forecourttech April 19

forecourttech
The retail industry is evolving rapidly. The way people
shop is changing and the retailers that are embracing the
shift in consumer habits are the ones who will continue to
thrive in the years to come.
“When it comes to technology and how it will impact retail
there are two different sides, the consumer side and the
business side. Both elements are changing and progressing
massively,’ explains Mark Wohltmann, Director of NACS
Europe, a global convenience association dedicated to
advancing convenience and fuel retailing globally. So in
this rapidly progressing industry, what are the key trends
that will shape the fuel retail sites of tomorrow?
Mobile payments & loyalty
In recent years there has been a significant rise in mobile
payment solutions. For many customers this is seen as a
convenient and efficient method of payment and for the retailer
it generates volumes of consumer point-of-sale data.
“Mobile payment applications is a development that everyone
picked up on,” explains Mark.
“What we have seen so far is larger companies investing
in their own solutions, but that might change in the future.
As a consumer the one thing you don’t want is to have 25
different apps to use at 25 different retailers. Retailers need
to find a balance between being open to the possibility of
consumers using multi-site platforms at the pumps and in
store but also being closed to protect their valuable loyalty
data. We hear these discussions everywhere we go,” he
added.
A survey by Synchrony Financial in 2018 highlighted
consumers’ willingness to download retailer mobile apps.
The report recommended that retailers create mobile apps
to bring together user experience opportunities and to
engage customers with personalised offers and discounts
that promote brand loyalty.
“Retailers that have a fully integrated payment and loyalty
solutions are able to gain really valuable insights. What I
really like is when retailers use these platforms to enhance
traditional marketing technique. So, for example, some
retailers already implemented social promotion: if you sign
up to a retailer’s app you get promotional offers that you
can share with friends via email or text. They must then
download the app to use it. It’s word of mouth marketing in
the digital age,” added Mark.
Big Data
Data is king in this digital space and retailers that are able
to access high quality data and know how to use it are able
to gain huge competitive advantage. The idea of collecting
data is not new. For hundreds of years businesses have
kept records of their clients to maintain service levels,
market new products or to simply stay in touch. The data
available in the digital era however goes far beyond this.
Retailers now have access to vast sums of data from multiple
sources in real time, which if analysed properly can
offer unique insights into consumer trends and behaviours.
Big data, as the name would suggest, is often so large and
complex that it goes beyond traditional analysis methods.
Artificial intelligence and algorithms can help businesses
make sense of the extremely large and constantly evolving
data sets.
“Big data is not just ‘lots of data’, it is about the wealth of information
hidden behind it and only being useful once you
combine and analyse it. A lot of companies really struggle
bringing data together and they don’t have the man power
or the resources to work with it. What will help them is machine
learning and algorithms that does the work for them,”
explained Mark.
“Recently I spoke with a company that runs fleet cards
and they decided to start looking further into their data to
see what they could unearth. They found that they could
predict well in advance when a fleet customer was at risk
to move to another retailer by looking at their card-usage
behaviours. As a retailer if you can access insights like this
you can then adopt a more proactive approach and reach
out to the customer, offer them a discount, show they are
valued and perhaps prevent them from leaving.”
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