forecourttech August 20

Technology for the evolving retail forecourt. 

ISSUE: 10 | August 2020 

ELECTRIC 

MOBILITY 

A golden opportunity for 

the forecourt. 

Elias Pöyry, Co-Founder & CBO at Virta 

discusses how retailers can reduce EV drivers’ 

range anxiety and future-proof their business. 

IN TOUCH: UNLOCK 

THE POWER OF 

PERSONALISATION 

IFSF: AN API FIT FOR 

OUR INDUSTRY 

FORECOURTTECH V - 

YOUR QUESTIONS 

ANSWERED

forecourttech 

Editor’s note 

The forecourt shop and technology have become 

the saviour of the retail forecourt and will only develop 

to offer a growing number of products and services, 

focusing on enhancing the customer experience as well 

as optimising the operation of the forecourt itself. 

In my opinion the modern day retail forecourt should 

look more like a stylish, one-stop mini shopping mall, 

stocking items that are tailored to local preferences. In 

this regard technology is already playing its role providing 

mobile functionality, self-checkout systems that use 

RFID chips to scan an entire basket and the ability to 

order food and drink directly to your door. 

Convenience and technology are also meeting when 

it comes to the connected car and voice recognition. 

This combination of voice control and connectivity 

allows drivers to safely reserve items while travelling, 

pre-order coffee, food or drinks, and even request that 

their click-and-collect order is brought out to them when 

they arrive at the forecourt. Connected cars are giving 

forecourt retailers the opportunity to imagine any number 

of different applications that enhance the customer 

experience. 

These and other technologies will be presented by our 

speakers at forecourttech V. in October. At forecourttech 

V. you will also be able to pre-schedule meetings 

(virtually) with other delegates of choice - choosing from 

a listing of major oil companies, leading independent 

operators or industry providers of technology. 

pagethree 

For more information please visit www.forecourttech. 

com and I hope to have your participation at 

forecourttech V. in October. 

Ed. 

The forecourttech brand is owned and 

promoted by SAB Events Europe Ltd. All 

rights reserved. 

The views expressed in this magazine are 

those of the author and do not necessarily 

represent those of SAB Events Europe. No 

part of this electronic magazine may be 

copied or reproduced without the written consent 

of SAB Events Europe Ltd. 

Advertising: 

Stephen Bozdan 

stephen@sabevents.eu 

Features: 

Wendy Taylor 

wendy@sabevents.eu 

SAB Events Europe Ltd. 

The Quadrant 

Surrey 

KT17 4RH 

www.sabevents.eu 

#forecourttech @forecourttech www.forecourttech.com


News round-up 

AiFi, a cashierless checkout startup, has 

announced plans to deploy 330 new and 

retrofitted autonomous stores globally by the 

end of 2021. AiFi’s Orchestrated Autonomous 

Store Infrastructure and Services (OASIS) 

tech platform can also be used to retrofit 

existing retail spaces with autonomous capabilities, 

allowing shoppers to simply walk in, 

grab what they want and leave. The system 

charges them automatically. 

Japanese convenience store, FamilyMart, 

has announced plans to use remote-control 

VR robots in their stores. The store chain’s 

partnership with Tokyo-based robotics firm 

Telexistence will see the remote-control 

robots stacking shelves in a bid to improve 

efficiency and reduce running costs. 

pagefour 

Cepsa has developed a new voice app that 

allows customers to search for the nearest 

Cepsa locations and their available services 

using Amazon’s cloud-based voice service, 

Alexa. Customers can also ask to find stations 

which offer particular products or services, 

such as 24 hours, car wash, convenience 

store, restaurant, autogas supply, electric 

charging facilities or fuel types. 

Toyota has announced a new sales milestone, 

surpassing three million hybrid EVs 

in Europe. The Japanese carmaker was the 

first company to offer mass electrification to 

customers, cutting vehicle emissions across 

the continent. Toyota remains at the top of the 

CO 2 reduction charts for mass market manufacturers. 

Following a successful 12-month pilot project 

at five of its retail sites, Aral, bp’s market leading 

fuel retail brand in Germany, is set to roll 

out more than 100 ultra-fast charging points 

across its retail network over the next 12 

months. The Aral chargers will be self-operated, 

powered by 100% green energy, with a 

charging capacity of up to 350kW. A vehicle 

with the appropriate battery technology can 

be charged for a range of up to 350 km in just 

over ten minutes. 



Uber Eats has joined up with supermarket, 

Asda, for the tech firm’s first step into fasttrack 

grocery delivery in the UK. Orders will 

be prepared in stores by Asda staff before 

being collected and delivered by couriers 

linked to the Uber Eats app, the takeaway 

delivery arm of the San Franciso-based tech 

firm behind the Uber ride-hailing app. The 

partnership is part of an increase in fast-track 

grocery delivery services during the coronavirus 

pandemic as shoppers have shifted 

towards buying food online. 

