How Digital Media at the Pump will grow your Business Whitepaper
Introduction The retail petroleum industry has faced many challenges over the last years. You have probably experienced, amongst others, a squeeze on your fuel margin, an increase in your operating expenses, a decrease in consumer spending, and a decline in customer loyalty. Under these difficult conditions, petrol station owners are looking for smart and innovative ways to increase revenues and stand out from the competition. One of the proven and successful ways to achieve this is to implement a digital media solution on your forecourt. Digital Signage research and our own customer case studies have shown that displaying messages and promotions on digital screens at the pump can boost retail sales by up to 42%. That sounds great, but how to choose and manage media solutions in order to achieve similar results? This whitepaper explains how you can implement a media solution effectively to increase your revenue, customer loyalty, and competitive advantage. It will be covered by 4 key areas which should be addressed when planning for a media solution: 1. Media Strategy & Objectives How do I choose and plan for my media strategy? 2. Content Management System Should I choose T-Media USB Solution or T-Media Cloud Service? 3. Content How do I arrange my content? 4. Best Practices & Achieving ROI What are the best practices in achieving a real ROI? 02
1. Media Strategy & Objectives Large interactive digital screens that are integrated into your dispensers give your forecourt a modern look and feel. However, having a screen without applying a media strategy or setting objectives is like driving a car without a destination. Where are you going? When considering a digital media solution at your forecourt, the very first questions you should answer yourself are: How do I currently interact with my customers on the forecourt? Is this the effective way or can digital media at the pump boost my sales more effectively? What do I want to achieve with my digital media solution? (see box below) What kind of content strategy do I need to convey my messages? How do I measure whether the objectives and expectations I have set earlier are met? Do I want to run promotions on my indoor screens as well? The remainder of this whitepaper will help you answer these questions and guide you step by step to make the right decision when choosing a digital media solution for your forecourt. On average, a consumer is present at the pump between 1 and 2 minutes, which is the average dwell time you have to convey the intended messages to your customer. Within that period, you want to make Having a screen without applying a media strategy or setting objectives is like driving a car without a destination. Where are you going? sure you trigger an action. You may want to attract your customer to the shop or carwash to boost your sales, entertain a customer to improve the experience on the forecourt, or you might want to increase the loyalty to your business. Regardless of what you choose to achieve, you should make sure to have a media strategy in place and manage it accordingly in order to be successful. The most common and effective media strategies at the pump Objective Media Strategy Pump Status 1. Increase sales of shop products, car wash or other services 2. Increase fuel sales 3. Increase revenue 4. Increase customer loyalty 5. Increase customer loyalty 6. Increase customer satisfaction Run promotions of the station s products and services Run educative messages of premium fuels to increase margins Sell free space to advertisers Welcome and thank a customer for their visit Use real-time information such as weather and traffic reports Entertain a customer with engaging content Idle and/or fuelling stage Fuelling stage. Dedicated media for each product Any desired stage Idle, Car@Pump and Thanks stage Idle and/or fuelling stage Any desired stage 03
2. Content Management System Once you know what you would like to achieve with your media solution, the next important step is to choose an appropriate Content Management System (CMS) that fits within your strategy. CMS will add, store, organise, edit, and assign content to digital screens. This will enable you to manage the media on your forecourt in an easy and effective way. The way the CMS interface is designed allows even an inexperienced user to add, modify and remove content easily. Choosing the right CMS for your business depends mainly on three basic needs that follow your strategy: How often do I plan/ need to change my content? Which functionalities do I need? How many stations do I plan to manage? When your main strategy is to increase your customers experience on the forecourt by running some basic messages such as welcome, timeless media content and thanks messages, you can best go for a basic media solution. If your main strategy, however, is to effectively increase sales, you will need a more advanced CMS. Such CMS will allow you to centrally manage your content from any location, and via any device connected to the internet. This will support The way the CMS interface of T-Media is designed allows even an inexperienced user to add, modify and remove content easily. frequent updates of your content and offer more functionalities such as scheduling, automatic file conversion, triggers for each product, volume control per day part, and customisable layouts. Feature T-Media USB Solution (Media Box, no Licence) T-Media Cloud Service (Media Box, annual Licence) Content Assignment Centrally manage one site Centrally manage multiple sites X Different content per screen X Content Management Triggers: Idle, Fuelling, Thanks Additional triggers: Car@Pump, Fuelling per product X Automatic non playable files blacklisting Automatic file conversion X Scheduling content X Volume control per day part X Customisable playlists (duration, sequence) X Smart playlists X Customisable layouts X Add content via any device connected to the internet X Including future developments and full support X Option to add indoor screens 04
