forecourttech April 19

forecourttech
Driven by IT...
and a smile
Dutch company, TanQyou, is not your average fuel
retailer. With a background in IT, Jan-Harmen Akkerman
and his team had no experience in fuel retail before 2015.
But putting their expertise to use they have created a
streamlined digital experience that goes beyond the fuel
pump and puts the fun back in to driving.
pagesix
Consumer habits are changing, technology is
advancing and retailers are working hard to find ways to
integrate new technologies for the benefit of customers and
their business. For Dutch retailer, TanQyou, the process
has been slightly different. The company, which was
launched in 2015, was started not by fuel retail executives,
but by IT professionals, and as such its very foundation is
built on technology. Because of this TanQyou has been
able to develop an innovative business model that rewards
customers and encourages brand loyalty, despite the sites
being unmanned.
“We have a completely different perspective to traditional
petrol retailers, explains TanQyou founder and CEO, Jan-
Harmen Akkerman.
“Traditional fuel retailers see delivering fuel to their customers
as their main business stream with things like shop
sales and EV charging as an extra. We see it the other way.
Through our apps we are facilitating a mobile ecosystem
and refueling is just one part of that. So whilst refueling
is one of the main income sources for the business, our
parking services, EV charging and shop sales are just as
important,” he added.
Jan started his other company, ICIT (internet bureau) – a
full service digital agency, 18 years ago. The company
provides services to multinational companies and it is
through these years of expertise that Jan and his team
have been able to carve out a unique place in the fuel retail
market: “IT is the most important aspect in everything we
do. We developed 99% of the techniques in house. The full
company is built on this platform,” explains Jan.
The company started when Jan purchased a 2.5 acre
piece of land that had a license for a petrol station. “At first
the goal was to rent the land to an oil company, but then I
started to think that we could do this better, but not in the
old way. So we started from scratch,” he explains.
From scratch meant the IT experts putting their heads together
to create their own fuel station management system.
“We have our own POS and pump control systems – we
made it lean, we made it simple. We looked at the business
with a whole new perspective. We took the best bits of
everything and only used external suppliers where they are
really good at what they do. It allowed us to create a lean
and mean forecourt,” said Jan.
The platform has allowed TanQyou to engage with their
customers in new and innovative ways with the aim to
make refueling ‘fun and personal again’.
“Competition in this market is high and we believe that you
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