Amazon is expanding its real-world footprint 

with another unconventional physical product: 

a shopping cart. The Dash Cart is equipped 

with a touchscreen and other various hardware 

components to automatically detect 

what items you’re placing inside and even 

how many of those items you’ve picked off 

the shelf. When you finish your shop, you 

can take the cart through a special lane that 

checks you out digitally. 

pagefive 

Cepsa has expanded its agreement with 

delivery service, Glovo. The new deal will see 

the companies delivering basic food, hygiene 

and cleaning products from stores across 

Spain and Portugal. The initial agreement was 

struck during the first wave of the coronavirus 

pandemic and helped customers to access 

products when they needed them through 

contactless deliveries. 

A new survey has identified how convenience 

stores have shifted technology priorities 

during the pandemic. The survey from Censuswide, 

on behalf of Zynstra, said eighty-one 

percent of c-store retailers said COVID-19 

has elevated the role IT plays in the eyes of 

C-level decision makers, with 100% of c-store 

retailers with 500+ stores identifying this as a 

new reality. Sixty-four percent of respondents 

identified the need to adapt their technology 

to keep up with new consumer behaviours. 

Amazon will offer free grocery delivery to its 

Prime members across the UK by the end of 

the year, threatening efforts by supermarkets 

to profit from the boom in online shopping 

during the pandemic. 

The spread of the coronavirus has led to a 

surge in the adoption in contactless payment 

methods. A report released by global 

data and insights firm Dynata, surveyed over 

11,000 consumers in 11 countries and found 

a universal uptick in the adoption of contactless 

payments. 



FORECOURTTECH V 

LIVE UPDATE 

pagesix 

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted businesses 

the world over. The businesses who have not just survived, 

but thrived during COVID-19 are the ones who have been 

able to quickly adapt to the new normal. Bringing our 

international group of delegates together in the beautiful 

surroundings of the Asia Gardens Hotel and Thai Spa was 

simply not feasible in the current climate. So, just like so 

many of the companies we work with, we employed the 

right technology and we have adapted. 

This year forecourttech becomes forecourttech V, with the 

‘V’ standing for virtual. Delegates will hear from the same 

innovative speakers and be able to create the same invaluable 

business connections from the comfort and safety of 

their home or office. The event will be powered by technology 

from video conferencing specialists Event Video and 

networking app Brella. Previous delegates will be familiar 

with Brella’s networking platform, which has been used at 

the past two forecourttech events to match delegates with 

relevant connections for their business. 

In a free webinar this month, prospective delegates were 

given a sneak peek of what they can expect from forecourttech 

V. The webinar featured Stephen Bozdan, Managing 

Director of SAB Events Europe, organisers of forecourttech; 

Tom Caldwell, Forbes Technology Council Member and 

CTO of Techniche; Mark Wohltmann, Director of NACS 

Europe and Ian Brown, former IFSF President and was 

moderated by Ralph Cochrane, co-founder of Event Video. 

As well as showcasing the impressive technology set-up, 

the webinar also discussed some of the hot topics in the 

fuel retail industry from how retailers are using technology 

in innovative ways to adapt to the ‘new normal’ to futuristic-sounding 

technology that may not be as far away as 

you might think. VR robots, contactless payments, artificial 

intelligence, automation, asset monitoring, delivery services, 

APIs – technology is being using in a range of different 

ways to create a better customer experience, save money 

and improve efficiency. 

One thing is clear, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic 

about the future of the fuel retail industry. You can 

watch the full webinar via the link above. 

forecourttech V will take place from 6-7 October 2020. 

To register or for further information visit 

www.forecourttech.com. 


A technology focused event 

for the smart retail forecourt. 

6-7 October 2020 

www.forecourttech.com


Supplier news & insights 

Brunei Shell Marketing (BSM) has selected 

P97’s PetroZone® to enable the Shell Motorist 

App at 36 Sites across Brunei. The new 

mobile app, built on P97’s PetroZone mobile 

commerce platform, will enable motorists to 

locate the nearest BSM retail station, display 

fuel prices and list the services available at 

each station. The app will also enable secure, 

mobile payments with integrated loyalty, 

and personalised digital offers for both fuel 

purchase and in-store merchandise across 

BSM’s network. 

