forecourttech April 2020

forecourttech
pageten
The importance of customer experience has long
been recognised in high street retail. And now its positive
influence on loyalty and profitability is spreading to the
forecourt.
As the next few decades see major change in the role of
forecourts, the urgency to attract and retain customers
will only grow. No longer just a quick pit stop to refuel with
petrol or diesel, increased dwell times will drive the need
for a broader offering. One based on a connected customer
experience.
Informed consumers seek balance between immediate
satisfaction and compelling experiences with brands and
products. This dichotomy will only continue, embellished
by an increasing pace of changing consumer tastes, demands,
likes and dislikes. Adapting, iterating and enhancing
the customer proposition rapidly is the future battleground
for the winners and losers in fuel retail.
Google has recently published interesting research that
matches well with REPL’s point of view on key customer
experience trends. The research paper is based on consumer
trends uncovered in 2019 that are resonating and
continuing into 2020. They are the same themes and topics
that are driving discussions with our customers.
In this article we outline the key themes in the Google
research paper and outline REPL’s unique point of view on
each. We then explain how technology is key to allowing
fuel retailers to experiment, learn and understand what
unlocks value for their customers and colleagues alike.
THEME 1 – CONSUMER JOURNEYS ARE BECOMING
INCREASINGLY COMPLEX
The boundaries and fluidity between channels are becoming
increasingly blurred. Fuel was neither the first or the
easiest context for this change, but it’s coming. All retailers
must understand their customer journeys and move beyond
the traditional lexicon of online and offline towards
all-pervasive experiences.
This requires flexible technology platforms designed from
the ground up to support a changing proposition. As retail
evolves and shoppers’ interactions with retailers progress,
they expect consistency in experience more than anything
else.
In parallel, retailers seek data to make informed, quantitative
decisions about their products, services and journeys.
To achieve this REPL is seeing more and more of our
customers demand a flexible service-enabled technology
architecture. This allows them to escape the constraints of
legacy monolithic applications and experiment and iterate
their business propositions at pace.
Indeed, the big names in fuel are already putting customer
experience first. They know they need to adapt to retain the
loyalty of customers who will gradually start to spend less
on fuel.
Customers demand speed, convenience, control and
personalisation. Bespoke app development, alongside
smart POS systems and slick supply chain systems, will all
help to achieve this, delivering immediacy and securing
loyalty in a hugely competitive environment.
THEME 2 – NEW MEDIA CHANNELS ARE EMERGING
How, where and why consumers engage with retailers and
brands is changing. Media consumption is on demand and
retailers must use below-the-line marketing to inspire and
delight through a proliferation of mediums and channels in
conjunction with traditional above-the-line campaigns.
For example, the ubiquitous John Lewis & Partners 2019
Christmas advert has been viewed nearly 10 million times
on YouTube. Guerrilla marketing has become a more
prevalent and effective mechanism for entering the social
consciousness. Lidl’s annual mocking of rivals’ prices
continues, through fake vandalised billboards overlaid with
Lidl products and price comparison adverts placed outside
competitors’ stores.
However, while strong marketing messages may successfully
push a product or new service to customers, the
way that consumers transact with retailers remains largely
unchanged. New technologies and methods to complete
transactions have had limited consumer uptake in 2019.
There’s been a lot of hype around voice technologies but
the penetration of voice-based payments remains low and
there are many obstacles in the way of consumer adoption.
REPL has found that people are concerned around privacy,
data security and passive listening.
While voice assistant technology like Siri and Alexa is
improving, the technology is still reasonably immature.
This leads to concerns around quality and consistency of
interacting that will constrain consumer behaviour. Over
time as consumers become more familiar with the technology
the use will inevitably grow but the adoption into the
mainstream will be a slow journey rather than a cohesive
change.
THEME 3 – SATISFYING IMMEDIACY IS OFTEN MORE
IMPORTANT THAN LOYALTY
The basic tenets of retail do not change: product, price,
service and availability of stock remain paramount.
Technology enhances the way that consumers engage,
research and transact. Google cites 50% of shoppers as
confirming inventory before a store visit and suggests location-based
services, for example, “where to buy” + “near
me” have risen by 200% over the last two years.
Fulfilling consumer demand in real time, quickly, efficiently
and conveniently are key. REPL firmly believes that bricks
and mortar retailers, including those in the fuel sector, can
survive and thrive by harnessing technology and data to
use their physical presence as an asset to satisfy immediacy.
More and more of our conversations with retailers are
around how to best surface data to customers to help drive
the right customer journeys, maximise product availability
and ensure colleagues are in the right place at the right
time. These employees must also be equipped with the
right information to drive best in class service.
#forecourttech @forecourttech www.forecourttech.com