Caltex’s magazine for employees, franchisees & resellers
Issue 45 Oct – Nov 08
Article Highlights
“Caltex did react quickly by placing ads in newspapers nationally and regionally to tell our customers to ‘Re-Charge at Caltex’. The joint effort between merchandising and the brand department led to record sales for several weeks in response to the ads.”
In this issue:
Conquering crisis
Caltex Wyong F3 store managers Leica Clark and Trevor Harrison with one of the new generators.
When adversity strikes, a company like Caltex needs people with level heads and determination who can put things right. A crisis can even be an opportunity to get ahead of the competition if you manage it properly, as these three examples show.
Dealing with a dilemma
Earlier this year when telecommunications provider Bill Express and its DialTime subsidiary went into liquidation, retailers across the country suddenly faced the prospect of being unable to offer customers prepaid phone credit.
Caltex stores were no exception, and the potential consequences were serious. The telecommunications category represents about 10 per cent of Caltex’s convenience retail shop sales and are worth $100 million a year in sales revenue.
As soon as the merchandising team heard that Dialtime was having problems, it began discussions with another provider, e-pay. The talks quickly resulted in extensive software upgrades and system testing between Caltex and e-pay.
“Some hard work between merchandising, legal and marketing systems departments ensured we had a solution in place to minimise the impact on Caltex and our franchisees’ business,” says Karim Sumar, National Merchandise Manager.
“Many retail outlets didn’t react quickly enough after the demise of DialTime so they couldn’t provide an electronic telecommunications offer to their customers,” says Karim.
“Caltex did react quickly by placing ads in newspapers nationally and regionally to tell our customers to ‘Re-Charge at Caltex’. The joint effort between merchandising and the brand department led to record sales for several weeks in response to the ads.”
Mackay, Queensland, franchisee Bruce Hollett exemplified Caltex’s proactive stance. He jumped on the opportunity to advertise and drive sales in his three stores.
Realising his sites were virtually the only places in town that had a recharge solution in place, Bruce ran ads on a local radio station and put up advertising signs. Staff spread the word to customers.
Not only did Bruce’s telco sales double, he also saw a significant increase in total shop sales thanks to companion purchases with recharge cards. He has retained many of the customers gained in this period.
Power problem
Over the last Queen’s Birthday long weekend, storms throughout the Newcastle and Central Coast area of New South Wales cut power to all four Caltex Wyong F3 freeway stores for several days.
The outage resulted in lost sales, spoilt stock and poor brand presentation. “People driving up that freeway depend on us for shop items and fuel,” says Trevor Harrison, the F3 Petrol North site manager. “When there is a power outage, it puts the customer in a predicament.”
Shorter power outages caused by fallen trees or overloading of the grid occur quite regularly in the area. Caltex decided that a solution had to be found, and business manager Kynan Grace undertook an investigation. The conclusion: each site should get its own generator.
With the assistance of the Project Services Group Kynan set about seeking quotes. The capital outlay of $200,000 was approved and the four generators were installed.
Just a few days later, the F3 Petrol North store had a power dip. The generator immediately kicked in and the store traded normally for five hours until the electricity came back on. On another recent occasion the generators powered all four sites for close to 15 hours.
“This demonstrates our commitment to operational reliability and the fact that we continue to be there for our customers when others are not,” says Retail Operations Manager John Dulgaro.