The new work-from-home environment has been reshaping consumer behaviour in terms of fuel providers. According to banking giant JP Morgan, working from home means that last-minute purchases at forecourts have decreased, resulting in many retail petroleum retailers having to rethink how to drive revenue both in-store and at the pumps. The arrival of new payments methods, however, may present an opportunity for fuel providers to control payment transaction costs and gain invaluable insights into how their customers are spending.

Control costs and gain customer behaviour insights

In terms of controlling costs, many businesses are worried that they are paying too much for credit card processing fees. However, fuel providers can capitalise on lower payment processing costs through optimisation of the interchange fees charged by the banks that issue credit cards. Moreover, added spending insights can be gained by gathering all supplementary information in relation to the content of the purchase, such as petrol or service.

Opportunities for fuel providers also include the issuance of fleet cards, which can further provide insights into customer behaviour. These fleet cards are specific payment cards that can collect additional information with each purchase through both the pre-authorization and settlement transactions. By launching your own card product, you can capture the 150-200 basis points (bps) on customer transactions rather than letting it go to the pockets of the traditional card issuing banks. However, the collection and transmission of this additional information to the fleet card issuer requires processing hosts that can handle the special requirements of fleet issuers and route the information to the correct fleet issuer. To complicate this further, each fleet card issuer has different specifications.

HPS PowerCARD solution: Powering growth

HPS understands that, unlike other retail stores, consumer petroleum retailers have a range of different needs at the point-of-sale. As such, HPS has adapted its PowerCARD solution to adjust to the unique challenges of the fuel industry. HPS can provide businesses with the opportunity to launch both centralised retail settlement solutions and issuance solutions via fleet cards to strengthen customer relationships, better understand spending behaviour and enhance customer experience.

Specifically, pre-acquiring solutions by HPS can optimise payment acquisition with millions of dollars saved on interchange fees. The HPS platform supports any customer type - from single to multi-country organisations, either franchised or non-franchised - and can help these customers avoid queues at the till. Further, the HPS issuing solution can leverage fleet cards to help grow your business and your brand. New card programs can be deployed easily from a single platform in all types of markets.

Optimise your future

By updating payment settlement solutions and acquiring additional consumer information, fuel retailers have a better chance of optimising the consumer behaviour shifts that have occurred over the past few years.

Find out more about the HPS PowerCARD solution - its smart dynamic switching and routing, omni-channel capabilities and highest security levels can help retailers address the unique set of challenges facing the fuel providers industry today.