X-Series: More convenience than ever before

At this NACS Show edition, Petrotec presented a new look into the customer’s experience at the forecourt with a new approach to product development built on human centered design. The result is the X-Series prototype.

In a time of unquestionable market changes, the need to stop, look and (re)think the fuel retail business is imperative. For the forecourt to remain relevant in any future mobility scenario, retailers must focus on customers’ experience while improving their business efficiency. Architects, equipment manufacturers and fuel resellers should work together to redraw the future of the forecourt as an energy and convenience hub.

Petrotec has embraced the opportunity of taking customer’s experience to the next level, redefining the alignment of its main equipment and business models. As such, the fuel dispenser is now positioned as a new ‘sophisticated urban element’ that, not only delivers fuel, but also provides the information that matters to end-customers, at the right time.

Human Centered Design and the X-Concept establishment

Insightful user experience studies were the main pillars for the X-Concept upbringing. They provided a deep understanding of end-users, their core beliefs, their aspirations, their real needs and their “whys”. To never lose sight of Petrotec’s customers business goals, all other major stakeholders - distributors, retailers, company managers and technicians – were also heard.

Hugo Rigor, Product Management & Marketing Executive Director at Petrotec Group, one of the members of the team responsible for unleashing the “Full Experience” concept, recalls the hypothesis that guided the whole project: “The fuel retailing experience has largely remain unchanged for a long time and this is one of the crucial motivations for customers to stay on-site just long enough to fuel their cars, leaving missed opportunities of engagement to be explored”.

In order to materialize a solution and help fuel retailers respond to the upcoming market challenges, the X-Concept focused in three key main components of the fueling experience:

A mobile app that enables the right beginning and end of the fueling experience through a seamless authorization and payment process;
A stunning and intuitive user interface that makes the fueling experience smarter and easier than ever before, while maximizing cross-selling opportunities;
An effective bridge to the brick-and-mortar c-store in the form of a dispenser built-in product catalog, powered by intelligent client segmentation.

With these features and benefits the X-Concept transforms the forecourt. It transfigures from a place where clients acquire fuel to a place where they can also interact with the brand and understand what other relevant products and services exist. It is definitely a shift from product to experience. It is more convenience than ever before!