A Shell dealer is using the oil giant’s customer loyalty app, rather than investing in pay at pump equipment, to offer an unmanned service throughout the night.
Six months in and Greg Walsh, the general manager of Lightfoots Filling Station in Bracknell, Berkshire, says that the initiative is proving a viable solution to operating 24-hours.
From between 11pm to 5am when the Budgens shop on site closes and the service station becomes autonomous, there can be anything from a couple to a dozen transactions.
The Nike Group of Companies-owned business has signed up a monitoring centre to watch over the site during the night and early hours of the morning. And if there is a problem the centre can remotely shut down the pumps and talk to customers via a speaker system.
Lightfoots has approval to operate three pumps throughout the night from its local authority petroleum officer. The other four pumps on the site are shut down for the night and covered, and the whole forecourt remains lit throughout to indicate that it is open.
“Basically, there was a two-stage risk assessment. You have to prove that the site does not have a history of violence or bad behaviour, and that there are no large sporting venues nearby, for example, which could drastically change its volume of people. The second stage is how you are going to monitor the site, what times it will run unmanned, and how you will communicate with customers,” says Walsh.
He estimates that the total cost of offering an unmanned service for the first year will be less than £10,000. This covers the monitoring centre fee, and the installation of five “smart, analytical” CCTV cameras which can detect smoke, or if someone is loitering on the site.
This cost will reduce significantly going forward now that the kit has been purchased, he adds..
Many of Lightfoots’ customers already use the Shell Go+ Rewards loyalty programme, which has 2.5 million users nationwide. Up to two dozen customers will use the app at the site during the day to avoid having to queue in the shop, says Walsh, and so the overnight service has been a relatively easy transition for them.
For those not signed up to the loyalty scheme there is a poster next to the 24-hour pumps with a QR code taking customers through to the Shell website to download the app, which then allows them to fill up to a pre-authorised amount.
Walsh says that the initiative is viable for Lightfoots because it is a busy site – just off the M4 at J10 – benefiting from a high fuel volume of 7-8mlpa from locals and transient custom.
When the system was first introduced in July, customers initially would use the intercom to ask to gain entry to the shop. But now they know what to expect, says Walsh, pointing out that staff highlighted the new service to customers six weeks before it went live.
“We would like to have a few more customers use it, but it is a solution that works, and we’ve had very few problems with it,” says Walsh, who had dismissed investing in pay at pump equipment because of its higher initial outlay.
”The tech is there, with the app accepting most bank and fuel cards, and while it won’t suit everyone it works for us,” he adds.
“Given the economics of running 24-hours with a declining fuel volume, it is not worth staffing the site overnight. And I know that other dealers are considering it.”
