News

Ready for high-octane increases?

April 24, 2005

Your customers spend untold hours every day leaning up against their cars, watching the numbers on the pump tick ever higher, wondering what is for dinner Â…

Why not give them something to do - and at the same time get them to spend more money with you?

According to Mark Wells, president of c-store consultancy LJT Management Services, approximately 60 to 70 percent of gasoline customers never enter the c-store. Pay-at-the-pump is so successful that most customers avoid the inside of the store entirely.

In the past, signage - either atop or in front of the pumps - has been the best solution for getting customers inside the store. But it costs money to print the signage and time to keep it current. In the rush of day-to-day activities, it's easy for a program like that to fall behind, resulting in pumps coated with faded, out-of-date messages.

Because kiosks are easily updatable and don't need to be replaced frequently, placing one within eyeshot of the gasoline customer makes perfect sense. One solution, offered by Suwanee, Ga.-based Pro-Tech, is the pump-side kiosk. Developed in tandem with Walk-Up Systems, the touchscreen device promotes daily in-store specials, offers cycling ad clips using video and sound, and allows the customer to print coupons or browse for area maps and directions.

The system can even be integrated with in-store food/quick-serve restaurant options. So a customer can order a sandwich while he fills up, and it will be ready by the time he goes inside.

Integrated solution

"We have a unique opportunity to reach out to consumers who are desperate for something to keep them engaged for five minutes," said Peter Kaszycki, president of Pro-Tech.

"The advantage to the c-store owner is that customers are driven into the store at a higher percentage than before. The advantage to the customer is that they are presented with options while they have some spare time."

Wells, whose company requires that all of its consultants also own c-stores, said he believes couponing is the kiosk application with the most potential . He also said kiosks need to be easy to use because customers can be slow to adapt to new technologies.

"We still have problems getting people to put their credit card in the right way," he said.

According to Wells, in order for these tools to be valuable, they must be dynamic and the content must be updated frequently so that the customer is always coming back for more.

"If they don't keep it fresh - if it's always 25 cents off a fountain drink - then eventually that will just go by the wayside. The customer will say `that's not worth my time to walk in the store.'"

Kaszycki said the pump-side kiosk helps c-store owners keep their on-screen content fresh with an intuitive administration program that lets them change ads, promotions and coupons from one central location.