3. Content Once you have a clear media strategy in mind and you have chosen the right Content Management System, there is still one final key ingredient missing for a successful media solution: content. Without content, your media solution is like a petrol station without fuel: you are missing the vital element for your business. Your next question will probably be where to get the content from. There are a few options available. If you or someone else in your business is able to create content, you can manage it internally. Via the advanced Content Management System, you are able to add a PowerPoint presentation, which can be made Engaging content will generate additional income at your forecourt. quite easily even by inexperienced users. Another option is to hire a content creator, who can design professional content for your screens and simultaneously manage your marketing strategy. A third option is to look for advertisers who want to advertise on your screens. Since your screens captivate the audience and attract people of all ages and buying habits, it is an ideal place for advertisers to promote their products and services. The most convenient and also an effective source of content might be already freely available to you. The importance of content was already acknowledged by Bill Gates in 1996, when he wrote his famous article Content is King. He foresaw: Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting. Nowadays, this idea can be extended Without content, your media solution is like a petrol station without fuel: you are missing the vital element for your business. to digital outdoor displays as well. Engaging content that triggers an action with your customer is the source that will generate additional income at your forecourt. If you have a shop, your retailer or MOC/ NOC often have promotions available in a digital format. The only thing you would need to do then is to assign the content to your screens and watch your income grow. 05
4. Best Practices & Achieving ROI Best practices of engaging and effective content Food store promotions In - store promotions Advertising space sale Car wash promotion Interactive content Available products Combo deals & offers News & entertainment Having read through the first three steps, you now have all the ingredients required for a successful media solution at your forecourt. However, there is still a significant difference between the good and the best. Taking into account some of the best practices will definitely help your media solution achieve even more powerful results. This chapter will highlight some of the best practices and advise how you can achieve a real return on your investment. The first best practice is to aim at the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), like Coca Cola, Red Bull, Mars Bar, etc. On average, the top 5 FMCG counts for around 8.4% of total shop sales. The second best practice is to promote your high margin products and services. By means of informing customers about, for example, your premium fuels, you can increase your margin of the fuel sales. When you have a car wash, this is another service to promote. Let s say your car wash will attract two additional customers per day as a result of your promotion at the pump s screen. Due to the high margin, promoting a car wash will earn your T-Media license back within only two months. Only one promotion for such an outstanding result! The third best practice is to increase customer loyalty. You may want to entertain or inform your customer about the weather, news, or using a funny video that will make your customer smile. You may also think of using QR codes, which increase interactivity with your customers. All these subtle messages can ensure that your customer will return to your station more often. Taking into account some of the best practices will definitely help your media solution achieve even more powerful results. Another best practice is to frequently update and renew your content and promotions. If you run the same promotion for more than one month, the effect will significantly decrease for your returning customers. A good frequency would be to update the content each week with minimum frequency of one per month. 06
Fact Sheet: Media at the Pump 87% of consumers enjoy watching entertaining content at the pump. According to a recent Arbitron study, one in three consumers stated they had made 1 in 3 customers made an unplanned purchase after a digital media advertisement. an unplanned purchase after having seen a product advertised on a dynamic digital sign. Effectiveness of different forms of advertising at petrol stations varies, depending on the advertisement location: In-store promotions: 6% Nozzle advertising: 9% Outside a petrol station: 11% Digital screens in pumps: 75% Uplift in in-store sales after media at the pump launch 53% 28% 241% 80% Benefits of media at the pump 42% of retail video viewers prefer to shop at places that have video displays. Receives up to 10 times more eye contact than traditional static signage. Increases the average purchase amount by nearly 30%. Creates a 32% upswing in overall sales volume. Increases brand awareness by over 47%. Generates 33% growth in repeat buyers. 07
About Tokheim Tokheim is one of the world s leading manufacturers of fuel dispensing and automation equipment. Our breadth of offer aims to give you choice and consists of fuel dispensers, retail automation and payment systems, media solutions and cloud technology. Tokheim products have been associated with exceptional quality for more than a century. Providing high quality solutions is embedded deep in the culture of our organisation. Our distinguishable logo, which is proudly stamped on all our products, is even co-branded with the word Quality. An experienced team of global product marketers and engineers continue the tradition of developing highly innovative, quality, equipment today and in preparation for tomorrow. Our direct operations and a wide network of distributors and authorised service representatives worldwide ensure we remain close to our customers at all times across the globe. We are there every step of the way to deliver products and solutions of the highest quality and efficiency, latest technology and innovation in a safest, most reliable, and environmentally responsible manner. Tokheim: Better quality all round. Contact Tokheim Headquarters Unit 3 Baker Road West Pitkero Industrial Estate DD5 3RT Dundee United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)1382 598 000 Fax: +44 (0)1382 598 001 Further information For any further information and detailed contacts for each country, please visit our website at www.tokheim.com or email us at global.marketing@tokheimglobal.com. As Tokheim regularly improves its products and services in line with evolving market and regulatory requirements, it reserves the right to change any of the specifications of these products and services, and this document without prior notice. Digital Media Whitepaper 05-16 Design by Tokheim www.tokheim.com