DC Comics characters. Customers could score badges with a qualifying purchase or win prizes by scanning the badges on Games.CircleK.com. Select stores also had licensed plush toys of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Harley Quinn available for purchase.
Circle K also has an ongoing partnership with retail technology company Upside. Upside generates personalized cash-back incentives to draw customers to convenience stores, grocery stores, gas stations and restaurants. In Circle K's case, Upside is providing fuel-related offers at more than 5,200 locations and bringing cash-back opportunities on c-store merchandise at more than 4,000 U.S. locations, with the goal of boosting pump-to-store conversion, trip frequency and basket size.
Displays and Signage
In-Store Media
In-Store Media
Circle K has almost no third-party advertising opportunities. However, select Circle K stores run video or custom-animated ads via LED screens positioned above Polar Pop fountain machines. Circle K's Digital Network is operated by Superior Digital Displays, New York. The screens will be available at 800 stores by the end of 2017 and 3,000 by the end of 2018.
Stores on average also carry interactive digital monitors, usually found near the register, the depict ads alongside a shopper's receipt. The monitors also allow them to either log in or sign up for the retailer's Easy Rewards loyalty program.
Store Formats/Growth
Store Formats/Growth
The average store is 2,400 to 3,200 square feet.
Most stores are open 24 hours, seven days a week. Stores are typically located on the corner of major intersections on lots ranging from 20,000 to 65,000 sq. ft.
In recent years, the retailer has rapidly expanded its footprint in the U.S. as parent company Alimentation Couche-Tard continues to build, relocate or rebuild dozens of stores as well as acquire new properties. In 2024, it revealed plans to open 75 c-stores in Wisconsin in the next three years, effectively tripling its Badger State footprint.
In late 2023, the company revealed plans to build 500 new sites by fiscal 2028. Some stores are planned for Hong Kong and Europe, but 90% of the new builds will be in North America, in both rural and suburban markets. The new sites will be one of two store prototypes:
- a 5,200-square-foot suburban format, with high-speed diesel stations, or
- a newer 3,900-square-foot format for rural areas.
Recent acquisitions include:
- 65 True Blue express Midwest and Southwest car wash sites under the Clean Freak and Rainstorm brands
- 45 fuel and convenience sites in Arkansas from Big Red Stores
- 60 stores from ExxonMobil, operated by independent operators
- nine stores in Illinois from Baron-Huot Oil Co.
- 11 stores from Publix Super Markets Inc. (nine in Florida and two in Georgia).
- 23 stores stores in New Mexico from Albuquerque Convenience & Retail LLC.
- 15 stores in South Carolina from Garvin Oil Co.
The retailer's most significant acquisition is its deal to acquire Holiday Stationstores and its 522 convenience stores in 2017. The move to acquire Holiday Stationstores comes shortly after Couche-Tard completed a $4.4 billion deal to take ownership of San Antonio-based CST Brands.
Couche-Tard in early 2023 reached an agreement to acquire 112 MAPCO Express fuel and c-store sites in Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky and Georgia. That deal is expected to close in the second half of 2023.
It also is putting 68 Circle K stores up for sale in 21 states, offered without fuel supply and without c-store branding.
Fire & Flower Partnership
Alimentation Couche-Tard once had a growing partnership with Fire & Flower Holdings Corp., a Toronto-based cannabis retailer and technology platform. Fire & Flower filed for bankruptcy in June 2023, and Couche-Tard became a "stalking horse bidder," but did not win the bid. Its ownership in the cannabis company was at one point more than 35%, but is nonexistent as of November 2023.
Special Departments/Services
Special Departments/Services
- A retrofitted store in Tempe, AZ, offers an AI-powered, checkout-free experience powered by Standard AI. Using AI-powered cameras mounted at strategic locations throughout the store, the system accurately identifies the products shoppers pick up and automatically records the purchases on the Circle K mobile app — eliminating time spent at traditional checkout areas.
- QRS: Circle K stores partner with various quick-service restaurants to operate co-branded sites. The list includes Subway and Dunkin' Donuts as well as local restaurants such as Cleveland, OH-based sandwich chain Mr. Hero.
- Gas Stations: Many U.S. Circle K stores have adjacent gas stations.
- Redbox: The movie and video game rental kiosks are available at select Circle K locations.
- Cash Services: A majority of stores have ATMs. Circle K also offers money transfer, money order and bill payment services via global money transfer company MoneyGram.
- Select locations offer a pet-wash station.
- Circle K unveiled its first electric vehicle charging station in California, with plans to add more in the West Coast.
Customer Segments
Customer Segments
Much like other c-stores, Circle K's customers tend to be younger males. Other key shopper types include commuters, teenagers and those looking for quick purchases between grocery-store trips.
