At a glance: Winning new markets with Upside

When an independent convenience and fuel retailer expanded into new markets, the challenge was immediate: how do you quickly win over local consumers, establish brand loyalty in new markets, and grow fuel, c-store and food sales—despite entrenched competitors and price-sensitive shoppers?

Instead of relying on legacy promotions or existing loyalty programs, the retailer turned to Upside’s data-driven marketplace to make every new site launch more profitable from day one.

Proven results from expansion sites on Upside

Within the first 90 days of activating newly acquired locations, the retailer saw transformative outcomes:

• 7,000 new customers acquired
• +15% lift in daily fuel gallons compared to similar non-Upside sites
• +20% increase in weekly customer count
• $615 in additional annual spend per Upside shopper
• 60% of Upside-activated transactions came from new or long-lapsed customers in these new markets

Upside didn’t just grow fuel throughput. Customers brought in by Upside engaged across categories:

• 1.8x more visits and 1.7x more gallons purchased per month by multi-category shoppers
• C-store basket size up 40% and monthly spend up 17% per customer in just six months
  Pump-to-store conversion up 10%, with fuel buyers increasingly moving inside for prepared food, coffee, and daily essentials

Why Upside works

Upside isn’t a discount program; it’s a behavior-change engine.

• 1:1 personalized, margin-bound offers influence consumers to choose your locations while protecting profitability.
• Exclusivity ensures these offers only appear at your stores, effectively blocking competitors from the shopper’s view.
• By concentrating demand, Upside drives faster ramp-up in new markets and sustained cross-category engagement.

Why this matters for Sheetz

For growth-focused independents like Sheetz, new market expansion isn’t just about opening doors—it’s about becoming the go-to destination from day one.

Upside helps Sheetz:

• Act as a digital marketplace for everyday essentials across all profit centers
• Win new customers and reclaim lapsed ones in competitive markets
• Accelerate fuel throughput at launch sites
• Drive pump-to-store conversion and grow high-margin c-store categories
• Deliver validated, incremental ROI backed by third-party studies
  
  

With Upside, every new site launch becomes a market-defining success.

Let’s talk about how Upside can accelerate Sheetz’s next expansion.