Forecourts are increasingly linking their car care section in store with their valeting service on the forecourt.
Refuel & Go is one forecourt operator seeing the opportunity deciding this summer to give away a free car air freshener with a premium car wash at its Bethnal Green and Hornchurch sites: which both operate rollovers.
Operations manager Baz Patel believes that it will be a big draw to customers, identifying Fast Trak’s Flava Car Scents fresheners as most likely to be included in the offer, with the brand being a major seller in its various formats for the nine-forecourt business.
In fact, it is selling £10,000 to £15,000 of the products – turbo can sprays, scent tins and wood diffusers – per site, per year.
The range, inspired by designer perfumes, is in strong growth, and gives healthy profit margins of 40%, says Patel.
“Lost Cherry [a Tom Ford perfume dupe] is our favourite scent, and over the past year we have seen big growth. Since we introduced the turbo cans around two years ago, sales have gone up for us by around 30-40%,” he adds.
Similarly, Johnny Srikrishna believes there is an opportunity to encourage motor enthusiasts to purchase across valeting hubs and in store car care sections.
He doubled the size of his car care section at his Earley site near Reading, after installing a three-bay jet wash hub on the Shell site last year. This has since been extended to four bays.
The 3.5m display features products likely to appeal to car enthusiasts with expensive cars who use the jet washes: VIP dupe aftershave and perfume air fresheners, and interior cleaners, as well as a £7.99 Chrome-branded range.
He has identified screens on his Electrajet jet washes as an opportunity to display adverts for his car care section.
“Lines like dupe fragrance air fresheners fit the same demographic as people using my jet washes, so it makes complete sense to link the two,” adds Srikrishna whose sites been shortlisted in the valeting, and car categories for this year’s Forecourt Trader Awards.
