As reported in a Morgan Keegan/CSP Daily News Flash yesterday, BP is announcing additional long-term growth with East of Rockies jobbers Englefield Oil, Ricker Oil and EZ Energy in the Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis; and Pittsburgh marketing areas, respectively. As part of an agreement to add several [image-nocss] dozen new BP locations, much of which will come on in the next 12 months, BP has agreed with the jobbers to consolidate c-store brands in the marketing areas to the jobber's c-store brands.
Currently, the jobbers use the ampm brand as well as their own. They will drop the ampm identity and go with brands including Easy Trip in Pittsburgh, Duke & Duchess in Columbus and Ricker's in Indianapolis, BP said.
Consumers will have access to more BP stations, and they will continue to see the store brands they already recognize, said BP.
The c-store brand conversion will occur at approximately 60 of the 230 BP-branded locations across these marketing areas, BP said.
The ampm brand will continue to operate in Chicago; Cincinnati, Ohio; Atlanta; Cleveland; and Orlando, Fla., which are served by seven jobbers and their dealers, the company added.
From Ricker's perspective, the change is beneficial to both Ricker Oil and BP. "It gives us one brand we're marketing with through our whole company, and I think it's a bit easier for customers to recognize our stores," he said, noting that most of Ricker Oil's 50 stores have been Ricker's. "BP felt like sales could grow faster inside and outside if we had the same brand."
The biggest difference former ampm customers will see in a Ricker's site is its community-based focus. The concept's centerpiece is the value-priced, private-label Ricker Pop fountain program. Beyond that, the retailer plans to "drill down" and examine how to further custom-tailor those sites, which average 4,200 square feet, compared to legacy Ricker's stores, which measure up around 2,400 square feet.
Ricker also anticipates that his company will be able to respond faster to market dynamics. "Because it is a franchise, they need to do things more on a scope of every place they are, whether in California or Indiana," said Ricker of the ampm franchise. "We think when it's our brand, since we're in a very concentrated area, we can be a little more nimble and quick to cater to our customers' needs with our brand."
In addition to its Duke & Duchess Shoppes and gas stations, Heath, Ohio-based Englefield Oil operates 23 ampm stores, eight petroleum and lube oil facilities, 15 Pacific Pride unattended fueling locations, four bulk lubricant warehouses and five Taco Bell Express sites.
Mansfield, Ohio-based EZ Energy USA has a total of 92 locations. After BP announced plans to stop direct-store operations, EZ Energy became the top BP-branded marketer in Pittsburgh after acquiring 26 BP units. While 15 of the stores operate under the ampm brand, 11 carry the Easy Trip brand. A second acquisition move in Cleveland gave EZ Energy 39 c-stores, two dealer supply contracts and three vacant lots ready for development. Of these, 17 carry the ampm brand, 17 Easy Trip and third parties will operate five stores, according to CSPedia.
London-based BP, with U.S. headquarters in the Chicago area, markets more than 15 billion gallons of gasoline every year to U.S. consumers through more than 10,000 BP and ARCO branded retail outlets and supplies more than four billion gallons of fuel annually to fleets, industrial users, auto and truck manufacturers, railroads and utilities. BP is the single, global brand formed by the combination of the former British Petroleum, Amoco, Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) and Burmah Castrol. BP is a global producer, manufacturer and marketer of oil, gas, chemicals and renewable energy sources.
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