Blog: Fuel Retailers, Are You Ready to Shift Gears?

There's a transformation taking place in the Fuel & Convenience retail market. It’s not just the energy transition from oil-based fuel to synthetic e-fuel, it is also the transition in focus from the forecourt to the c-store. Based on data from Euromonitor, in just five years’ time, global retail sales just for convenience items grew by 21%, from USD $163 billion to $197 billion, and they’re projected to grow an additional 15% over the next two years. Market leader Couche-Tard and China-based Sinopec both outgrew the market, while BP continues to expand its network of convenience sites together with partners like REWE and Auchan. We are witnessing c-stores increasingly becoming part of a larger retail trend, and we’re seeing grocery and convenience retailers growing “towards each other”. These trends were expedited by COVID-19, with consumers now expressing an even stronger desire for quick and convenient shopping trips to minimize the time spent in-store.

Is your store network ready to support increased—and changing—demands?

KPMG’s Fuel Forecourt Retail Market Report clearly outlines the complexity of the situation. Fluctuations in fuel demand, changes in consumer buying behavior, pressure on profit margins due to increases in operational costs, a need to support a broader product mix and the rise of private labels—these are just a few of the competing trends that impact the day-to-day fuel & convenience industry.

Source: KPMG Fuel Forecourt Retail Market Report, May 2020

This level of complexity requires you to have a highly flexible and scalable operating environment that quickly adapts to the needs of today’s digital customers, and enables you to connect with customers in a personal way, adapt to changes in demands, simplify day-to-day operations on the forecourt and in the c-store, and accelerate overall business growth.