Maxol CEO Brian Donaldson guest stars on award-winning loyalty podcast, Let’s Talk Loyalty, with Paula Thomas
Recently, award-winning podcaster, Paula Thomas hosted Maxol’s CEO, Brian Donaldson on her loyalty podcast, Let’s Talk Loyalty. Maxol is a leading fuel, coffee, car wash, and convenience store brand in Ireland, which has been operating at the heart of Irish communities for 102 years.
Maxol had quite an outstanding year in 2022. In June 2022, Maxol achieved international recognition when it was named the European Convenience Retailer of the Year by NACS. And, in April 2022, Maxol launched Ireland’s first-of-its-kind fuel pay app that both unlocks the petrol pump upon activation and allows users to pay directly from their phones.
Guest Starring on Award-Winning Loyalty Podcast
Podcast host Paula Thomas remarked how impressed she was with Maxol’s program in such a robust convenience retail market. “Ireland particularly has an exceptional reputation in terms of particularly convenience retail…I just think it’s extraordinary to see Ireland really punching above its weight.”
Brian and his team at Maxol are always looking to the future. He tells Paula, “we’re 102 years in business and we’re a family business, so we always tend to take a more medium- to longer-term view in terms of investments…in the last 10 years, we’ve made significant changes in pivoting our business.”
He continues, “traditionally we would’ve been seen as a quality fuel retailer and what we have pivoted to is now being seen as a quality forecourt convenience retailer with a big focus on coffee, fresh food, and also introducing food franchises and fuel is becoming more secondary, in terms of what we mean for our customers. And I suppose, we are trying to prepare ourselves for the day whenever internal combustion engine vehicles are banned. All new cars within Europe and the UK and Ireland for ICE petrol or diesel are banned from 2030. Hybrids are going to be banned from 2035, so we have to start replacing that last income from fuel and that’s why we have been investing very heavily in terms of our own Maxol shop concept in the Republic of Ireland.”
Let’s Talk Loyalty Episode “#318: Maxol Shares Loyalty Insights as European Convenience Retailer of the Year” aired on December 22, 2022.
Developing a Maxol Loyalty Program
Just prior to the COVID-19 global pandemic, Maxol developed an app-based loyalty program. Brian cites this fortuitous decision as he remarks, “if we hadn’t made that investment before the Pandemic came in March 2020, it would’ve been very challenging for us to run our business. Because we’d made that investment, we were able to stay. in touch real-time with all of our retailers, we were able to track everything that was happening within our business, and then we were able to make hopefully informed decisions to support our retailers through those very tough times. So technology’s a big part of what we’re going to do going forward and hence why we launched our own loyalty.”
Later in the loyalty podcast episode, Brian detailed how a trip to Hong Kong with a NACS event demonstrated the success of Circle K Hong Kong’s app-based loyalty program. He saw first-hand how successful gamification and promotions engaged consumers. He did, however, go in a slightly different implementation direction. “For us, one of the first things we wanted to do was how do we give more convenience for people to pay for their fuel. We were one of the first companies in Ireland to put in pay at pump technology because again, we see that mission or that shopper mission very different to going in the store, says Donaldson.”
In addition to Fuel Pay, Maxol’s loyalty program is designed to reward customers for purchasing fuel, food and beverage items, and other services. What really makes this program unique is the new FuelPay feature that allows contactless payment for fuel purchases directly through the app. Customers can pay for fuel with their smartphones and the process is entirely cashless, fast, and easy. This is the only app in Ireland that offers FuelPay and is now available to all Maxol fuel card customers.
Discussing the Future for Maxol on Loyalty Podcast
Brian and Paula also discussed future plans for the loyalty program on the Let’s Talk Loyalty loyalty podcast episode and Maxol is exploring car wash subscriptions, preparing for a much larger share of electric vehicles, and continuing to focus on providing an outstanding foodservice and coffee offer.
About Liquid Barcodes
Liquid Barcodes is a leading global loyalty and digital marketing technology company specializing in the convenience and foodservice industries. The proprietary, cloud-based technology platform allows retailers to create and manage their digital marketing campaigns with a process called the “customer connection cycle’ to engage, promote, and reward customers’ activities in real time across digital and media channels.
Liquid Barcodes loyalty platform is powering loyalty programs for industry leaders across several global markets, by offering unique subscription, mobile payment, machine learning, personalization, gamification, loyalty, and other capabilities.
Learn more about Liquid Barcodes at LiquidBarcodes.com.
About the Author
Carolyn Schnare, Chief Content Officer, Liquid Barcodes
Carolyn Schnare has been involved with the convenience retailing industry for two decades with extensive knowledge of customer engagement and marketing, sustainability, and community outreach. Prior to Liquid Barcodes, Schnare worked at NACS (National Association of Convenience Stores) in a variety of roles from event production to membership and host and producer of the popular industry podcast, Convenience Matters. Schnare currently co-anchors the popular Shop Talk LIVE! video series for the Global Convenience Store Focus media company.
Test Drive the Maxol Loyalty App with FuelPay
Maxol
Maxol, Ireland’s largest family-owned forecourt and convenience retailer, announced it has launched a new customer loyalty app with never-before-seen features in the Irish market. Maxol’s new loyalty program is designed to reward customers for purchasing fuel, food and beverage items, and other services. What really makes this program unique is the new FuelPay feature that allows contactless payment for fuel purchases directly through the app.