Dover Fueling Solutions has announced the 

launch of its highly anticipated DFS Anthem 

UX user experience platform. This revolutionary 

user experience platform is making 

its debut in North America on DFS’ Wayne 

Ovation® fuel dispenser. Featuring a 27” 

touchscreen display, super-intuitive functionality, 

personalised content, multi-language 

selection and multiple media options through 

DX Promote, part of the DFS DX connected 

solutions platform, the Anthem UX platform 

introduces consumers to a new kind of fueling 

experience. 

pageeight 

Gilbarco Veeder-Root has announced the 

introduction of a smart Level 2 electric vehicle 

charging station, Amps2Go, to its EV charging 

product portfolio in North America. The 

Amps2Go line of smart chargers, powered 

by SemaConnect, complements Gilbarco 

Veeder-Root’s existing e-Mobility solutions, 

and demonstrates the company’s continued 

commitment to making EV charging broadly 

accessible to all parts of the convenience and 

commercial and industrial industries. 

To support the development of a network 

of petrol stations in Poland under the AVIA 

brand, UNIMOT S.A. has chosen ICASA to 

streamline and centralise the management of 

their stations and fleet cards . 

International software and consulting company 

for the oil and gas industry, Implico, has 

celebrated another milestone in its on-going 

digitalisation journey. The “Connected Truck 

and Connected Depot 1.0” apps are now SAP 

certified. The cloud-based micro services 

offer tank terminal operators and their business 

partners significant benefits, such as 

more efficient, secure and transparent truck 

handling from entrance to exit. The certification 

underlines the added value the apps 

grant their users. 



Hectronic has equipped a highly frequented 

petrol station in the one of the most important 

freight transport sectors in Spain with 

HecFleet fuel terminals for AS 24. The 20 

fuel pumps in 10 lanes are not only used for 

their own fleet but are open to the passing 

heavy-duty traffic. AS 24, a European partner 

for transport professionals developing 

a truck-dedicated network and associated 

digital and tolls services has equipped five 

terminals on the site. The terminals are connected 

to the existing fuel pump infrastructure 

and now accept the AS 24 fuel card. 

The coronavirus pandemic has introduced 

new challenges for businesses all over the 

world — especially in the retail sector. In 

a new blog post, Carl von Sydow Director 

Self-Service, Americas at Diebold Nixdorf discusses 

how preparing for the post-pandemic 

environment will test retailers’ flexibility. 

The International Forecourt Standards Forum 

(IFSF) has this week confirmed that their 

annual conference will be taking place from 

10-12 November. The 2020 conference will 

explore topics surrounding consumer experience, 

with a focus on how to enhance, 

improve and streamline consumer experience 

through new technology, initiatives and 

partnerships. There will be sessions each day 

to share exciting developments in the area of 

standard APIs including feedback sessions to 

understand which areas members would like 

the organisation to focus on in 2021. 

Hectronic has added new functions to the 

easy2fuel app. The functional principle of the 

payment app is easy to explain: Upon onetime 

registration the suitable petrol station is 

suggested to the user via GPS; alternatively, 

the user can select from a list. In the next 

step, they select the respective petrol station 

and fuel pump. Then, the user authorises the 

fuelling process by PIN or fingerprint. Optionally, 

the mileage can also be recorded with 

every fuelling process. At unmanned sites 

the user can simply drive off and for those 

wanting to pay at the kiosk they can do so via 

a QR code in the app. Receipts are digitally 

archived. The latest app features include 

automatic mileage registration, which can 

be entered using a smartphone camera and 

individual price management. 

pagenine 


A GOLDEN 

OPPORTUNITY FOR 

THE FORECOURT 

Elias Pöyry Co-Founder & CBO at Virta 

discusses how electric mobility can relieve EV driver’s 

range anxiety and future-proof businesses.


pagetwelve 

The forecourt sector can alleviate EV drivers range 

anxiety and future-proof their business by offering EV 

charging services. And there are many sustainable business 

models to choose from. 

What comes to your mind when you hear the words 

“electric vehicle”? Tesla or some other EV brand? Climate 

change? Range anxiety? Or perhaps the word threat? 

The mainstreaming of electric cars is not a revolution but 

an evolution. And this evolution is on-going at an ever-accelerating 

speed. Global sales of internal combustion 

engine (ICE) passenger cars were sluggish in 2019, but 

electric vehicles (EVs) had another record breaking year, 

registering a 40% year-on-year increase according to the 

IEA’s latest report. The global EV market demand is expected 

to reach $1,212.1 billion by 2027. New electric car 

models are springing up and the price parity between ICE 

cars and EVs is predicted to be reached within the next 

couple of years. 

Recovery packages give a boost to clean mobility 

Ambitious policy announcements have been critical in stimulating 

the electric-vehicle rollout in major vehicle markets 

in recent years. This trend has only gained strength this 

year. At present, just about everyone is building recovery 

packages – from local to the European Union level. 

One of the recurring themes is green mobility. Germany’s 

economic stimulus package, for example, includes an increase 

in the government buyer incentives for electric cars, 

which brings the total purchase subsidy to over 9000 euros 

per vehicle. France has promised 7000 euros per vehicle 

and many other countries are promising even bigger sums. 

