Pumping Up Inside Sales
I admit I am an anomaly in today's world. Whether dining out, shopping for groceries or freshening up my highlights, I prefer to pay cash whenever possible.
That includes when filling up my truck. In a throwback to the '90s, I pull up, get out of my vehicle and walk into the convenience store to place $20 on the counter for Pump No. 8. While I'm there, I pick up something to drink, order something to eat or buy lottery tickets. Hey, a girl can dream. After all, beach houses don't fall off trees.
Visions of early retirement aside, I am an ideal c-store customer — purchasing both fuel and in-store merchandise at every visit. As you know all too well, though, not everyone is like me and steps foot inside the store when they stop for gas. With advancements in forecourt technology, hurried motorists can pull up, swipe, fill up and drive away.
The good news is those advancements do not necessarily have to be a stumbling block to drawing motorists into the store and converting them to in-store customers.
According to the second-annual "Future of Fueling Report" from Dover Fueling Solutions (DFS), 51% of consumers say they notice advertisements on or around the fuel pump, with close to one-third indicating that fuel pump commercials and ads have convinced them to enter a convenience store.
That's a statistic that piqued the interest of Wichita, Kan.-based Jump Start Stores Inc. Speaking at the 2024 NACS Show, Kristin Ghere, the chain's director of marketing and brand management, detailed how Jump Start Stores partnered with DFS to roll out Anthem dispensers at its 31 stores. The convenience retailer is using DFS' DX Promote and producing its own media content to communicate specials and other opportunities available to its customers via the pumps' touchscreens, such as a new breakfast sandwiches or the different types of fuel products available.
Jump Start Stores is also partnering with DFS to launch DX Rewards, a new loyalty program that offers a personalized, app-like experience at the pump.
At last month's 2024 Technology Leadership Roundtable & Awards Dinner hosted by Convenience Store News, one retailer called the puzzle of converting fuel customers into inside consumers "the $64,000 question." The answer may just lie in technology.
