NORFOLK, Va. -- Outsite Networks Inc. has added a fuel theft prevention feature to its Dialogue Marketing Loyalty System. The feature is designed to help solve a growing problem for marketersthe cost and quantity of driveoffs during times of high fuel prices.
Aton Bakker, Outsite Networks president and CEO, said, Clearly with today's rising fuel prices, fuel theft has become a top issue effecting marketer's profitability. Adding this new feature to our Dialogue Marketing Loyalty System is a natural evolution of our system.
The [image-nocss] Outsite Networks system is able to combine both its loyalty and fuel prevention technology by integrating with any make or model POS and fuel dispenser, the company said.
For the loyalty application, Outsite's Dialogue Marketing system communicates with consumers at the pump using MP3 audio technology. Consumers identify themselves at the pump and in the store using a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag to track their purchases and earn rewards. Loyal consumers present their ID tag at the pump for preauthorization, while nonloyal consumers require prepayment. Consumers that are paying at the pump are not affected.
Both fuel theft and loyalty applications have recently received coverage with implementations from marketers like QuikTrip, which has developed the Pump Start program to deal with gasoline theft, and Speedway, which has deployed the Speedy Rewards loyalty program.
With up to 50% of fuel purchases being made by loyalty members, adding the driveoff protection feature by using the loyalty tag for pump activation is a natural extension of our system, providing true convenience for our loyalty members and solving a rapidly growing problem in the industry, Bakker added.
Rising fuel prices have led to significant increases in losses from driveoffs for marketers. Some have estimated the cost of driveoffs in the industry to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In addition, legislation has been passed in some areas that ban postpay of fuel transactions, requiring prepay only.
Norfolk, Va.-based Outsite Networks is a major provider of loyalty and media technology specifically for the retail petroleum, convenience store and quick-serve restaurant markets.
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