Then there’s the European Union’s 750 billion euro “green 

stimulus” package including 20 billion euros to boost sales 

of clean vehicles. 

Green your image and earn more 

An increase in EVs requires an increase in charging services. 

According to the market research, range anxiety is the 

main concern that is slowing down the adoption of electric 

vehicles. The European Commission estimates that we 

need roughly 2.8 million publicly-available charging points 

by 2030 in Europe alone – some 15 times more than what 

is currently in place. 

Charging is, and will be, a must-have service for EV drivers 

anywhere they move. Customers will choose services 

based on where they can charge. When EV’s are as cheap 

to purchase as ICE cars, the market demand for charging 

services will explode. 

Forecourt retailers have a pivotal role to play in this story. 

EV charging offers an unforeseen business opportunity 

to the forecourt sector – to every business owner and 

manager who is willing to challenge the current business 

logic. Not only are EV charging services a new sustainable 

revenue stream, but they also enable you to give a facelift 

for your brand as a supporter of renewable energy and 

e-mobility. 

Make EV charging your honey pot 

Forecourt retailers have many options on how to future- 



proof their business with EV charging services. 

EV charging can act as a honey pot that attracts the right 

customers to your forecourt. Even with fast chargers, your 

customers would need to spend about 20 minutes at your 

retail location while their car batteries are charged. In the 

meanwhile, they will use this additional dwell time to use 

your other onsite services. Only a fraction of your on-premise 

revenue would come directly from EV charging but your 

food and beverage sales will grow significantly. In fact, 

thanks to EV charging, forecourt retailers can expect up to 

60% of their income to come from food-to-go, groceries, 

takeaway coffee and other retail sales. 

Charging hubs - the future buzz word 

The forecourt is of course a natural place to start, but the 

benefits of EV charging don’t stop there. On average, we 

spend around 60% of our time at home. EV drivers usually 

want to charge their vehicles at home during the night 

when they are sleeping. The demand for home charging 

services will only grow in the future and the good news is 

that no industry has yet claimed dominance of the home 

charging market. 

But what about the EV drivers who don’t have a personal 

garage or EV chargers available in their apartment building? 

There is an untapped opportunity for forecourt retailers 

to create public EV charging hubs around residential 

apartment homes. 

EV charging hubs are public stations solely dedicated to 

electric car charging. These “hubs” can be built either as 

standalone stations or directly on an existing forecourt 

premises. They would be especially valuable for areas 

with block apartments that don’t have enough EV charging 

stations or any EV chargers at all. And it’s not just the local 

residents who’ll be utilizing these EV charging hubs, their 

guests will too. 

Another big advantage to these local charging hubs is that 

they require much less power since they are designed for 

long-term charging (e.g. EVs charging overnight). For the 

forecourt retailer, this means there is no need for expensive 

electricity upgrade investments or complicated underground 

wiring. For charging hubs located in metropolitan 

areas, there is an additional opportunity to add parking 

fees on top of the charging services. 

Grow your fleet card customer accounts 

And what is the second place many of us spend a lot - 

often too much - time every weekday? The office. As a 

forecourt retailer, you can not only retain but also grow 

your existing fleet card customer and other B2B customer 

accounts by offering EV charging services at their office. 

You will also be likely to win over new B2C customers who 

are looking for a charging solutions. 

The golden opportunity here is that forecourt retailers 

can offer EV charging to all these locations with a single 

contract and no extra roaming charges to third parties. By 

registering as a customer, EV drivers can charge their cars 

no matter where they are: at your retail location, at home, 

at a charging hub or at the office. As the market matures, 

subscription-based business model will become mainstream 

also in the EV charging services. One thing is certain: 

forecourt sector’s future looks bright with EV charging. 

pagethirteen 

Elias is one of the speakers 

at forecourttech V, a virtual 

event taking place on the 6-7 

October 2020. 

For more information on 

Elias’ talk and other 

presentations please visit 

www.forecourttech.com/ 

speakers 


UNLOCK THE 

POWER OF 

PERSONALISATION 

Intouch.com discusses how retailers can reap the benefits of 

an AI-driven personalisation platform, allowing them to 

engage in real-time with their consumers in-store.


Successful online retailers are creating highly 

personalised experiences in physical stores. 

CascadeCreatives - stock.adobe.com. 

pagesixteen 

For years, digital retailers have been using data to 

study online shoppers’ behaviour, predict their needs, and 

eliminate friction points from the decision-making process. 

As a result, they have optimised the shopping journey to 

where purchasing online is now low on cognitive stress. 

Now those same retailers are opening brick and mortar 

stores and applying the same complex data models in their 

own physical stores. However, unlike what’s been happening 

online, most physical retailers’ existing channels 

for in-store customer targeting lack relevancy and reach, 

diminishing profitability. 

