BIZTECH: Who is the typical Dollar General customer?
Charles: When you think of our typical customer, think rural America. Eighty percent of the communities that we serve have 20,000 people or fewer. They are tight-knit communities. In terms of what they look like, most often they’re families.
We have over 19,000 locations, and people are looking for us to save them time and money. Those store locations equate to convenience, and we’re helping people find low prices on brand-name items.
We pride ourselves on going into communities that a lot of other retailers won’t or can’t and getting that hard-to-reach customer. Collectively, they have a lot of buying power.
BIZTECH: How digitally savvy are your customers?
Charles: I’ve been using the term “myth-busters” a lot. We have information indicating that our customers who digitally engage with us are twice as productive as the average customer; they’re much more engaged with us in the stores. Our shoppers do a lot online before they go into a store. They pre-shop, they make lists and check prices, they look at our digital coupons and cash-back offers. They’re looking at it as, “How do I get everything in order before I go to my local DG?” They’re very digitally engaged, and we see it over and over: They engage with us online and then go to the store to buy.
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