Internet Marketing
Internet Marketing Strategy
Circle K has one main website (circlek.com) and 10 regional websites that are primarily used to:
- tout the chain's private-label and hot food offerings
- spotlight the retailer’s mobile application
- highlight lottery results by state
- list job openings and descriptions, and direct users to an online application
- locate a store
- direct users to a site to purchase gift cards
- direct users to a site containing franchising information
The sites are completely devoid of non-Circle K brand messaging.
Regional Websites
The chain’s 10 divisions each have websites that are almost identical in design and content to the main circlek.com. The retailer’s Arizona, Midwest, Heartland and Great Lakes divisions also use their website to instruct users in how to enroll in Circle K’s loyalty program and list the benefits of the program’s Easy Rewards loyalty card and Easy Pay debit card. (See Loyalty Programs.)
In other digital activity, Circle K uses digital display ads on local news media websites to promote its private label products, tout its apps and highlight grand openings and local promotions.
Mobile Marketing
Mobile Marketing Strategy
Mobile Application
Circle K united its various regional apps into one single-branded Circle K app. The app reaches across all geographical divisions and features the new, rectangular logo representing the global convenience retail brand. The app allows users to:
- locate the nearest Circle K
- find and use mobile coupons
- earn and track Circle K rewards and points (See Loyalty Programs.)
- provide feedback about Circle K offers, products and stores
- Circle K stores chain-wide accept P-O-P materials that contain QR codes.
Social Media
Social Media Strategy
Facebook: 1.03 million followers (as of April 2023)
Circle K posts a couple times a week to promote cause campaigns, seasonal promotions, the Circle K app, private label products and SKUs from national brands. The retailer used to post Polar Pop account (which has about 160,000 followers as of April 2023), but has not added any new content since May 2022.
Twitter: 14.7K followers (as of April 2023)
Activity mirrors Facebook, but the retailer also directly engages with consumers to answer questions and address complaints. It will occasionally post Flash Giveaway questions, where the first person to answer wins a prize. Circle K's Polar Pop Twitter account has a little over 1,200 followers (as of April 2023) and, like its respective Facebook page, has gone largely inactive.
Instagram: 65.6K followers (as of April 2023)
Circle K posts a few times a week on its Instagram account to share pictures of shoppers, tout promotions and campaigns, highlight SKUs from its private labels and, occasionally, national brands. Instagram stories highlight things such as sweepstakes and cause campaigns.
TikTok: 19.5K followers (as of April 2023)
Circle K's TikTok feed in many ways mirrors its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram content through its highlights of partnerships, contest, products and seasonal promotions. It posts videos once or twice a week.
YouTube: 6.9K followers (as of April 2023)
The retailer posts videos every few months highlighting company campaigns and initiatives, private labels, national brands, and employees.
E-Commerce
E-Commerce Strategy
Circle K’s website directs users to a microsite operated by Des Plaines, Ill.-based SVM, an online gift card business, to purchase $10, $25, $50 or $100 Circle K gift cards. Beyond this effort, the retailer does not sell products online.
Circulars
Circulars and Publications
Circle K does not distribute circulars.
Loyalty Programs
Loyalty Programs
Circle K had an Easy Rewards loyalty program that allowed shoppers to earn points redeemable for cash on gas and in-store purchases. Easy Rewards members still can use their cards, but the retailer is no longer accepting new enrollments for the program.
In 2023, the retailer launched the InnerCircle, a free membership program first made available at more than 400 Florida locations. Following a successful Florida launch with more than 1 million enrollments in less than one month, Circle K continues to roll out the expansion. Reporting on its fiscal 2024 results, Circle K has more than 6.3 million Inner Circle customers across 30 states. In Florida, after its first year with the program, about 20% of customer transactions were linked to Inner Circle.
Members can save on fuel and merchandise, and once they reach a $500 spend they are eligible for additional rewards. Customers can sign up by downloading the Circle K app or enrolling online.
The c-store chain's Midwest division has an expanded rewards program that incorporates brands from top manufacturers. Loyalty cardholders are awarded a coffee, Keurig Dr Pepper's Dr Pepper 20-ounce beverage, and/or an eligible Mars Inc. SKU after the sixth purchase.
The convenience store chain also operates a Circle K Fleet Card through South Portland, ME-based WEX Inc. Geared toward businesses, the credit card allows cardholders to earn rebates at about 3,000 Circle K locations.
Circle K also had a Sip & Save subscription program, which it discontinued as it focuses on its app and rewards program to offer value to customers.
Private Label
Private Label
Circle K's most successful and primary proprietary product is its Polar Pop beverage, which the chain often spotlights through account-specific promotions with top manufacturers.
The retailer's other private labels are:
- Froster: The proprietary frozen beverages are highlighted most often in the summer months.
- Favorites: Line ranges from chips to bottled water.
- Crown: Alimentation Couche-Tard launched the cigarette line an effort to regain reduced margins from cigarette brands such as Marlboro.
- Traffic: The cigarettes are manufactured by the consumer products division of Chesterfield, Missouri-based U.S. Tobacco Cooperative Inc.