For the most part forecourt retailers haven’t been leading 

the charge when it comes to in-store personalisation; 

posters, flyers and static signage can be seen in almost 

every forecourt you’ll step foot in. With the ever looming 

threat of decreasing footfall and electric vehicles it leaves 

us thinking - is that enough? 

The idea of change can often be daunting, especially with 

an abundance of new technology on the market. Luckily, 

in the case of instore personalisation, it’s not an overnight 

shift. Incremental changes over time can help future proof 

your business and remain relevant in an ever changing 

world. 

The changing landscape 

Forecourt retail is at the pinnacle of new age retail. With oil 

supplies dwindling and electric cars becoming the norm, 

these retailers will need to change over the next decade 

faster than any other if they aim to keep hold of their market 

share. 

Only 19% of forecourt shoppers cite fuel as their main reason 

for visiting, and nearly a quarter who visit a forecourt 

convenience store travel on foot rather than in a vehicle. 

The majority of forecourts no longer simply deliver petrol 

or diesel. They are retailers, offering the ability to fill up 

with fuel together with other services, such as food to go, 

convenience shopping and speciality coffee. Forecourts 

will need to evolve further to become destinations or else 

they will struggle to keep up with their competitors. Every 

day spent neglecting to adopt an innovative testing model 

is another day of lost market share. 

If forecourt retailers want to compete in an ever changing 

sales environment, it is now more essential than ever for 

them to increase basket-value in-store. The most obvious 

way to achieve this is by applying a real-time intelligent 

data model that consistently delivers unique in-store experiences, 

on-prem targeted campaigns, and highly personalised 

offerings. 

In the online world, retailers have control over the characteristics 

of the audience they are seeking to target with a 

specific product. It is easier to define the targeted audience 

in the online world with the aid of targeted promotions 

and ads which can be executed across different websites, 

apps, and services. 

However, forecourt retailers lack choice or say on who will 

walk into their store at any given moment. They need to 

target ads in real time to meet the personalised experience 

customers expect. 

The danger of electricity 

We are all acutely aware of the rise in electric vehicle 

production across the world. In recent years. No longer is 

it a faraway, futuristic concept. There has been a global 

increase in EV charging stations at forecourts. However, 

some countries are moving at a rapid pace. Take Norway 

for example, in March 2020, electric cars took 55% of market 

share. Interestingly, Norway is Europe’s second-largest 

oil producer, yet they are still shifting towards EVs 



Fuel margins are boarding negligible for retailers, rendering 

convenience purchases and customer loyalty 

necessary for survival, coupled with lower footfall means 

it’s important to have a convenience offering that keeps 

customers loyal whether they’re fueling up or not. In the UK 

the average basket size of 2.34 items and non-fuel spend 

of £6.065 means the ability to upsell customers through 

personalisation can have a huge impact on the bottom line. 

Know your audience 

Marketing campaigns are often done in cycles, for traditional 

paper display marketing no real-time data is taken 

into account. There is a start date, an end date and a set 

number of products. The decisions on what products 

should be chosen, the length of time for the ads, the sales 

data, is all guesstimated from the outset. 

The key to loyalty is understanding what it is the customer 

wants and giving it to them. In the digital world, personalisation 

is everywhere. Displaying recently viewed items or 

personalising product pages based on location are a few 

techniques used in eCommerce. Conversely, in-store retail 

has had a one size fits all approach to promotions. 

Experience is everything 

With all the change coming, it may seem like a scary time 

to be a forecourt retailer. However, there is always room 

for positive growth amid change. Currently it takes 3-4 

minutes to fill a car tank with petrol or diesel and after filling 

up customers can average less than 2 minutes in-store. 

This doesn’t give a lot of time for customers to shop, and 

contributes to a quite rushed, often uneventful experience. 

Today, Electric cars can take up to 40 minutes on a fast 

charge, and even with future technological advancements 

decreasing this over time, it still leaves customers with 

plenty of dwell time to spend at the forecourt. 

The successful forecourts will see a golden opportunity 

to develop ways to engage with customers and create 

positive personalised experiences for them. In-store experiences 

such as hair or nail salons may begin to pop up. 

In larger sites, there could be in-store cooking demonstrations 

that allow for forecourt retailers to engage with their 

customers and offer unique suggestions, such as ideas for 

dinner, with the ingredients for sale in the store. 

The price is right 

Dynamic pricing is everywhere. Hotels, airlines and even 

Amazon are changing their prices by the minute to reflect 

current market conditions. Traditionally, offline retailers’ 

pricing has remained static whether there’s 1 or 1,000 

people in store. 

