Margins for gas retailers are razor thin and price pressure limits underselling competitors. Much of fuel retailers profits comes from the convenience store & services, not the pumps. Inspired by Taiwan's uniform invoice lottery, this concept turns traditional fuel retail practice on it's head by giving cash for gas, and not the other way round!

1. APPROACH FOR
DOWNSTREAM OIL
Disruptive marketing concept for auto fuel retailers

2. Background

Margins for gas retailers are razor thin
 Price


pressure limits underselling competitors
Much of their profit comes from the
convenience store & services, not the pumps
Gas is a necessary evil
most people are not brand-loyal
 product advances do not increase purchases


Customer buy the gas they need and no
more

3. Current Approach


Most promotions use gas purchases to get something
else for free or discount
Limited success as it will not lead to customers
buying more gas
 At
most customers will return to by gas at their pumps
 Does nothing to get people into the stores

Out-of-date retail strategy

4. Cash for Gas, not the other way round




Rather than giving away prizes with a gas
purchase, give away gas with the purchase
of merchandise
Gas serves simply as a means to get customers into
the stores
The stores and services are geared to maximize
spending given fuel customers purchasing routines,
restrictions and preferences

5. Concept


Ongoing weekly lottery where customers can win
their gas purchases
Every dollar spent at the pumps is a chance to win
the gas portion of the bill
 The
more you spend, the more chances you have at
winning
 As petrol is a necessity, this would be a perpetual state

The consistent purchase patterns for gas makes it
easier to determine the break-even point
 How
many winners per draw, specials draws, etc.

6. The Cycle
Refund on
gas
purchase
Customer
fills up at
pumps
Gas
Sub-total
Dry cleaning
Grocery
Hardware
Car wash
Sub-Total
Weekly
draw
135 Entries
More
Spending
=
Greater
changes to
win
TOTAL
Every nongas $ spent
= chance to
win
65.00
65.00
25.00
80.00
20.00
10.00
135.00
200.00
Pays at
register
Shops in
store

7. Keeping ‘em honest!

Restricting to a single receipt is designed to prevent
sharing gas purchases
 Structuring
draws based on loyalty programs is also
possible, but may muddle the concept for the customer
 Clearly any customer profiling benefits of loyalty
programs should be retained

More advanced structures could also allow for
purchases at partnering outlets

8. Changes to the store


Priority is to maximize spending as part of regular,
cycling gas purchase routine
High value, repeatable purchases + impulse buys
 Dry-cleaning
services
 Grocery/online purchase pick ups
 Partnering with other sellers
Customers will not come back to buy
anti-freeze or jumper cables week after week!

9. Marketing and Advertising


Win what you need, not what they need gone!
Social media channels to allow users to highlight
personal experience
 Upload



to win extras
Extra draws to partner
with events & crossbranding

10. Keeping Ahead



Eventually competitors will also apply strategy
First to market advantage is limited with such easy
market entry
Keeping market share will be tied to evolution of
the services and products provided by the store
 Partnering
 Personalized
offers
 Virtual stores (e.g. items ordered online and brought to
the pump)

11. Inspiration

Business state of downstream oil & retail gas stations:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10
733468
 http://www.accenture.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Ac
centure-Fuels-Retail-Achieving-High-Performance-VolatileFast-Changing-Environment.pdf


Taiwan’s uniform invoice lottery which boosted sales tax
revenue by enticing the customers to demand receipts
from vendors:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Invoice_lottery