Across Europe 40% of commercial fuel volumes are not purchased with a fuel card. This report highlights the markets and segments offering the greatest opportunity for fuel card growth and examines the key barriers preventing fuel card usage or existing users switching to another provider. Ultimately, this report offers evidence of which acquisition channels work best for both provider and client.
Scope
An assessment of market opportunity through an examination of the fuel card penetration rate per CRT and fleet vehicle across 16 European markets
A quantitative breakdown of the commercial fuel retail market revealing fleet and CRT fuel volumes purchased with cash, credit cards and fuel cards
An evaluation of acquisition channels in terms of cost, effectiveness and customer quality, based on detailed interviews with industry experts
An investigation into the most successful acquisition ventures across Europe with a series of case profiles offering strategic insight
Highlights
Although the fleet segment generally offers the most potential for growth across Europe, opportunity varies between regions. For example, in Italy there are 0.3 fuel cards per fleet vehicle whilst in Sweden there are 0.8 per fleet vehicle. The credit card is the fuel card's strongest competitor with 23% of commercial fuel volumes bought this way.
Although fuel card providers will entice CRT and fleet vehicles away from competitors by offering competitive fuel rebates and adequate fuel card networks, companies not using fuel cards are often easier to acquire. A lack of accurate information, often leading to largely unwarranted security concerns, is a key barrier preventing fuel card usage.
Traditional acquisition channels, such as telesales and direct mailing, achieve better response rates when combined although their effectiveness is inversely proportional to the level of channel saturation in the market. In contrast, partnerships work well independently whilst being relatively low cost and far-reaching.
Reasons to Purchase
Understand which segments and markets offer the greatest potential for growth in the fuel cards market
Overcome some of the major switching barriers for those currently using fuel cards and those using alternative payment methods
Evaluate acquisition channels in terms of their cost, effectiveness and the quality of the customer gained
An investigation into growth opportunities, customer switching barriers and supplier acquisition strategies within the European fuel cards market.