Dive Brief:
- RaceTrac has installed Washie “smart” toilet seats in stores in seven states, the companies announced on Tuesday in an emailed press release.
- These toilet seats, which RaceTrac is rolling out to stores in Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas, South Carolina and Kentucky, have a motion-activated cleaning solution dispenser. Customers can use a couple pieces of toilet paper to spread the dispensed disinfectant across the seat to sanitize it, and then flush the toilet paper, replacing the need for a paper seat cover.
- This rollout follows a successful three-month pilot program that began in November 2023 in an Atlanta travel center, according to the release.
Dive Insight:
As convenience stores look for ways to differentiate themselves, clean bathrooms are a great way to encourage repeat customers. Nearly 60% of respondents to a 2023 survey by bathroom products company Bradley said they’d make a point of choosing a business they knew had clean bathrooms, while 52% said a bad restroom experience could prevent them from returning altogether.
The vast majority of customers surveyed at RaceTrac and Washie’s pilot site said they felt more comfortable with the updated toilets and were more likely to return to that travel center. The broader rollout began in May and has been completed at all of RaceTrac’s travel centers across the seven states, a spokesperson for Washie said.
The technology takes the place of paper toilet seat covers, which can absorb material on the seat rather than protecting users from it, according to Washie.
RaceTrac has made several upgrades this year to improve its customer experience. It expanded its electric vehicle charging program into Texas in April, and updated its app in May with features that addressed customers’ long-standing problems with RaceTrac’s mobile presence.
Atlanta-based RaceTrac operates over 580 convenience stores across eight southern states as well as more than 230 RaceWay stores in 12 states across the Southeast.
