Supermarket giant Tesco is the UK’s favourite fuel retailer according to a new survey of motorists conducted by independent market analyst, Datamonitor.

 

 

 

A survey which asked car owners about their motoring habits puts Tesco top for fuel price, customer service and quality of its forecourt shop offer. Second place was also scooped by a supermarket – Morrisons.

 

 

BP came last in the top five. The fuel giant which has the largest share of the market and biggest network of sites in the country scored particularly poorly for the price of its fuel.

 

 

Alex Jeater, service station retail analyst at Datamonitor, comments: “Supermarkets have been popular with consumers for fuel for a while due to lower prices. However they’re now beating traditional forecourts for service and shopping as well”

 

 

 

Datamonitor predicts that supermarkets will start to steal market share from traditional fuel retailers as despite the fact that Shell and BP sold the most petrol by volume in the UK last year, according to the Datamonitor survey, 25% of motorists said they were increasingly filling up at supermarkets.

 

 

 

Alex continues: “Supermarket fuel promotions, which give motorists a discount or loyalty points based on their store spend, have enhanced their popularity. Supermarket fuel retailers also appeal to time-pressed consumers and one-in-three respondents indicated they now use pay-at-pump, a feature which is most common at supermarket forecourts.

 

 

 

“If drivers’ opinions are anything to go by, 2011 is going to be a tough year for the traditional fuel retailers.”