Employees are a critical part of making loyalty work, according to convenience leaders at CSP's Outlook Leadership conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
“Associates humanize the loyalty program,” said Jon Bunch, director of marketing and business development at Carmi, Illinois-based Martin & Bayley Inc., which operates the Huck’s Market convenience-store chain. “An app, it's a robot, it's a machine. But when you empower your associates to engage in the program, humanize it, talk to customers about it, you'll build more.”
CSP’s vice president of content strategy, Abbey Lewis, moderated a panel with Bunch as well as Whitney Johnson, senior vice president of marketing at Westborough, Massachusetts-based c-store retailer EG America, and Max Clark, vice president of growth at technology firm PAR Retail, Philadelphia.
- EG America is No. 6 on CSP’s 2025 Top 202 ranking of top U.S. c-store chains by store count. Martin & Bayley Inc./Huck’s Market is No. 55.
Huck’s has integrated employee perks directly into its loyalty platform. Offering team members food and fuel discounts encourages them to use the program themselves—and become advocates for it, Bunch said.
“[What’s] better than any ad, is to empower your associates, and make sure they understand the program, and you will deliver results,” he said.
Johnson echoed that sentiment. At EG America, part of the feedback loop includes regularly asking front-line team members what they dislike about the app.
That feedback helps identify blind spots and ensures leadership hears directly from the people interacting with customers every day, she said.
Interested in learning more about the latest in convenience-store technology? Don't miss C-StoreTEC 2025 (October 27-29, Plano, Texas)—the industry's premier technology leadership event created by retailers, for retailers. Visit https://cstoretec.com to secure your spot at this groundbreaking conference where convenience retail leaders collaborate to drive digital transformation and accelerate growth.
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