Technology | Prepaid Services
fast facts: • Keep the digital prepaid experience simple. • Stay on top of customer preferences as well as successful prepaid programs of other retailers. • Subscription or prepay/pick-up in-store capabilities can help make your store a destination for everyday purchases like food and beverages.
The obstacle with including fuel, though, is that those suppliers already have their own loyalty programs and apps. Plus, Soapy Joe’s offers different fuel brands across its locations. It can be difficult integrating prepaid services to be compatible across different point-of-purchase hardware and software. “We’ve got Chevron, ARCO, Mobil, and they’re all on different point-of-sale (POS) systems, which is discrete from our car wash POS system,” Mauler explained. “So as soon as we can figure out that technology layer, it’s something that we want to do.” Whether its offering the ability to order and prepay via a mobile app before collecting items
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CSTORE DECISIONS •
October 2021
at the store, or adding prepaid coffee or other subscriptions, savvy retailers are looking for ways to ensure they’re part of their customers’ daily routine. Looking to the future, c-stores would be wise to consider adding prepaid capabilities around everyday purchases, including food and beverage purchases, if they haven’t already. To find success with prepaid services, it’s imperative that a retail operator knows what its regular customers want. Soapy Joe’s does an annual survey of its Wash Club members to stay on top of their preferences. Raycroft advised c-stores to also stay on top of what other retailers are doing, especially those that have shown the greatest success with prepaid offerings. Right now, Starbucks is the gold standard, where customers can order and pay ahead for beverages and food. By incorporating prepaid capabilities, convenience stores can capture some of that market that stops at Starbucks several days a week because it’s on their daily route. That’s a great opportunity for convenience stores with strong coffee programs or quality breakfast programs, Raycroft said. “They should be trying to compete with those everyday spend vendors or everyday spend merchants to get attention from a customer perspective.” CSD
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