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On the move: how mobility and convenience offers are evolving on the fuel retail forecourt
5/6/2024
8 min read
Feature
The days when visiting a service station forecourt simply meant refuelling a vehicle, picking up a newspaper and buying a snack for the onward journey are long gone. Mobility is changing and so is the ‘customer offer’ for convenience nationally and globally, explains Jo Hayward, Vice President Mobility & Convenience Retail, who is responsible for BP’s network of around 1,150 retail sites in the UK.
Today, when you visit a BP fuel retail site, you can charge your electric vehicle (EV), buy a sandwich from the Wild Bean Cafe, browse gifts and flowers, and pick up grocery items – all in one stop. With the energy transition, customer habits are evolving, and BP anticipates a future where drivers spend more time at its forecourts charging their EVs. For many customers, visiting a service station is not just about refuelling or charging up, it’s an opportunity to take advantage of a great retail experience.
A matter of convenience
In the UK, more than 50% of transactions at BP’s forecourts are now for shop-only purchases; and for BP in Germany, that figure stands at around 25%. This shift in consumer preferences is supported by market projections from Euromonitor, which anticipates a global growth rate for the convenience market of around 4% annually. Food service is expected to surge at double that rate globally, at approximately 8% per year.
‘Convenience’ is one of BP’s five transition growth engines, alongside bioenergy, EV charging, hydrogen, and renewables and power. What’s more, the company is investing $15bn in convenience and EV charging globally over the next seven years.