VERONA — The Oneida Indian Nation is taking convenience to the next level now that four of its SavOn Convenience Stores feature drive-thru windows.
The SavOn stores on Route 13 in Canastota, Routes 365 and 31 in Verona, Route 5 in Oneida, and Patrick Road in Verona all opened drive-thrus on Oct. 1.
The free-standing 12-foot by 8-foot kiosks, located just outside the stores, offer Daylight Donuts, Green Mountain coffee and K-Cups, and select tobacco products from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Oneida SavOn also offers Blimpie subs and fountain beverages at a drive-up window on the side of the store.
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The motivating factor behind the new kiosks is customer convenience, SavOn Operations Director Sean Brown says. “We want to offer the highest level of convenience we can,” he says. “Guests are on the go, and the demand is there for more convenience.”
Currently, about 50 percent to 60 percent of SavOn customers go inside the store, Brown says, but he believes there are a number of customers — and potential customers — that would stop and make a purchase if there was a quicker, easier way to do it. That’s why he believes the drive-thru kiosks will ultimately increase overall sales at SavOn. Customers who might otherwise be deterred by any number of factors ranging from a crowded parking lot to bad weather may now cruise through the drive-thru rather than forego stopping at all, he notes.
In the case of the Route 365 store in Verona, the SavOn is the only drive-thru location of any sort in the immediate vicinity. “That is a unique offering for those guests,” Brown says. The other drive-thrus face direct competition from places like Dunkin’ Donuts, but Brown says he believes the offerings of Daylight Donuts and Green Mountain coffee are enough to draw in the coffee and doughnut crowd. Both of those products, added to SavOn’s offerings within the past 18 months, have shown double-digit sales growth since then, he says. The tobacco offerings just add to the appeal of the drive-thrus, he says.
To date, drive-thru sales have been growing the fastest at the Canastota store, Brown says, but customers have responded well to the kiosks at all the locations. SavOn has been working to educate customers about the kiosks and what they can purchase through those drive-thrus, he adds.
Brown declined to release any sales figures or projections for the drive-thrus, but says drive-thru business continues to increase as the days pass. “It’s showing a lot of promise,” he says.
Whether or not SavOn rolls out the concept at other locations is not yet known, but it is promising, Brown says. “I could really see us adding more drive-thru convenience to other stores, where it makes sense, in the future,” he says.
Brown declined to disclose how much the Nation spent on the project, nor did he identify the contractor it used.
The Oneida Indian Nation currently operates 12 SavOn stores that employ 300 people.
