New research from Market Force Information shows that consumers are driving past traditional oil company gas stations to fuel up at big box stores. In fact, ranking numbers one and two on consumers' lists of favorite places to fill 'er up are Costco and Kroger.
Now, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that price is a big motivator in the purchasing decision. Gas, particularly for those in the middle and lower rungs of the economic ladder, is a major slice of household budgets. And saving money, even at five or 10 cents a gallon, is a pretty big motivator.
According to the research conducted with more than 4,500 participants across North America, 56 percent get gas at conventional oil company branded locations while 32 percent go the big box/supermarket route.
While big boxes have a pricing advantage, conventional brands still have the edge when it comes to convenience. Forty-eight percent of consumers are motivated by the location of a station compared to forty-six percent who put price first.
Market Force looked at the issue of loyalty as it related to gas purchases. As it turns out — no big surprise — there is very little loyalty there. In fact, only 17 percent of consumers said they would drive past other stations to go to their favorite brand even if the other stations had better prices.
"The battle for customer loyalty in the petro-convenience industry is fierce, and quickly becoming more complex as companies like Costco and Kroger take away more business from the mainstay brands," said Janet Eden-Harris, chief marketing officer for Market Force, in a statement. "Because it's so difficult to differentiate on fuel prices, we're seeing retailers roll out more aggressive loyalty programs to retain their profitable customers and attract new ones."
The Market Force research found that consumers have a lot of gas loyalty cards. Thirty-six percent own loyalty cards from retailers that offer rewards based on purchases. Fifteen percent have branded credit cards with the most frequently mentioned being the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (38 percent), followed by Sam's Club (27 percent), Murphy Oil (22 percent), Chevron (21 percent), Walmart (19 percent) and Shell (16 percent).