Comparison of Convenience Store Mission Statements

More and more, the products and services provided by convenience stores are the same. The convenience-grocery-hypermarket-warehouse-fast-food mash-up in America has created one retailing super segment with so much overlap that it's difficult to tell where one competitor ends and another co-branded partnership begins.

So perhaps more than any other retailing segment, it's important for these types of retailing companies to have strong mission statements in order to provide their employees with clear direction about what the vision for what kind of branded service experience its customers can expect.

7-11

Since the 7-11 company is not involved in the upstream part of the auto fuel retailing business, its mission statement is focused exactly where it should be for the success of its convenience store chain, which is on the customer and how a 7-Eleven experience can impact a customer’s day. Maybe that's why 7-11 has grown to be the world's largest convenience store chain.

BP

The values that comprise the BP mission statement do make reference to "customers," but it is clearly not in a retailing context. The BP values which are part of its mission statement include "no harm' to people or the environment, which is ironic considering its 2010 oil spill crisis.

Chevron (ExtraMile and Caltex Convenience Stores)

As with all major oil companies that also do gas station and convenience store retailing, the Chevron Mission Statement lacks any reference to the end-user customer, which is a key part of the success of any retail operation. As it is, the Chevron mission statement is its Vision for how to do business “the Chevron way,” backed up by seven Values, which guide employees in how to do things “the right way.”

ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil is on a money mission and its guiding principles are also profit-centered, keeping employees constantly focused on achieving the bottom line. Unfortunately, the ExxonMobil gas and convenience store customer isn't standing on the bottom line, which might be one of the reasons why ExxonMobil sold and got out of the company-owned convenience store business in 2008.

Shell

The Shell mission statement is its objective to meet the growing demand for energy, which obviously doesn't pertain to its downstream sales of fuel, coffee, and junk food. However, its core values are spot on for employees who work in its Food Mart Convenience Stores.