Arko Corp.’s “Fueling America’s Future” savings campaign will launch in March and allow customers to save up to $2 per gallon of fuel, Mike Bloom, executive vice president and chief merchandising and marketing officer at GPM Investments, an Arko subsidiary, told CSP Daily News.
GPM Investments is No. 6 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count.
Bloom said that what drives this program is providing consumers value during a time of high inflation.
There are a lot of fuel offers with products like this inside the store, he said. Customers can stack these offers and receive up to $40 off per fillup.
For example, if a customer purchases two Lay’s, Cheetos or Funions products for $4, they'll get 50 cents off per gallon for up to 20 gallons, which could result in up to $10 of savings.
In addition, if the same customer buys two Gatorlyte drinks for $5.50, they can get another 50 cents off per gallon.
“We've got [about] 30 different offers in the store right now where you can do 5 cents, 10 cents, 15 cents, 20 cents,” Bloom said. “You can stack those up to $2 off per gallon.”
The promotions are available to GPM's 2.3 million fas Rewards members across Arko’s more than 1,350 branded retail stores, including fas mart, E-Z mart, Scotchman, Roadrunner Markets, fastmarket, village pantry, Handy Mart and Pride retail stores.
“We really want to increase our enrollment,” he said. “We're striving to get to that three million number only because these are great customers.”
The convenience-store chain also leverages personalization to offer the right products to customers at the right time.
“We’re starting to send people offers and value rewards that are important to them. … We spend a lot of time going through data and creating offers for groups of individuals,” Bloom said.
Richmond, Virginia-based Arko operates in four segments: retail, which includes c-stores selling merchandise and fuel; wholesale, which supplies fuel to independent dealers and consignment agents; GPM Petroleum, which sells and supplies fuel to its retail and wholesale sites; and fleet fueling, which includes the operation of proprietary and third-party cardlock locations and issuance of proprietary fuel cards that provide customers access to a nationwide network of fueling sites.
Through frequent acquisitions, GPM has what it calls a “family of community brands” made up of more than 25 regional c-store brands.
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