IBP plans new brand for premium outlets

The retail fuel outlet branding bug has finally caught India's only pure oil marketing company IBP. It has decided to come out with new retail brand for its premium outlets.

The company is in search of a suitable name for the large format outlets which will focus on superior customer interface in terms of quality and quantity of products and a plethora of add-on services.

N G Kannan, managing director of IBP, said the company intended to have 250 branded outlets this year. "We are working on the new brand name for these large format outlets. The company has a composite budget of Rs 528 crore for the entire retail initiative. IBP will also set up 501 new outlets this year," he added.

New outlets will focus on highways and urban areas. The locations have already been selected. Most of them are going to be upgradation of existing outlets.

"We will have a standardise service throughout branded outlets. Focus will be on automation, stringent quality and quantity of product, third party audit, personalised service from outlet staff. Bank ATMs, fleet card station and convenience stores will also be added on wherever necessary," B B Vohra, executive director (marketing) of IBP, explained.

The development gains significance as petro retailing will jump into tremendous competition from middle of next year when private retailers Reliance and Shell will have pan-Indian reach. IBP's move is spurred from the fact that it needed a differentiator at the market place to retain customers.

Experts believe new IBP outlets could model on the likes of 'In & Out' of BPCL, 'Club' of HPCL. The company is also strengthening its portfolio of premium petrol and diesel. More variants of premium products will be rolled out in coming months under the umbrella brand of Josh (petrol) and Shakti (diesel).