Fuel customers are “feet away from going inside and purchasing the products that drive the profitability of the industry,” says Dan Trotzer, executive vice president of industry at GSTV, a national video network for fuel retailers based in Detroit.
That’s why it’s important for convenience-store retailers to infiltrate the forecourt with technology that drives action, Trotzer says.
Houston-based fuel-supplier CITGO collaborates with GSTV, as well as snack manufacturers, to fund in-store deals and to promote name brand merchandise at the pump to direct customers into the store, says Joseph Low, manager of brand programs at CITGO.
The two share how technology like touch-screen dispensers, fuel rewards and more can help c-stores drive in-store sales.
“Fuel customers are “feet away from going inside and purchasing the products that drive the profitability of the industry.” — Dan Trotzer, executive vice president of industry at GSTV
Touch-Screen Dispensers
Touch-screen technology at the pump, such as the Anthem UX, manufactured by fuel equipment company Dover Fueling Solutions (DFS), can personalize advertisements based on the customer’s credit card, phone or loyalty number. Retailers can take also advantage of Grubbrr, DFS’ technology partner, to offer food ordering while filling up on gas.
A customer can select the same food they would be able to in the store, says Scott Negley, Product Management at DFS, Austin, Texas. They can also add their phone number so that if a fuel transaction is completed before they’re done ordering, they can switch over to their device.
“It’s something [Grubbrr] set up completely,” Negley says. “They have a whole kitchen management system that they can provide to integrate the entire solution together from the forecourt all the way into the kitchen. It’s an entire front-end to back-end solution that Grubbrr offers.”
It’s important to offer an experience that’s more closely aligned with customers’ digital walk in their daily lives, Negley says.
“I think they're slowly starting to adopt the technology because it's so prevalent,” says Negley. “I think it's a matter of time, a matter of comfort."
Low, however, says the technology adoption has been slow. With all the money that retailers spent getting Europay, Mastercard and Visa (EMV) compliant, there’s not a lot of people are interested in upgrading their technology again, so it’s going to be a while before people are willing to make that second investment the dispensers, he says.
“I would say the large stores are probably blazing the trail on this because I think they’re the ones who will kind of be the early adopters, and they’ll perfect it, and they’ll make it work better,” Low says. “Then, once you see some success there, some of the independent retailers will be more receptive to trying it out.”
That’s why CITGO is trying to replicate the technology within its app.
Aside from the cost, the other downside to this technology is that to keep up with customers ordering c-store items at the dispenser, the store owner must have a very well-managed price book, Low says.
“When you’re ordering at the dispenser, you expect that item to be in the store when you walk in,” he says. “And that’s a big challenge, especially when we’re still having some supply constraints out there.”
Electric Vehicle Tech
GSTV launched a nationwide charging platform with partners including Chargepoint, anEV-charging network, and Ara Labs, which offers digital advertising. In the first year, ChargePoint plans to deploy about 1,000 advertisement display screens in 10 key markets. The ads will be mixed in with three- to five-minute original videos by GSTV about news, weather and pop culture, according to NACS,
“Obviously, not everybody goes and stands there and charges their car for 20 minutes staying at the same place,” says Low. “We see it as very similar as an audience that’s on the go. They can be influenced to take action based on the content we’re putting on screen.”
Instant Fuel Rewards
The fuel supplier offers rollback deals on fuel and fully refunds retailers the discounts. CITGO’s loyalty app’s rollback program, which launched in 2022, provides rewards like these to fuel customers instantly.
“Before, consumers were just presenting a coupon on their phone,” Low says. “Now they’re actually putting in their alternative ID and getting instant rollback based on their behavior.”
“I think that’s one of the reasons why we’re pretty successful with our retention and our activation; the consumer’s not tracking points, not collecting points, he’s getting that instant discount right away,” he says.
In addition to offering immediate rewards, CITGO is launching tiered member levels to further target and differentiate high loyalty members from everyday members.
“I think that’s one of the reasons why we’re pretty successful with our retention and our activation; the customer is … getting that instant discount right away.” — Joseph Low, manager of brand programs at CITGO
Time and Location
When a customer isn’t at the pump, CITGO’s loyalty program contacts members via email marketing and push notifications from the app, but not texting. It uses location to target customers.
“We use it sparingly,” Low says. “We don’t want to over saturate the U.S. because we’ve also found that if you do that too much, you’ve discouraged members from participating.”
GSTV works with retailers to get customer profiles, which include demographics such as location and time of day but doesn’t target single customers.
“We try to keep it what we’re recommending based on buckets of consumers as opposed to individual one on one,” says Trotzer.
At CITGO, promotion timing is also a priority.
“We don’t want to wait on to give you a push notification on Wednesday when you just filled up yesterday on Triple Tuesday,” says Low. “We’d rather make that push notification come on Monday, when we know you’re going to come along.”
GSTV makes recommendations for retailers’ pump advertising based on its research on marketplace trends, Trotzer says. There’s also strategy in seasonal promotions, such as summer road trip deals, snacks for before a big game and “things that are going to align with the place and location, region and time of year.” GSTV measures and leverages the impact that advertising has on c-store sales.
“[We] also really encourage them to think about what differentiates their store—if they’re introducing a new fresh food product, a new sandwich offering, maybe a new hot food product, to make sure that those are the things that they’re really focusing on that might differentiate their kind of their consumer shopping experience,” Trotzer says.
More Than One Method
CITGO integrated its loyalty platform with GasBuddy, so CITGO loyalty members who use Gasbuddy can see CITGO’s reduced fuel prices. The program is called Loyalty Connect.
“If the street price is $3.29, and the everyday offer on Club CITGO is 3 cents off, they’re going to see $3.26 [in the app] if they’re a Club CITGO member,” says Low. “If they have any special offers available, like Triple Tuesday—a 9-cent offer—the GasBuddy app is actually going to show $3.20 instead of $3.29.”
It’s not always the most loyal customers using GasBuddy, Low says, because that person is deliberately looking for the best price.
“We haven’t seen as good of engagement with those users as we see with users that we grow organically, but it’s still been very beneficial for us,” he says. “The retailers like it because they see an additional awareness point within the app to advertise.”