By Simon Betts, UK country leader, Catalina
At Catalina, we spend a lot of time looking at how people really shop, not what they say they do, but what actually happens day to day. One thing is clear in fuel retail right now, and that’s that smaller and regional retailers aren’t losing out because they lack scale, they’re losing out when they don’t have the same level of insight.
The opportunity isn’t to compete with supermarkets on size or price, it’s to understand customers better and be more relevant in the moments that matter. That’s where data makes the difference, and it’s where smaller retailers can be far more competitive than people think.
That’s something we work on a lot at Catalina – connecting what people actually buy with how retailers show up, both in-store and across digital touchpoints, so every offer, message and moment is driven by real behaviour, not guesswork.
Fuel retail used to be simple. You’d fill up at the same place every week, maybe grab a drink or a snack, and that was that. Habit did most of the heavy lifting. If you drove past it often enough, you kept going back. That’s changed quickly.
The big supermarkets have moved in hard. They’ve turned forecourts into an extension of the weekly shop. You can fill up the car, grab dinner, pick up a few essentials and feel like you’ve ticked off half your to-do list in one stop. It’s convenient and efficient, and for a lot of people right now, that matters.
So where does that leave smaller and regional fuel retailers? It’s easy to assume they’re on the back foot and that they can’t compete on scale. Okay, they can’t always compete on price, and they’re not trying to be a mini supermarket, but that doesn’t mean they can’t compete. It just means the game has changed.
What we’re seeing at Catalina is that loyalty in fuel retail isn’t what it used to be. It’s no longer about habit or proximity in the same way. People aren’t just defaulting to one forecourt. They’re making decisions every time they get in the car.
Where they stop now depends on the journey they’re on, what they need in that moment, and what feels like value at the time. The same person might visit three or four different forecourts in a week depending on what they’re doing. That’s a big shift.
It means loyalty hasn’t disappeared, but it has fragmented. It’s no longer tied to a single place, it’s shaped by lots of small decisions along the way. For smaller retailers, that can feel like a challenge, but there’s also a real opportunity in it because not every stop is about fuel.
Even now, when people are watching what they spend, they’re still buying when they stop. It might be a coffee, something for lunch, a snack for later, or a small treat. Those purchases haven’t gone away, they’ve just become more considered.
People are trading down in some areas, but they’re still trading up in others. A better coffee, a decent sandwich, something that feels like a small upgrade in the middle of the day. That’s where smaller retailers can really play.
You don’t need to be everything to everyone, you just need to be relevant in that moment, and this is where I think a lot of the conversation needs to shift. Too often, the focus is on trying to match what the bigger players are doing. More range, more offers, more of everything, but that’s not where smaller retailers win.
They win by being sharper and understanding their customers properly. By knowing what people actually come in for, what they pick up alongside fuel, and what might encourage them to come back next time.
But the reality is – if you’re making a quick stop on the way to work, you don’t need a full supermarket. You need something quick, good quality, and worth the spend. If you’re on a longer journey, you might want something more substantial, and if you’re picking up fuel late at night, it’s about convenience and what’s easy.
Those are different priorities for the customer, and they need different responses. The problem is, a lot of retailers are still treating every visit the same.
Generic offers, blanket promotions, the same messages for everyone. That doesn’t really cut through anymore, especially when people are making quick decisions in-store. Relevance matters more than ever.
That’s where data comes in, and I don’t mean in a complicated, over-engineered way. I mean simply understanding what your customers are actually doing. What they’re buying, how often they’re visiting, when they’re switching to other locations.
When that insight is used in the right way, it can start to shift behaviour quite quickly. We see that clearly with targeted, at-the-till coupons. Shoppers who engage with them typically spend around 40% more on their basket and make twice as many trips compared to those who don’t.
Once you’ve got that level of understanding, you can start to be much more targeted. You can shape your range around what people genuinely want. You can put the right products in the right place. You can offer something that feels tailored, even in a small format store.
And importantly, you can start to connect what happens in-store with what happens outside of it, because the forecourt doesn’t exist in isolation anymore.
People are influenced before they even arrive through apps, offers, loyalty schemes, digital touchpoints. Those things all play a role in where they decide to stop.
If you can link those moments together, you’re no longer just relying on someone driving past, you’re giving them a reason to choose you.
That’s something we work on a lot at Catalina. Not in a big, one-size-fits-all way, but in a much more focused, tailored way.
There’s a perception that this kind of approach is only for the biggest retailers with the biggest budgets, but it isn’t. Smaller and regional operators can absolutely do this. In fact, they’re often better placed to do it because they know their customers and their locations so well.
It’s less about scale and more about getting it right, and that’s the shift I think we’ll see more of over the next few years.
The fuel crisis, cost pressures and changes in how people shop aren’t going away. If anything, they’re making people more deliberate about where they spend and why, which means every visit to a forecourt becomes a choice. Not a habit, but a choice.
For smaller fuel retailers, that’s actually a good place to be. With the right insight, they don’t need to outspend the big players, they just need to understand their customers better, be more relevant in the moments that matter, and give people a reason to stop with them in the first place.
And if they can do that consistently, they won’t just win the visit, they’ll start to build real loyalty again.
For retailers looking to take a more targeted, insight-led approach, Simon Betts, UK Country Leader at Catalina, can help you understand what’s really driving your customers and where the opportunities are. It starts with a conversation.
To find out more, get in touch at Catalina_UK_Info@catalina.com
