Leveraging Loyalty Programs at Convenience Stores

Personalization is helping c-stores make loyalty programs more relevant to customers.

Howard Riell • Contributing Editor

Marathon Rewards is powered by Philadelphia-based Stuzo’s Open Commerce product suite, which provides a personalized consumer experience with targeted offers for specific store locations and consumers.

tive, easy to use and easy to register (for),” suggested Hussein Yatim, vice president of Yatco Energy in Marlborough, Mass., which operates 18 Yatco Food Mart locations.

Personalization is a growing trend today in loyalty programs as c-store retailers look to tailor promotions and rewards to customer preferences.

Case in point: in November of last year, Findlay, Ohio-based Marathon Petroleum Corp. announced a pilot of a new and improved rewards program available to its jobbers and dealers to enhance the retail consumer experience.

The new loyalty program, Marathon Rewards, replaced the MakeItCount Rewards platform.

Through the program, consumers earn rewards on fuel of five cents per gallon, rewards on select in-store purchases, and consumers may qualify for additional third-party offers.

Rewards can be redeemed to save on qualifying fuel purchases, and the program kicks off with a $5 reward incentive for new member-related activities.

INTUITIVE & RELEVANT

To be successful, today’s loyalty programs must offer a variety of benefits to customers.

“Loyalty programs must be intui-

Major components of loyalty programs include enticing customers to sign up for the program and creating a step-by-step signup process that is as simple and streamlined as possible, Yatim suggested.

“Once they have an account created, (ensure) the user interface of the program is simple, clean and clear,” he said.

A key part of any loyalty program is offering a sign-up reward to incentivize the customer to become a member, Yatim said.

“Once they are using the program, offering relevant offers based off their buying behaviors is important to ensure they’re proactive using the program and visiting the chain’s stores,” he added.

The Yatco Rewards program lets customers earn points for every gallon of fuel by using their YATCO Rewards card.

Recent trends in loyalty include using back-end data based on customers’ buying behaviors to personalize the programs, and offers that make them more relevant, Yatim explained.

“Offering a mobile app is also key in today’s market and customer demographics,” he said. “I also think loyalty programs are now being used as a communication tool between brands and their customers, where now there is a digital component for an organization to gain constant feedback for both their loyalty program and their chain.”

The chain’s Yatco Rewards program lets customers earn five points for every gallon of fuel by using their Yatco Rewards card or virtual loyalty card ID on the Yatco Rewards app. They can also earn 10 points for every $1 spent in the store.

Growing Loyalty

What else is expected to define c-store loyalty programs in 2023?

“First of all, they need to be true loyalty programs, not pricediscounting schemes,” insisted Ryan Mathews, the founder and CEO of Black Monk Consulting in Eastpointe, Mich. “To do that they have to clear three hurdles. They must know the consumer they are addressing as a person, not as the aggregation of all their purchases.”

Next, they must reward members in a way that is meaningful to them, Mathews added.

“And finally, they must have character — that is, they must be authentic, transparent, honest and capable of listening and evolving. Right now, the rewards tend to be some form of pricing scheme — rebates, discounts, free goods. We have to grow past that,” he added.

Mathews said he has never seen a scaled loyalty program that he would consider truly personalized. “That is, designed just for me — and I’m not sure it’s a practical idea,” he said. “But stuffing me in a box based on age, zip code, gender, spend, etc. is exactly the wrong way to go about things, and there are innumerable examples of that to be found.”

But such options might be a long way off for most convenience stores. Today, c-store retailers finding success with their loyalty programs are actively gaining new loyalty members as they continue to update and improve their programs to keep pace with changing trends and customer expectations. CSD

FAST FACTS:

• Personalization is a big trend in loyalty.

• C-stores should make loyalty program sign-up easy and intuitive.