The chain also carries premium Simply Great Coffee beverages and various freshly prepared foods, such as hot dogs, sandwiches and baked goods.
The retailer recently invested in installing barista-quality coffee machines at its 7,000+ U.S. locations, sourcing its coffee from sustainable, premium beans.
Wine
Circle K is also entering the wine category by adding its Sunshine Bliss wines to more than 3,000 stores in 27 states. The Sunshine Bliss comes in seven varieties and include a Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, two Moscatos, and two fruit-flavored wines. All are priced less than $8.
Circle K has also released a lineup of six Fine Wines, priced from $10-$25. The collection is available in more than 900 stores in 17 states, and the retailer plans to expand that throughout 2023. The wines include a red blend, Cabernet, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc.
Cause/Community Programs
Cause/Community Programs
Due to its focus on local communities and decentralization, Circle K's cause and community sponsorships vary by region. Corporate level programs include:
- The retailer's parent company has raised funds for United Way Canada's greater Montreal area branch.
- The retailer offered all U.S. veterans who showed their military ID in stores a free proprietary Polar Pop beverage on Veterans Day 2019.
- In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Circle K pledged on April 10 to donate one meal (valued at 10 cents) to Feeding America for every fuel transaction made at its stores. Its goal of funding 25 million was achieved by May 5 so the retailer expanded the objective to 40 million meals and promised to continue making the contributions throughout the summer. The retailer also offered a free coffee, tea, or Polar Pop to all health care workers showing a valid ID during April and a free coffee from March 17-31.
Advertising Strategy
Advertising Strategy
Tagline: What else do you need?
Primary media: Radio and TV spots, display ads, local bus shelter signs, billboard ads, run-of-press ads
Circle K's main advertising objective is to highlight its Polar Pop brand and, on occasion, its promotions and fresh-food offerings.
Polar Pop gets spotlighted on local radio and TV spots (often mentioning Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo), run-of-press ads and local bus shelter signs. Billboard ads are also used to tout the retailer's proprietary beverage as well as periodic sweepstakes and the chain's loyalty rewards program.
In December 2022, Circle K launched its first U.S. nationwide advertising campaign, featuring real customers. The yearlong effort, "Fueled by Circle K," focuses on its proprietary fuel, available in more than half of the retailer's 7,000 U.S. locations. The retailer is also encouraging its fans to share how Circle K is part of their life for a shot at being featured in future ads or on social media. "Fueled by Circle K" is running primarily on digital streaming and social media channels.
Circle K has also been working to lure more coffee drinkers, including:
- Installing barista-quality coffee machines at more than 7,000 U.S. locations;
- Offering a free cup of coffee (at participating locations) in an effort to "convert convenience store coffee skeptics"; and
- Creating a trendy-looking "Kafe" coffee truck which let customers try a free cup of its proprietary blend in a blind taste test.
The chain highlights the national-brand liquors and alcoholic beverages its stores carry through various run-of-press ads in local newspapers such as the Arizona Republic, often tying in to a holiday such as Fourth of July or Black Friday. Other ROP ads in local newspapers spotlight the retailer's Polar Pop, coffee and hot breakfast food items as well as national-brand snacks.
Digital display ads on local news media websites also promote the retailer's private label products, tout the Circle K app and highlight grand openings and local promotions.
Solution Providers
Solution Providers
- Social Shopper Marketing: Social Forces, Tampa, Florida
- Loyalty program: Outsite Networks, Norfolk, Virginia
- POS advertising: Neptune Retail Solutions, Jersey City, N.J.
- Smart Self-Checkout: Mashgin, Palo Alto, California
- Personalized cash-back offers: Upside, Washington, D.C.
- Cashless payments technology at EV charging stations: Nayax Ltd., Israel, and Nuvei Corp., Montreal
Sponsorships
Sponsorships
Conducted at the regional/local level, Circle K sponsors various sports teams, organizations and events. Among the retailer's current sponsorship lineup:
- IndyCar Series: Circle K is the primary sponsor of the #28 racecar driven by Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport.
- Cleveland Indians: Cleveland, Ohio's Progressive Field has a Circle K "Strikeout Meter," which tallies the team's strikeouts with the retailer's "K" logo. Coupons for a free Polar Pop beverage are distributed after the 10th strikeout.
- Arizona Diamondbacks: The c-store chain has a strikeout meter program similar to the program at Progressive Field. “D-backs” fans, however, must download the retailer's app to redeem coupon good toward a free Polar Pop beverage.
Circle K underscores its sponsorships through various regional sweepstakes. The retailer also has served as the title sponsor for various events such as the 2014 National Hot Rod Association's Winternationals in California.
Beyond direct sponsorships, Circle K stores often tie into major sporting events through vendor partnerships. (See Collaborative Alliances.)
Marketing Expenditures
Marketing Expenditures
Circle K franchisees pay a "promotional fee" to cover marketing costs. The fee is up to 1.5% of gross sales and can increase to 1.75% for a national promotional campaign.