FAIRFAX, Va. -- In 2008, shortly after announcing it would sell off all of its company-owned and operated stores, ExxonMobil conducted a panel with several of it branded wholesalers to determine just what the major-oil company's value proposition should be. This week, the company took a step toward defining that proposition with the introduction of a new technology aimed at consumers.
On Thursday, ExxonMobil introduced the Exxon Mobil Fuel Finder application (app) for iPhones and iPod Touches. The app provides drivers with real-time maps, driving directions and station [image-nocss] information for more than 10,000 Exxon and Mobil retail locations across the continental United States.
"We are very excited to bring our customers the first mobile app from ExxonMobil, using technology to allow customers to more easily and more efficiently find a station," said Ben Soraci, U.S. retail sales director for ExxonMobil Fuels Marketing, Fairfax, Va.
The app relies on GPS technology to identify a user's location and then highlights nearby Exxon and Mobil stations on an interactive Google map. An advanced filtering feature distinguishes stations by hours, fuel sold, pay-at-the-pump availability, convenience store, Speedpass availability, car wash and service bay.
Click hereto view a video for more information on the application.
More importantly, however, the app offers a significant look at how ExxonMobil will serve its branded wholesalers and retailers in an age when the company no longer operates any stores of its own.
"The goal for us with this app and other things we're doing with our value proposition is to provide convenience to our customers at the end of the day," Soraci told CSP Daily News. "We're going to look at other apps down the road, as well. But there's a broader issue around technology. We as a corporation are very technology-focused. It's an opportunity for us, a way to differentiate ourselves from others, whether it be in our upstream business, our chemical business, our research business. For us, marketing is no different. We can use technology to differentiate ourselves."
The selling off of its sites to branded wholesalers--about 800 have been sold so far, with another 1,400 or so to go--opens a door for ExxonMobil to focus on its value proposition and the image of its fuel brands.
"Over the years we were focused on the back court and some other things," Soraci said. With much of that back-court focuses now being handed to wholesalers, "we recognizedit's important for us to get back in a serious way to supporting our fuel brands."
That effort began this past summer with a multimedia "Clean" campaign that underscored how Exxon and Mobile fuels clean a car's engine. For the future, Soraci said several other initiatives are in the works, as well.
"We've been doing quite a bit around our cards promotions," he said. "What we're really focused on there is looking at not just a promotion this year or next, but really having a pipeline of promotions that will drive more loyalty and more customers to our brands, which our branded wholesalers will benefit from."
Also on tap, improved loyalty programs and upgraded standards for branded retailers.
"We've done some things to elevate our mystery shop program. And we're looking at different ways to raise our game every day in terms of what we look like on the street with our brand activity, including raising expectations with all of our branded wholesalers and the folks that they serve," Soraci said. "We've taken a comprehensive, very strategic look at the brand and, recognizing that our brands are going to be out there going forward 100% with our branded wholesalers, no longer having a direct chain, we thought it was time to update our thinking on what we ought to look like."
Irving, Texas-based ExxonMobil is the largest publicly traded international oil and gas company.
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