National Petroleum News (NPN) has been the independent voice of the petroleum industry since 1909 as the opposition to Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. So, motor fuels marketing and retail is not just a sideline for us, it’s our core competency.
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continues to provide us leading edge and easy-to-use tech- nology that makes our loyalty program successful. The new social media app and targeted, vendor-sponsored coupons will continue to provide outstanding value to our loyalty members and set us apart in the market.” Mike Polo, vice president of marketing, retail division at Western Refining adds that, “After careful evaluation of available loyalty offerings, we found that Outsite Networks was by far the most robust and flexible solution, allowing us to customize a truly unique and value-filled program for our guests.” PARTNERS IN PROGRESS The topic of loyalty programs can be found in every conversa- tion the Pinnacle Corporation has with operators. “If they don’t offer one today, they are considering their options and asking lots of questions,” says Rosemary Waldrip, marketing manager at The Pinnacle Corporation.“Generally speaking, to remain competitive, retailers in this industry feel they need to offer a loyalty program to their customers.” In addition to staying competitive,Waldrip says that oper- ators are feeling the pain of rising fuel prices, which piques consumer interest in fuel discount programs. At the same time, they are looking at ways to keep customers coming to their stores, these operators are looking at ways to control cost and reduce loss. “There is increased interest in offering alternatives to customers who would otherwise pay with credit, such as ACH Debit or Stored Value cash cards,” she says. “We at Pinnacle feel that our support of these payment options within the loyalty program is the kind of solution operators need.” David Murdock, executive vice president at Honey Farms, Inc. sees the Pinnacle Loyalty solution, as an advantage in their quest to stay one-up on Honey Farms’ competitors. “I’m confident our loyalty program ‘Honey Money’ will ful- fill our mission of bringing more feet to the floor so we can sell them more,”Murdock says. Flash Foods ‘Rewards in a Flash’ loyalty program using Pinnacle’s Loyalink has been the total solution for this growing company. “By expanding on this solution with our rewards card, we were able to implement the pump start program that enables our customers to actually start the pump before they pay,” says Jenny Bullard, CIO at Flash Foods. “Because their reward card is tied to their dri- ver’s license, this program has reduced our drive-offs sig- nificantly—by 50 percent actually. Having this type of technology in place is beneficial for our customers as well as for Flash Foods. It allows us to save on credit card fees and then pass those savings on to loyal customers in the form of discounts on fuel. To have a successful loyalty pro- gram you have to constantly change your program and www.npnweb.com NPN Magazine keep it interesting to your customers. Loyalink gives us that flexibility.” The Gilbarco Passport also provides flexible and extensive loyalty offerings for retailers, from loyalty-driving features in the base Passport product to a powerful interface to network loyalty programs and third party loyalty providers. “Small retailers and single-site operators can implement loy- alty without a full-blown loyalty system,”Wilson says.“The base Passport offers functionality that allows retailers to provide incentives for customers to patronize their fueling locations.” As Wilson explains, fuel discounting is available in the basic Passport, allowing retailers to discount fuel for payment by cash, car wash, and card. “Passport provides cumulative dis- counting for fuel discounts so consumers earn benefits for all categories in which they qualify such as payment with cash and purchase of car wash accumulate discounts for both if offered by retailer,” says Wilson. “Passport also provides the retailer with the flexibility to discount a variety of cards without being constrained to only a limited number of discounts available.” Passport is able to provide all transactions to the loyalty host (not simply the loyalty transactions). The loyalty host can analyze and report on the effectiveness of loyalty offerings between loyalty customers and the general customer base for the store’s use in making future loyalty program decisions. Summit Software also offers a unique loyalty solution for petroleum cooperatives.“For fuel distributors that are mem- ber-owned,we can track loyalty and reward it in the form of rebate checks with Summit Patronage,” says Sarah Musselman, marketing coordinator at Summit Software. “This program is a part of our enterprise software solution for petroleum distributors.” Musselman says that when customers are also owners, naturally their loyalty increases because they have a vested interest in the viability of the company. “This loyalty can translate into greater success,” she says. “In that model the risks to losing loyalty often lie in a co-op’s ability to proper- ly track and report on patronage. If a co-op cannot do that accurately or efficiently, this can translate into lost profits, which translates into smaller rebate checks.” Indeed, a Minnesota co-op. executive looked at several different software packages, but when they saw Summit’s system, they knew it was exactly what their company need- ed. “No one else could handle all the industries we’re in as effectively as Summit.We have reduced labor costs by 8 to 9 people in the main office. Our inventories are better man- aged; things aren’t falling through the cracks anymore. We can now see a clear picture of our bottom line. Summit offers a comprehensive, all-inclusive system that would fit any cooperative. I would recommend it to anybody.” ValueCentric Marketing Group’s (VCMG) platform ValueSYS also offers a unique loyalty program module in the APRIL 2011 17