Australian Convenience Store News | Forecourt The hi-tech bowser

Imagine a future where a petrol customer pulls into your forecourt and an electronic device ëreadsí his car and authorises his purchase before he steps out to fill his tank. Or a time when a video screen informs him there is a car wash on-site, so he pays in advance with his credit card and takes the receipt from the bowser. He drives through the car wash and is back on the street only minutes after he pulled in, and you havenít even had to open the cash register.

Certainly this hi-tech ëat-the-pumpí technology exists and is changing all the time, but its implementation in Australia to date has been slow. Much of the innovation comes out of New Zealand and the US because the technology for unmanned fuelling is very advanced there. The major developers of hi-tech bowsers are Gilbarco, Compac, and PEC, who develop the technology overseas and tailor it to Australian standards.

The Card Reader
The basic bowser technology is the pump with card reader, an EFTPOS facility that most Australians are familiar with in retail environments. It allows customers the convenience of paying at the pump and increases throughput by processing more customers and reducing downtime. "The biggest driver for the new technology is increasing throughput and customer convenience," says Wayne Little, Market Development Manager at Gilbarco Australia Ltd. "People really donít like waiting for their petrol."

In the US, 90% of dispensers are manufactured with a credit card reader so customers can pay at the pump. Australia has only been rolling out card reader technology for the past 6 to 9 months and both Caltex and Ampol are putting EFTPOS cardreaders in their forecourts.

The video Interface:
The more sophisticated pay-at-the-pump technology overseas is the interface screen, a video screen with ATM facilities which allows a form of advertising and banking at the pump. The customer swipes the card, keys in their preferences, pre-sets the fuel limit and orders non-fuel products if they choose. Video interface technology is widely used in the US but its implementation in Australia has been slow due to initially unimpressive results. "Itís basically an oil company decision," Mr Little told ASS&CSN, "and for the time being it looks like the answer is ënoí."

Developers of the technology maintain that Australians are not accustomed to being ësold toí at the pump, and while itís true they are a captive audience, the gains to oil distributors have not been immediate. In response, Gilbarco has developed a video interface with information-based rather than sales-based prompts. The standard video interface has been trialled in multi-franchise sites such as the BP Express in Ashfield. This would seem ideal for the technology, but for now it has been decided not to proceed.

The Transponder
Security issues in the US have been responsible for the introduction of transponder technology on service station forecourts. A transponder is a transmitting and receiving device. The transmitter is attached to the customerís keyring or car window. The receiver is housed in the petrol bowser and reads the transmitter once the car is in range. Transponders can work with private cards, smart cards, and credit cards, and there is the possibility in the future for them to ërememberí a customerís purchases and make an offer specific to them.

At-the-pump technology increases security for the customer and the operator. The card reader means there is less cash kept on the premises and less likelihood of robbery, plus it guarantees payment for the operator. The customer doesnít have to fumble for his wallet and pull out cash. This is more important in the US where in some places there is a real danger of being mugged. In Australia, neither likelihood is as great and the introduction of the technology is not as pressing.

Oil Company Reticence
Todayís oil industry is constantly rationalising its spending, and if you look at the last five years, this trend looks set to continue. There is, understandably, reticence about spending large sums of money on tech-nology in the retail forecourt that is not pulling its weight. Given the recent Oilcode legislation, the industry is very much in a transitional state and, sayS Mr Little, "enjoying a bit of a go-slow period".

The argument against at-the-pump technology is that it eliminates the need for customers to enter the store. Some oil companies believe that if customers come into the store to pay for their petrol, once inside they might think "What the heck, Iíll buy a Coke and a sandwich while Iím here". This is an impulse decision that the customer makes at the point of sale, and while this may be common in the US, it may not be as true of Australians. "Americans tend to be consumer junkies," confides Mr Little, "much more so than Australians, although the consumer cultures are obviously fairly closely aligned."

Gilbarco has performed extensive surveys with oil companies and the main driver for pay-at-the-pump technology is added convenience for the customer. That said, oil companies also look at overall sales.

"Oil companies look first at the rate of return," says Mr Little. "Some oil distributors want the customer in the shop, others want the convenience of the card reader. Itís an argument that has never been satisfactorily resolved." Conversely, Caltex is making a concerted effort to enter the non-fuel convenience store market and is opening up sites with no petrol bowsers at all.

"The overriding concern in the service station industry is that any new technology be customer friendly," says Mr Little. Some oil companies have decided that the convenience to customers and the ease for operators far outweighs any sacrifice in sales. "Transponders take the work out of having to remember your PIN number," says Garry Harvey of Compac Sales Pty Ltd, "but whether they would work in Australia, I honestly donít know".

What the transponder effectively does is eliminate user input and thereby reduce the scope for operator error. As such, hi-tech bowsers bring with them less and less need for operators.

There have already been service station closures and still more predicted because distributors are investing in larger, more practical vehicles with a higher payload, which eliminate the need for staffed fuel outlets in every town. "Unfortunately, people appear to be the highest running cost in the industry," says Mr Harvey, "whereas technology gets cheaper and cheaper." Once the system has been installed, the operator just pushes a button.

Hi-tech bowsers or unmanned fuel dispensers are still most useful in remote areas and truck stops where itís impractical to have a manned fuel station. "Itís purely a logistics thing," says Mr Harvey, "and this is certainly where the technology is headed, but whether it will work in Australia remains to be seen."

The Future
Some US service stations have taken hi-tech convenience one step further by adopting a transponder key tag encoded with the customerís Visa /Bankcard details. Again, the acceptance of the technology depends entirely on whoís driving it.

"It is very possible for Mastercard or Visa to drive the technology through the banking system," says Mr Harvey. "When left up to the oil companies it becomes another cost to them on the retail forecourt and less likely to be embraced."

Forecourts may soon be equipped with electronic tank gauges which have the ability to sense when the tank is empty and automatically order a refill from the distributor. In the future, no-one will have to take out a dipstick and measure the tank depth, although this is still the case in 80-90% of Australian service stations.

In the US, there are processor boards on petrol pumps that are internet capable. A technician can dial up the pump from his laptop, and if itís a software problem, fix it on-line via the modem. Technicians will no longer have to travel cross-country to fix a software fault.

As well as pay-at-the-pump technology, there has been a move towards discreet petrol pumps that promote a cleaner, more welcoming image. In response to this, BP has developed with PEC Pumps Ltd, an invisible petrol dispenser called the Apollo. According to Bruce Elliott of Advantage Retail Solutions, "The Apollo is probably one of the most revolutionary things to have happened to pumps in the last five years." The Apollo is designed with the hose coming straight out of the pylon and the bowser hidden underground. It has already made an appearance at BP Rozelle.

Any electronic device used in an area where thereís petrol is subject to approval by the National Standards Commission (NSC). As all electronics have to be resubmitted every five years, oil companies use this as an impetus for change. Transponder technology is driven by the major oil companies and it is their technical people who oversee the technology. Ironically, the Y2K issue has had the effect of speeding up the process as oil companies view this as a good time to upgrade.

Wait & See
The jury is still out as to how and when hi-tech bowser technology will become commonplace in Australia. We can certainly look to the US and New Zealand for the innovation and as the testing ground for the future, but just because technology works there, doesnít mean itíll work here. We will have to wait and see which direction oil companies take in light of the recent Oilcode legislation, but technology does tend to generate a life of its own.

As summed up by Mr Harvey, "From a retail and commercial fuel perspective, the industry will definitely be driven by the technology." It may prove difficult to resist the sheer convenience of the hi-tech bowser in the long run, but only time will tell.