Capitalising on real time events by increasing the price 

by a few percent can lead to a huge increase in a company’s 

margin.Real-time data also enables retailers to trial 

their pricing strategies and optimise them to produce the 

most favourable returns for the business. A 1% increase in 

prices will result in a 10% improvement in profit for a business 

with 10% profit margin. Fluctuations in demand and 

the inability for retailers to dynamically adjust their prices 

can create large wastage and additional expenses to the 

business. This 

can often lead to long-term financial problems and a damaged 

reputation. 

Nearby events create irregular shopping patterns, such as 

increased sales of energy drinks and snacks. Digital ads 

create the agility to promote products specifically geared 

towards attendees of the event, generating even higher 

sales. Taking advantage of such an opportunity is not possible 

in the current forecourt retail environment. Targeting 

the specific individuals that will be making these purchases 

prior to an event like a football game is crucial. 

AI proves incredibly valuable in this equation compared 

to rule-based promotions. This is primarily because rulebased 

promotions will be set to strict parameters based on 

simple one or two dimensional metrics. AI however, will begin 

with these parameters to target a more specific context 

and even discover new pattern to target over time. 

Increasing operational efficiency 

When AI is integrated with promotions in order to help target 

shoppers more accurately, the targeting gets smarter 

over time. For example, if a promotion for a product is 

shown five times in ten minutes but no sales are made, the 

AI model re-trains itself to promote a different product during 

this time. This is done until it can consistently promote 

products based on the internal and external environment 

that ultimately increases the conversion ratio. 

Real-time pricing, as outlined previously, allows retailers 

the ability to influence demand for their products based on 

the internal environment (what products are in stock, what 

products are close to their sell-by date and who are the 

customers in the store) and external influences (weather, 

time of day, time of year, nearby events, 

trends on social media). 

79% of retailers are investing in personalisation, the most 

of any industry. This shows the importance of personalised 

promotion and the ROI that retailers are seeing. When footfall 

in the UK is down by an average of 82% retailers must 

ensure they’re doing everything in their power to get customers 

spending while in-store. 67% of consumers say it’s 

important for brands to automatically adjust their content 

based on their current context for a real-time personalised 

experience. 

Evoking an emotion 

To create an emotional response from your customers you 

must know your audience. Emotions are created through 

predictions of an outcome that your brain makes, therefore 

to understand what predictions that your customer will 

make, you must first know basic information about them. 

It is important to create a sense of emotion in the retail 

world, as emotions dictate our actions and also connect 

us. Personalisation can become a major factor in creating 

valuable emotions in a customer. A sense of acknowledgement 

is important for people’s instinctive need for a sense 

of belonging. 

pageseventeen 



Secondly, people deeply value personalisation, a notable 

example being a gift. You are much more likely to have an 

emotional response to a gift it is made personally for you. 

Personalisation in a retail level achieves a similar response 

as you feel better connected to the experience. 

Being an advocate means that you publicly support or 

recommend something. Having customers become brand 

advocates is one of the most effective forms of advertising 

as you are more likely to listen to the opinions of those who 

you trust. Personalisation when utilized correctly creates an 

environment for brand advocacy. If a customer feels as if 

the in-store personalisation a certain retailer offers creates 

a far better experience, they will pass on this feeling to 

their network. This leads to the people who have been told 

about the experience to witness it for themselves, and they 

too will hopefully advocate for the brand if they feel that it 

made a positive impact. 

Trust goes both ways 

Gaining trust with your customer takes a long period of 

time and is built on reliability. Personalisation can become 

a major factor in being able to build trust with customers. 

Creating transparency between retailer and customer is 

beneficial for both parties. 

Sharing reliable and updated promotions makes the 

customers feel as if they are getting the best deal. Having 

a tailored shopping experience allows the customer to 

constantly feel as if they are at the top of the retailers mind. 

This can be a major factor in building this trust. However, 

when used incorrectly the information required for a truly 

personalised experience can create irreversible damage 

of trust. The most notable case of this was Facebook’s 

Cambridge Analytica scandal. The misuse of personal data 

led to trust in Facebook dropping 66 percent. 

Creating a loyal customer base is important to the longevity 

of a company. Loyal customers will continue to choose a 

retailer over a competitor regardless of major differences 

between the two. Loyalty comes from a strong sense of 

trust and belonging with an organization. Personalisation 

helps foster this loyalty through helping to build the sense 

of trust. 

The future of forecourt 

With so much technology to choose from, difficult decisions 

need to be made about what direction is best for forecourt 

retailers. It may seem like an arduous task, but frankly, we 

are at a point now where doing nothing and operating as 

normal may be detrimental to the future of forecourts. Providing 

customers with the digital experiences they expect 

in parallel with a stellar product offering will build 

generational loyalty. 

See the full report at www.intouch.com. 

Tomorrow’s 

Energy 

Management, 

Today. 

