HOUSTON & DALLAS -- Shell has announced a national extension of its cents-per-gallon loyalty program, Fuel Rewards Network or FRN, with its technology provider, Excentus. The program, which officials said offers consumers an average savings of 32 cents per gallon at the pump, is currently available in more than 50 markets including Miami and San Francisco, with plans to roll out into "numerous additional cities" each month, officials said in a statement. By year-end, the program will be available in nearly 200 markets across the country.
The FRN program lets consumers earn rewards through everyday purchases of items such as food, clothing and household goods, which can be redeemed for fuel savings at participating Shell stations, Excentus officials said. The program lets consumers combine rewards from purchases made across the entire network and redeem them in a single transaction, watching a rollback of prices at the pump.
"This is just the next step for the FRN program," said Brandon Logsdon, president and COO of Dallas-based Excentus. "We started with grocers in specific geographies just a few years ago and have expanded our capabilities and our network of participating brands to make FRN savings available to all consumers."
He said the program provides marketers "an unmatched level of promotional efficiency--quite simply, they have been proven to drive desired consumer-purchase behavior at a fraction of the cost of other traditional methods."
"The FRN program is about saving people money, plain and simple … [It] motivated our rewards structure, our instant-redemption technology and now, our work with Shell," said Dickson Perry, chairman and CEO of Excentus. "We have a goal to save our members $1 billion, and teaming up with Shell keeps us on track to accomplish that goal."
"Shell knows consumers are looking for a smart loyalty-rewards program that helps them save money at the pump without jumping through hoops or sacrificing their quality of fuel," said Dan Little, North America fuels marketing manager for Houston-based Shell. "Working with Excentus on this revolutionary rewards program is exciting because together we're helping empower consumers so they may never have to pay full price at the pump again."
In related news, Waltham, Mass.-based SavingStar, a national, digital-grocery savings service, has partnered with Excentus to enable shoppers to save money on gasoline at participating Shell stations when they buy specific items at the grocery store.
The program is part of FRN, which offers multiple ways for consumers to earn cents-per-gallon Fuel Rewards savings on everyday purchases such as groceries, as well as when they dine at restaurants and shop online. Now consumers can save on gasoline by redeeming electronic grocery coupons linked to their grocery and drug store loyalty cards. More than 25 electronic coupons are currently available through the FRN program each month.
Dallas-based Excentus provides marketing and promotional programs and services utilizing price-rollback discounts at the pump as the ultimate consumer reward. Through its patented fuel-rewards systems and methods, the FRN program provides its members with the opportunity to earn free fuel simply by purchasing the things they normally would from more than 1,000 retail locations, nearly 700 online merchants and 10,000-plus restaurants and redeeming their rewards at participating fuel stations across the country.
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