Filling stations loyalty programs
Filling stations are characterised by the highest percentage of active and very active participants in Poland – as many as 94% of all participants declare, according to the latest wave of research conducted by the “Monitor of Loyalty Programs”, that they are active or very active users of a program.
The following issues are discussed in the text:
- Participation in filling stations loyalty programs.
- Which loyalty programs are implemented based on a mobile application?
- History of filling stations loyalty programs in Poland.
- Comparison of incentive coefficients.
- Analysis of the validity time of points given out by petrol stations programs.
The longest operating programs are by Orlen and Shell. Their history, including the test phase, dates back to the 20th century. The youngest, launched in 2019, is the Driver Club of the Amic chain.
Fig. 1. Mobile application screens of the Lotos Navigator program
Incentive coefficients
The average incentive coefficient (calculated as the quotient of the arithmetic mean of the incentive coefficients in each program and their number) offered in loyalty programs in the filling station segment is 0.75%. This means that, on average, out of every PLN 10 spent on fuel, less than 8 groszy returns to the program participant (in the form of points or discounts). The organisers of the Navigator program reward its participants most generously. The customers who participate in the Amic chain program have the fewest benefits in relation to expenses they incur.
The above values were calculated on the basis of remuneration for the purchase of fuel. This analysis makes us realise why Poles in all research on loyalty programs indicate that the low value of points is the main disadvantage and a barrier (demotivator) to participation in the programs. Due to the difference in margins, for obvious reasons, the food offer is rewarded with nominally higher amounts in relation to the prices we pay when buying hot dogs or using the offer of the stores.
Fig. 2. Screens of the Amic Driver Club mobile application
Mobile applications
Five programs offer a mobile application (only the organisers of Huzar and Moya have not implement one). Apart from the Orlen Vitay mobile applications, which are at a significantly higher level of advancement, the architecture of the marketing offer of the other four applications is very similar to one another. You can see that individual players benchmark each other strongly. The standard is looking for filling stations on a map, presenting the transaction history (with one exception) or the ability to browse the catalog of rewards.
Analysis of the validity of points
The longest validity of points (up to 4 years) is offered by Shell ClubSmart. The points in the remaining programs expire after 36 months (three chains), others after 24, 18 (and, respectively, 9 months in the case of inactivity). The standard is that maintaining the validity of points depends on the activity in the program.
Orlen Vitay is the most advanced program in the filling station category (and in the entire loyalty program market in Poland). The widest range of functionality of the loyalty offer, intuitive mobile application, wide range of rewards that can be sorted into physical and virtual (electronic) ones, Orlen Pay, the possibility of allocating the collected points to a charity, cyclical lotteries for participants, wide range of discount coupons (which have the highest ratio of attractiveness among the offers of program organisers) and, finally, the Orlen w portfelu (Orlen in the wallet) shareholder program make the Vitay program a true gold standard on the market. This is how B2C loyalty programs should be organised.
Fig. 3. Screens of the Circle K Extra Club mobile application
Among the offers of the other programs, we find several noteworthy solutions. Shell ClubSmart allows you to personalise your card via the website, Lotos Navigator helps you to choose the right oil, Circle K Extra Club allows you to connect a payment card and partner cards to your loyalty program account.
Participants’ ratings
The latest survey wave of the “Monitor of Loyalty Programs” shows that the programs characterised by the highest rates of satisfaction from the participation are Vitay program (79%) and the Extra Club program (68%). Perhaps this is due to the fact that both of these programs offer the widest range of rewards in their catalogues. Circle K Extra Club offers as many as 567 prizes in the catalogue and Orlen Vitay – 375 prizes. Vitay is also the market leader in terms of indications as the favourite loyalty program of Poles.
It also ranked highest in the ranking of using loyalty programs in the filling station chains, taking second place in Poland (just behind the Biedronka chain program) in terms of declared participation. Not only among the filling stations, but also the whole market, beating 120 other loyalty program offers.
The i360 supports a number of loyalty programs. We also constantly monitor all important programs implemented on the Polish and selected foreign markets, including the filling stations segment. We share our experiences with our blog readers. For our clients, we provide strategy development services, comprehensive implementation of loyalty programs, we provide proprietary software for managing B2C and B2B programs, we provide legal and tax services, logistics and, finally, optimisation of program service processes.
Post scriptum of 06/11/2021.
In the above article, I briefly presented an overview of the filling stations loyalty programs available on our market. A year has passed since the last research, so it’s time to check if the market surprised us again after that time.
Mobile applications
Currently, almost all filling stations offer us mobile applications in which we can collect benefits for transactions. An infamous exception is the Huzar Szarża Prezentów (Huzar Charge of Gifts) program, the organiser of which has not implemented an application yet.
Orlen Vitay is still the application that stands out in terms of many available options and simply its aesthetics. However, other chains have not rested on their laurels and are also developing their graphic designs.
A complete novelty offered by filling stations is contactless payment through their proprietary applications. It is definitely something new and fresh. You can read more about it in the previous articles, which are of course posted on the blog 🙂 You can find them on these websites:
Overview of Lotos mobile payments
https://www.marketingbusinessblog.pl/aplikacja-paygo-stacji-paliw-lotos/
Circle K Mobile Payments Overview –
https://www.marketingbusinessblog.pl/nowa-metoda-platnosci-na-stacji-cricle-k-co-przyną-przyszlosc/
Comparison of Lotos and Circle K mobile payments
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