SWOT Analysis of Circle K: Leading Convenience Store Chain

Updated on: Dec 31, 2021

Last time we did an extensive SWOT analysis of the postal and express courier services of  La Poste in France. This time let us come into a different industry that helps us daily. Let us do an extensive SWOT analysis of Circle K in-depth.

Circle K is a well-known brand along with couche-tard, Ingo and Holiday under the company alimentation couche-tard inc which took its 2nd position in the top 10 convenience store chains of 2021 in the US with 7,103 stores. It has a total of 7084 stores in Canada, Europe and other regions internationally. 

Circle K is famous for its customer service and quality products. They thrive to satisfy the customer’s needs. The success of Circle K is dependent on their employees and their dedication towards the customers. One of the vital contributions to its success also goes to its marketing efforts. They have an applaudable audience on their social media.

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Do you want to learn about how Circle K surged through the ranks and gained its name? In this blog, you will learn about the SWOT analysis of Circle K and in return, it will give you insight into how it has ranked in the top. How it has changed during the years, but to know what it had in store to sustain itself in such a competitive market let’s delve into the topic and find out! 

But, before that, let’s start from the ground up and get a little overview of its founding, products, financial status and competitors.

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About Circle K

SWOT Analysis of Circle K - Circle K Fuel Station

Circle K was a group of three food stores of Kay’s that were purchased by Fred Harvey in 1951, in El Paso, Texas, United States. Now Circle K is a convenience retailing industry which is a successful brand under Alimentation Couche-Tard inc.

Circle K spans back to 65+years. In 1975 there were 1000 Circle K stores across the US. After it entered the international market in 1979 it continued to grow and by 1984 the sales reached $1 billion. In 2003 Alimentation Couche-Tard acquired Circle K and added them into their collection of brands.

More than 7,676 stores are operated beneath the Circle K banner in 20 countries and territories other than the US. The stores dispense a wide array of food and non-food products. It offers automotive products, motor fuel and car wash service, apart from operating in-store coffee corners and ATMs.

Circle K is leading towards the future and preparing for it. They expanded their fresh food offer, frictionless payment options, localized pricing capabilities, and also fuel procurement and delivery capacity. Recently, they also reinvented their brands, making them increasingly modern and recognizable at every part of the customer journey.

 

Quick Stats on Circle K
Founder Fred Harvey
Year Founded 1951
Origin El Paso, Texas, United States
No. of Employees 40,000+
Company Type Subsidiary
Market Cap $ 722.22 Million (2021)
Annual Revenue $ 11.11 Billion (2020)
Net Income/ Profit $ 559 Million (2020)

 

SWOT Analysis of Circle K - Circle K Convenience Store


Products & Services by Circle K

  • Polar pop 
  • Convenience stores 
  • Snacks & Beverages 
  • Car wash services
  • Fuel and recharge services 
  • Coffee corners


Competitors of Circle K

This brand is globally recognised and has heavy competition with its peers in the convenience store, retail industry. The top 6 competitors of Circle K are said to be:

  • Ampm 
  • 7 eleven
  • Stewart’s shops 
  • Quiktrip
  • PDQ Food Stores
  • BP


Now that the general overview of the brand is completed, let’s start on with the main objective which is the SWOT analysis of Circle K. 


SWOT Analysis of Circle K

SWOT analysis means getting an overview of the company of how it is performing in the market. The SWOT analysis of Circle K represents strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the company. A company’s SWOT analysis can help the managers to predict where it stands in the competitive market and where it can stand in the future market. It also helps to make strategic plans. The SWOT analysis will help to stay ahead and aware of the challenges in the industry. 

To better understand the SWOT analysis of Circle K, refer to the infographic below:

SWOT Analysis of Circle K - SWOT Infographics of Circle K

Now first let’s begin with the strengths of the company from the SWOT analysis of Circle K.

Strengths of Circle K

The strengths of a company are based upon the internal factor, it provides you with insight about the reasons for success in the market that they are in. These come into the category where we require to balance them with other factors and strengthen them to progress in the business world.

  • Extensive Product Line: Circle K is a banner with lots of product lines, it provides convenience products, including food, hot and cold beverages, mobility services, including road transportation fuel and charging solutions for EVs.
  • Store Locations: The stores of Circle K are located collectively in many areas – a fuel bunk, convenience store, coffee store, car washing services, food and beverages all at the same place to provide the customer as many products and that too in a shorter duration.
  • Acquisition: The acquisition of Statoil, Irvings oil stores, mac’s and kangaroo express have led to the rapid growth of Circle K in many regions of the world. 
  • Brand: As said in the acquisition, the parent company is connecting all other smaller subsidiaries to Circle K and rebranding it. This made it a surging and well-known brand globally. 
  • No.of Stores: There are 1,900 stores and more under the Circle K banner all around the world (14 countries) and the count holds a great value.
  • Dedicated Workforce: The workers in the stores are trained online to maintain all the workforce in one page of development and training. The workforce is customer friendly and has been a great support to the brand amidst the pandemic.  


Weaknesses of Circle K

The weakness of a company is based upon the internal factor and it provides you insight into the reasons for the failure of the business in the market. These come in those categories where we can improve them.

