On The Spot

by Lisa Gibson (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Most consumers make their fuel purchase decisions at the pump. Consistent branding based on market research can help boost ethanol’s appeal. -- ... Bosselman Enterprises, which owns 44 Pump & Pantry stations in Nebraska, markets E15 as Clean 88, with the trademarked slogan “Better fuel, costs less.” The message is short and simple, helping boost sales, while attracting and retaining customers, Gard ( Randy Gard, chief operations officer for Bosselman Enterprises) says. “It’s very easy to understand and consumers seem to grab it pretty quickly.”

To help make ethanol blends more attractive at the pump, Growth Energy is working with 12 retailers across the country—including Minnoco, Kum & Go, Thorntons and others—to establish best practices in marketing, O’Brien (Mike O’Brien, vice president of market development for Growth Energy) says. “We’re working on making E15 stand out, but in a relevant way that will break consumers’ preoccupation so they’ll look. And once they look, what’s the No. 1 message that’s going to draw them to E15 and pick that handle?”

Growth Energy recently conducted 2,000 interviews with consumers to determine what’s important to them when buying fuel. Results indicated they had three main requests: confirmation that ethanol is OK for their vehicles; confirmation that it’s cleaner and better for the environment than regular gasoline; and a cheaper price. “In that order,” O’Brien says. “Plain and simple: ‘Just tell me it’s OK for my car.’ Then, they’re willing to listen and believe the fact that it is a little bit better for the environment, it burns a little bit cleaner and has fewer tailpipe emissions, and those things mattered once the consumer understood that everything is going to be fine for their car.”

“E15, or E85, or E30 or E25—if these fuels are part of your strategy, presenting it consistently at every fueling point is to your advantage.” (Trey Binford, North America dispensers product manager for fuel pump manufacturer Wayne Fueling Systems)

He (Binford) says he sees two distinct trends in fuel sale strategies: blender dispensers, and multi-hose dispensers.

“Maybe they want to do E15 today, maybe they want to do E25 later, maybe they want to do E30 later. On these blender dispensers that we build, it’s just a graphic change and a blend ratio setting. It doesn’t require ripping things out and tearing things out of the ground.”

In the past year, E15 and E85 sales at Bosselman Enterprises locations have grown by an astonishing 300 percent, Gard says. He and Bosselman attribute that growth to blender pumps, as well as the relationship the company has with the ethanol producers it buys from. That relationship, they say, isn’t common enough. “I think a lot of ethanol’s been stifled through the current relationship structure with a wholesaler in the middle,” Bosselman says. “I think it might be better for producers to go to the retailer directly.”

Ethanol producers pay trade groups and other organizations to help educate the public on ethanol’s benefits, but some of that money might be better spent on supporting retailers, who will then get the message out to consumers right at the pump, Bosselman says. Producers could help retailers install blender pumps, or educate them about RINs and how they function. “There are still a lot of multi-unit operations that still don’t understand what a RIN is and how it works. They could use some help.”

Retailers know that selling fuel for 3 to 5 cents less per gallon is a huge competitive advantage, he says, and E15 typically retails between 3 and 10 cents per gallon less than 87 regular. READ MORE