A cloud-based software suite 

to manage all your energy 

www.ICASA-group.com

AN API FIT 

FOR OUR 

INDUSTRY 

John Carrier, Projects Manager at IFSF 

discusses the work IFSF and Connexus have been 

conducting on Application Programming Interfaces.


pagetwenty 

Since January 2019 IFSF and Conexxus have worked 

with their retailer and supplier (developer) members to 

assemble a set of documents to describe how to create an 

Application Programme Interface (API) for consideration 

as an industry standard. While there are many languages, 

formats, and tools available to create APIs, we focussed 

on those that are most standardized, and most likely to be 

useful in a variety of the environments in Fuel Retailing and 

Convenience Store computing. 

Alongside Conexxus, IFSF published in February some key 

“API Design Guidelines”. These are in the public domain 

and can be found at https://gitlab.openretailing.org/public-standards/api-design-guidelines. 

Rationale for selections 

Specifically, the IFSF singled out the following tools and 

standards as having the broadest scope: 

• Open API Specification 3.0 - formerly “Swagger,” this 

API definition format has become the de facto standard for 

APIs. 

• JSON-Schema 0.7 - as standards bodies, we require a 

way to define and compose message content. JSON-Schema 

is the emerging standard in JSON family of tools and is 

compatible with OAS 3.0. 

• HTML5 - Capabilities in HTML are ubiquitous and are 

included in almost all server and client side development 

environments. 

Framework documents 

API Design Rules for JSON 

This document describes the Open Retailing (fuel retailing 

and convenience store) style guidelines for the use of 

JSON based APIs, including property and object naming 

conventions. These guidelines are based on best practice 

gleaned from IFSF, Conexxus, OMG (IXRetail), W3C, Amazon, 

Open API Standard and other industry bodies. 

API Implementation Guide - Security 

This document describes the Fuel Retailing and Convenience 

Store API implementation guidelines for security. 

API Implementation Guide - Transport Alternatives 

This document describes the Fuel Retailing and Convenience 

Store transport layer alternatives for RESTful web 

services carrying JSON based APIs, as well as some jus 

tification for the selections made. Although this document 

contains many HTTP based alternatives for each functional 

Use Case only one is specified. Although this reduces 

choice it promotes interoperability and simplifies development 

and testing. 

Design Rules for APIs OAS 3.0 

This document describes the Open Retailing (fuel retailing 

and convenience store) style guidelines for the use of 

RESTful Web Service APIs, specifically the use of the 

OAS3.0 file format and referencing of relevant JSON 

Schemas from that file. These guidelines are based on 

best practice gleaned from OMG (IXRetail), W3C, Amazon, 

Open API Standard and other industry bodies. These 

guidelines are not to be considered a primer for how to 

create APIs. There are thousands of documents and blog 

posts about APIs and best practices for creating them. This 

guide is rather a set of practices to serve as “guardrails” to 

ensure that Open Retailing APIs have a consistent design. 

Joint API Data Dictionary (proposed) 

This is the API Data Dictionary (“Dictionary”), jointly owned 

by the IFSF (www.ifsf.org) and Conexxus (www.conexxus. 

org), and shared in order to assist in the use of our international 

standards. The Dictionary is open to the public and 

everybody is allowed to use them. For example, we expect 

many users will find the Dictionary helpful to understand 

fuel retailing and to define further innovative and collaborative 

APIs. 

More information and next steps 

If you have comments, or would like IFSF to consider 

changes to any of these items, please either open an issue 

in GitLab (available to IFSF members) or email support@ 

openretailing.org. 

Published APIs 

Between 2015 and 2018 IFSF published API-Groups 

covering five business domains; Remote Equipment and 

Monitoring [REMC], Wet Stock Management [WSM], Prices 

(fuel and car wash), POS2FDC [FDC] and Mobile Payment 

[MP]. The XML and TCP/IP based implementations of 

these functional use cases were migrated to Web Services 

and JSON-based messages. Following collaboration with 

Conexxus, we have now reworked these to be complaint 

with the Design Guides and Dictionary. These are all in 

draft status awaiting final technical and business review. 

They are currently accessible to both IFSF and Conexxus 

members in the Gitlab.Openretailing.org repositories by 

requesting access by emailing support@openretailing.org. 

Prototype forecourt device simulator 

Both IFSF and Conexxus wanted to be sure that the API 

Groups developed using the aforementioned Design 

Guide and Dictionary were practical and actually worked. 

To confirm this a prototype forecourt device simulator 

was constructed using the published draft FDC API’s. To 

demonstrate the speed and reuse of the API-Groups the 

simulator and a POS MMI and FDC MMI were developed in 

under 6 man-days. The specified transport alternative was 

SSE (Server Sent Events) and these alongside a subset of 

the FDC API-Group is available for anybody with a browser. 

