---
title: "How Third-Party Delivery Apps Are Reshaping C-Store Traffic"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/7e696407-b569-42da-8a52-82e77c38bf89
source: "CStore Decisions"
original_url: https://cstoredecisions.com/how-third-party-delivery-apps-are-reshaping-c-store-traffic/
author: "Elie Y. Katz"
category: "C-store & fuel"
industry: "Retail"
segment: "C-store & fuel"
published: 2026-11-12T15:32:44.000Z
modified: 2026-11-12T18:01:22.556Z
image: https://cstoredecisions.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/delivery-nrs-edit.jpg
---

# How Third-Party Delivery Apps Are Reshaping C-Store Traffic

**TL;DR:** Third-party delivery apps contribute to declining in-store traffic for convenience stores, but fuel-selling locations remain strong.

*By Elie Y. Katz, originally published in CStore Decisions on 2026-11-12. [Read the original](https://cstoredecisions.com/how-third-party-delivery-apps-are-reshaping-c-store-traffic/).*

## Story

It’s a question all convenience store owners are asking themselves these days: “Are delivery apps are killing in-store traffic?” It is a legitimate concern for the c-store industry. In-store transactions are soft, the U.S. store count slipped by 280 last year, per NACS, and DoorDash and Uber Eats keep growing. Uber’s delivery bookings were up 23% last quarter, so it is easy to connect the dots.

But it is unfair to say that third-party delivery alone is the culprit, and the closing numbers tell a different story. The stores getting shuttered are mostly small sites without fuel. These are the stores that drag down a balance sheet. Meanwhile, fuel-selling locations hit an eight-year high, per NACS. That’s a squeeze on thin-margin operators, not a nation of shoppers who forgot where we are.

So what should worry the industry about delivery? Not the visits. The math and the relationship. Let’s talk about the younger shopper, because that’s where this gets interesting.

Gen Z does not shop as their parents did, but they haven’t walked away from us either. Research on this younger generation shows that the large majority enjoy the c-store experience, and they use delivery at roughly twice the rate of older generations. They discover products on their phones, they care about speed, and they aren’t loyal to a brand just because it’s been on the corner for 30 years.

That last point is a fact chains will have to accept. Younger consumers will walk in for a coffee at 7 a.m. and open an app for snacks at midnight. Same shopper, two channels. That’s the key. They don’t draw a line between online and in-store, so we shouldn’t either.

Here’s what operators should be focusing on:

- Protect your margin. Third-party fees can run as high as 30% of the ticket, and most of what we sell earns a gross margin of 25% to 35%. Foodservice can carry that math. A six-pack or a bag of chips usually can’t.
- Build your delivery menu and pricing around what actually pays.
- Own the customer. If the order starts in someone else’s app, they own the data, the habit and the relationship. Build your own ordering and loyalty so third-party platforms work as a marketing channel, not your front door.

Third-party delivery can be a great partner and also a trusted tool to build loyalty. For a lot of stores, it brings in customers they’d never otherwise reach. But there’s a big difference between using a platform to find new customers and renting your own shoppers back at a 30% markup.

The top-quartile operators in the convenience space are doing three things. They’re using delivery apps to get discovered. They’re moving repeat customers into their own app, with their own offers and their own data. And they’re making the in-store visit worth the trip, with fresh food, a clean store and a reason to linger.

Younger shoppers will keep coming to us if we give them a reason. They’ll keep ordering from us, too, as long as we don’t hand over the keys to the relationship. The stores that figure that out won’t be the ones worrying about closings and they will be the ones growing their food sales.

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Originally reported by Elie Y. Katz, CStore Decisions (https://cstoredecisions.com/how-third-party-delivery-apps-are-reshaping-c-store-traffic/). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/7e696407-b569-42da-8a52-82e77c38bf89).