Digital Ranking Profile: Kum & Go (January 2020)

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — An intuitive and personalized website plus a powerful app and loyalty program have placed Kum & Go in the top 15 chains overall in Stuzo’s C-Store Digital Ranking.

“We congratulate Kum & Go on its robust loyalty program, which ... came out of pilot and has been in the market via the Kum & Go mobile app since April 2016,” said Aaron McLean, chief operating officer for Stuzo. “Kum & Go is ranked No. 18 in the Mobile Commerce subcategory due to its strong performance in App Performance and Loyalty Program.”   

• Click here to see Stuzo’s complete online ranking.

The ranking covers 100 convenience-store chains, measuring each chain’s digital presence, including mobile commerce, connected car, website and social media. Stuzo ranks each company on a points-based system with a score of zero to 5 for each metric. It calculates each metric using four more specific metrics. While this article examines the details behind the Kum & Go ranking, it is meant more as a profile than an attempt to compare it to competitors.

Click through for more on Kum & Go’s spot in Stuzo’s c-store digital ranking and information on the brand’s digital capabilities …

App Performance: 3.42

Mobile Payment: 2

Loyalty Program: 3.5

Mobile Ordering: 0

With Kum & Go’s mobile app, customers have the option to join the &Rewards program and earn five &Rewards points per dollar on in-store purchases and two &Rewards points per gallon at the pump. Once a customer has earned 250 points, a reward of the customer’s choice becomes available.

Customers may also track their points toward free drinks, food and fuel discounts. Exclusive offers are available in the app, which are automatically applied by scanning the virtual &Rewards card at the register. Customers save 5 cents per gallon when they pay with the &Rewards debit card. The &Rewards debit card is linked to the customer’s checking account.

UX/UI: 4.67

Loyalty Program Promotion: 5

Personalization: 5

App Promotion: 3

Ordering: 0

Kum & Go’s website gives customers a personalized experience. Customers have the capability to log in and view earned points, current offers and recent transactions. The website heavily promotes the loyalty program and gives plenty of information about Kum & Go’s products and locations. McLean said Kum & Go has an opportunity to add direct app download links on its website to direct customers to the iTunes and GooglePlay stores.

Brand Responsiveness: 4

Frequency of Posts: 2.5

Creativity of Content: 3.25

Level of Engagement: 4

Kum & Go posts multiple times per week across all social-media channels. Posts include funny pictures, memes, quotes and pictures of Kum & Go’s merchandise and community involvement. The content across channels is diverse; however, McLean said Kum & Go does little to promote its mobile app and &Rewards loyalty program. While Kum & Go does a great job of engaging with its customers on Twitter by retweeting and replying to tweets, McLean said Kum & Go could do better in replying to customer comments on Facebook.

Kum & Go did not score in the connected-car metric, although this score is not unusual for c-store chains on Stuzo’s list. The metric is largely focused on the future. Stuzo predicts chains will put more resources into such initiatives as the industry evolves.

The connected-car metric measures the chain’s use of a car’s “infotainment” system on the dashboard, which will become more common as the capabilities of car platforms expand further.

Des Moines, Iowa-based Kum & Go is No. 18 on CSP’s 2019 Top 202 list of c-stores by store count.