To start the POS MMI visit: https://tools.openretailing.org/ 

cd/cdui/cdui.html In a separate window the Fuelling Point: 

https://tools.openretailing.org/fp/fpui/fpui.html 



Sample FDC MMI created using the published draft 

FDC APIs. 

Sample POS MMI created using the published 

draft FDC APIs. 

pagetwentyone 

John Carrier and Heather 

Price from IFSF will both be 

part of forecourttech V, a 

virtual event taking place on 

the 6-7 October 2020. 

Heather will moderate the 

event and you can find more 

information on John’s talk and 

other presentations at 

www.forecourttech.com/ 

speakers 


Explore how you can benefit from Way4 — openwaygroup.com 

fleet cards 

under 

contr 

l 

As a fuel retailer, you want a smooth journey for corporate drivers 

and the best experience at your petrol stations for individual customers. 

They deserve the most recent payment innovations you can offer. 

But if your card system or service provider is too slow to keep up, 

you lose control over how and when you roll out new services. 

By switching to Way4, an open digital payments platform, fuel retailers are securing their digital future 

by choosing a partner that lets them be fast & flexible. 

ADVANTAGES: 

— CROSS–BORDER CARD BUSINESS ON A SINGLE PLATFORM 

— ISSUING & ACCEPTANCE OF FUEL & BANK CARDS, LOYALTY & COMBINED CARDS 

— SET UP OF CARD PRODUCTS & TRANSACTION RULES WITHOUT SYSTEM CUSTOMIZATION & VENDOR INVOLVEMENT 

— REAL–TIME ACCOUNT UPDATES FOR FLEET MANAGERS & DRIVERS THROUGH WEB PORTALS 

— 24 / 7 / 365 SERVICE AVAILABILITY 

— MOBILE PAYMENTS, LOYALTY PROGRAMS BASED OF BASKET DATA ANALYSIS, DYNAMIC PRICING 

Join the fuel retailers worldwide who are using Way4 for card issuing, acquiring, switching, 

digital channels, mobile wallet, e–commerce gateway & loyalty.


Providers of smart & evolving technologies 

optimising the retail forecourt. 

a2i systems A/S 

+45 2611 2085 

www.a2isystems.com 

Bever Innovations 

+31 111 745 400 

www.beverinnovations.com 

Actual IT 

+386 5662 2700 

www.actual-it.si 

BigBrother 

+31 318 666 699 

www.bigbrother.nl 

AGS Transact Technologies 

+91 22 4576 6666 

www.agsindia.com 

Bottomline 

+31 73 658 0480 

www.bottomline.eu 

pagetwentythree 

ASIS Automation 

+90 216 540 6464 

www.asis.com.tr 

Diebold Nixdorf 

+49 2103 900 

www.dieboldnixdorf.com 

Astro Baltics 

+372 6280 000 

www.astrobaltics.eu 

Dover Fueling Solutions 

+44 1382 598 000 

www.doverfuelingsolutions.com 

Azpiral 

+353 61 633 355 

www.azpiral.com 

Dürr Technik GmbH & Co. KG 

+49 7142 9022-0 

www.duerr-technik.com 





Edge Petrol 

+44 203 865 8689 

www.edgepetrol.com 

Implico 

+49 40 27 09 360 

www.implico.com 

Faschang Service & Management 

+43 7723 44 600 

www.faschang.eu 

Ingenico 

+33 1 5801 8000 

www.ingenico.com 

pagetwentyfour 

Gilbarco Veeder-Root 

+44 1268 533090 

www.gilbarco.com 

Invenco Group 

- 

www.invenco.com 

Hectronic 

+49 7703 93880 

www.hectronic.com 

Istobal 

+34 902 509 444 

www.istobal.com 

Kalibrate 

+44 161 609 4000 

www.kalibrate.com 

Kouros 

+30 22950 45000 

www.kourossa.gr 



Mepsan 

+90 216 540 36 90 

www.mepsan.com.tr 

P97 

- 

www.p97.com 

NCR 

1-937-445-1936 

www.ncr.com 

PDI Software 

+49 69 8237960 

www.pdisoftware.com 

ONEY 

+34 911 774 707 

comercios.oney.es 

pagetwentyfive 

REPL 

+44 808 200 7375 

www.replgroup.com 

Orbis Tech 

+44 2380 227645 

www.orbistech.com 

SGB 

+49 271 489640 

www.sgb.de 





Tammerneon 

+358 3 2831 111 

www.tammerneon.com 

Unicode Systems 

+420 568 840 678 

www.unicodesys.cz 

Virta Ltd. 

+358 40 510 0312 

www.virta.global 

pagetwentysix 

Worldline 

+33 1 3434 9595 

www.worldline.com 

Stand out from the crowd and direct 

clients straight to your website for 

just €100 per month. 

Contact stephen@sabevents.eu 

for more information.

forecourttech August 20

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