  • Limited E-commerce Presence: There is a limited e-commerce presence of Circle K in its nation. Recently it is working towards facilitating home delivery services through enrolling e-commerce facilities.
  • No Presence in Emerging Countries: Emerging countries like India and Russia with a high demand for convenience stores have no Circle K. India is the next big country where the EV automobile market is rising and Circle K is still not considering it. 
  • EV’s Not Yet Dominating the US Roads: Cars with CNG  are not driving enough sales to the convenience stores anymore because once the gas is filled in a car it works for a week for an average person. On the other hand EV vehicles need a charge of 2 to 3 times a week which is why the importance of EVs is getting inflated in the US. 


Opportunities for Circle K

Opportunities of a company are based upon the external factors of the company. It gives you insight into the reasons or areas that can lead the business into more light and can contribute to the business.

  • Marketing: This rebranding of Circle K has a lot of scope in profits with the right amount of marketing and this will help reach out to the customers more effectively. 
  • Opening in Residential Areas: The C-stores on the highway and outskirts are blocking the potential of Circle K, hence situating Circle K’s convenience store in a residential area with the right location will help Circle K’s market grow more rapidly. 

SWOT Analysis of Circle K - Circle K’s Click & Collect and Home Delivery Facilities
(Circle K’s Click & Collect and Home Delivery Facilities, Source: Circle K)

  • Home Deliveries Using E-commerce: Before the pandemic, Circle K used to never count the importance of e-commerce in its business but during the pandemic when the business was drowning it finally took the support of e-commerce and started home deliveries in the nation, by the time with the help of e-commerce their office team and members delivered over 5 million meals in Canada, 3 million coffees and 40 million meals in America to the residential neighbourhoods and health care workers.

Sounds awesome, right? If yes, then you must have now understood the importance of digital marketing and e-commerce. It is not like when you are in need that time only you adapt to the changes. If Circle K would have implemented it before the unseen events it could have gotten much better results in actual events. So, the sooner you will adopt the latest digital marketing skills the better you will get benefited in the future. So, do check out for your benefit…

  • Acquisitions and Mergers: Bringing more companies under the Circle K brand will assist in expanding the number of stores. Acquisitions and mergers will also help the market capital to grow.
  • Diversification: Entering into new markets such as lifestyle and clothing and adding them to the convenience stores will help the brand to explore new markets and more positively respond to the merrier.
  • Innovation: The innovation with foods and beverages to add new products to the product line will always be an opportunity to take upon. 


Threats to Circle K

Threats of a company are based upon the extremely external factors that you have no hold on. They can come whenever or wherever. The best you could do is build up strong and be ready to face the threats when it comes.

  • Competition: The increasing competition in the retail industry mainly in the convenience store market will be a challenge and a threat where the brand will need to expand, update and improve in every segment eventually to keep an edge over competitors.
  • Customer Behaviour: In this growing world the customers’ needs change accordingly with seasons and with trends. Keeping up to different trends and being season friendly with the expectations and needs of customers is getting quite difficult for the company.
  • Legislations and Restrictions: The unannounced laws and restrictions on products or requirements throughout the period always disturb the daily maintenance of the business.
  • Advance Technology: As technology is an ever-evolving part of everything it may become a threat as new installations take a huge part of the budget it may disrupt the business models. Manual sales and customer friendly offers or coupons encourage customers to lean towards retail stores than other options.

For large brands like Circle K, it is complex to make decisions based on long and large or too many detailed reports but SWOT analysis is a great way to break down the complexity and it helps to know where the company stands to decide according to the present time-factors that will positively or negatively affect the company.

This ends our extensive SWOT analysis of Circle K. Let us conclude our learning below.

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To Conclude

According to the SWOT analysis of Circle K, Circle K is a well-known retail store with its brand presence globally. It has grown brilliantly in the last few years under Alimentation Couche-tard inc. It has a great potential to enter many markets and industries like 7 eleven would help the company to surpass its major competitor if they go in with practices that commend their growth. 

With a huge increase in the product and service industry. There is a very high competition where marketing plays a crucial role-taking advantage of technology, not merely in this industry in which every other company is focusing on digital marketing to rise ahead of each other.  If you too are interested in learning advanced digital marketing strategies, check out  IIDE’s 3 Month Advanced Online Digital Marketing Course to know more.

We hope this blog on the SWOT analysis of Circle K has given you a good insight into the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

If you enjoy in-depth company research just like the SWOT analysis of Circle K, check out our IIDE Knowledge portal for more fascinating case studies.

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Author's Note:

My name is Aditya Shastri and I have written this case study with the help of my students from IIDE's online digital marketing courses in India.

Practical assignments, case studies & simulations helped the students from this course present this analysis.

Building on this practical approach, we are now introducing a new dimension for our online digital marketing course learners - the Campus Immersion Experience.

If you found this case study helpful, please feel free to leave a comment below.

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Aditya Shastri

Lead Trainer & Head of Learning & Development at IIDE

Leads the Learning & Development segment at IIDE. He is a Content Marketing Expert and has trained 6000+ students and working professionals on various topics of Digital Marketing. He has been a guest speaker at prominent colleges in India including IIMs......[Read full bio]

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