With an eye on dealing with competition from private fuel retailers after diesel deregulation, etiquette training to staff is the latest value addition by public-sector fuel retailers.
In a bid to retain their customers, oil marketing companies (OMCs) have also automated their fuel retail outlets and strengthened loyalty programmes.
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"Post diesel deregulation, we expect competition in the fuel retailing space to intensify. However, we have taken measures and are fully geared to meet future challenges," said S Varadarajan, chairman and managing director of BPCL.
The public-sector oil major has been focusing on its network management by holding dealer panel meetings and inspecting retail outlets through online automation systems. BPCL has so far automated 4,408 retail outlets.
"Several focused initiatives like Customer Understanding for Business Excellence (Cube), retail outlet maintenance for ensuring maximum equipment uptime and vehicle tracking system are some steps taken for enhancing customer experience and retention. This will hold BPCL in good stead when the market opens up to competition," BPCL said in its annual report.
As part of Project Cube, BPCL says it has learnt that adding small frills such as an air pressure check of tires or providing an oil change facility free of cost or cleaning up the car's windshield while a customer drives into a retail outlet can create loyalty.
"Cube has brought us closer to our customers. We are training our field staff at retail outlets to be sensitive towards the needs of a customer and how to talk to customers so that they feel happy. Our staff is also trained to deal with angry customers," says Milind S Patke, team leader, Project Cube.
With crude oil prices touching $95.43 a barrel, diesel prices, for the first time in over six years, are at par with market levels. This could lay the ground for the government to officially deregulate diesel. Diesel under-recovery (loss) has been wiped out and there is an over-recovery (profit) of 35 paise a litre with effect from September 16.
This is a positive for private fuel retailers such as Reliance Industries and Essar Oil. While Reliance Industries is planning to re-start its 1,400 fuel retail outlets, Essar Oil is looking at expanding its network of fuel retail outlets. Essar has 1,400 outlets and it plans to set up another 1,600 in the next three years, making it the largest private fuel retailer.
IndianOil Corporation (IOCL), the largest fuel retailer in the country with 23,993 fuel retail outlets, has launched a professional training initiative - Project Chetna -to enhance service standards of customer attendants on the forecourt.
With an emphasis on customer satisfaction, IOCL is automating its entire distribution chain, terminal and depot facilities.
During 2013-14, some 1,700 retail outlets of IOCL were brought under automation, taking the total number of automated retail outlets to 6,077. Automating a retail outlet costs about Rs 78 lakh.
IOCL says automation will help the customer, dealer as well as the company. Automation includes providing the customer with a printed bill and providing the details of the transaction done. "Many times customers doubt the litres of fuel dispensed against the amount charged. With automation, if the customer so desires, he can see how the transaction took place and verify the veracity of the same," said an official from IOCL.
During 2013-14, the company also launched various mobile applications such as X-Sparsh for enhancing dealers' productivity and X-Snehash for provision of relevant information on-the-go for retail customers. "Such unique initiatives of the Corporation are aimed at profit-oriented approach," IOCL said in its annual report.
BPCL, which has 12,500 across the country, plans to add more. As a part of its market expansion plan, it has opened 882 new retail outlets with a focus on strategic locations in city and national highway markets, as well as under-represented pockets in rural markets and state highways.