Q&A with Moiz Vas: "We need to be careful about digital disruption"

PetrolPlaza speaks to Moiz Vas, a UK forecourt retailer and founder of Retail’s Best Forecourt & Convenience Partners, about the upcoming event, the development of the UK market, the growth of electric vehicles charging infrastructure, and digital disruption.

On 21 March, some 250 of the most influential convenience and forecourt operators in the UK, along with pioneering suppliers and industry experts, will come together for the next instalment of Retail’s Best Forecourt & Convenience Partners at Chateau Impney, Worcestershire.

Q. What are the benefits of having an event ‘by retailers for retailers’?

Since Retail’s Best launched in 2014, our credibility across our network of fellow operators has grown considerably. Myself, the team and our go-to network (which includes some of the top retail operators in the country) thoroughly understand the hurdles that retailers and forecourt operators face in operating their business and what’s required to adapt to the changing landscape. A key benefit of Retail’s Best is that we are able to carefully cherry-pick suppliers, who are current and of the utmost relevance at that moment in time, to participate in our event.

Q. One year on from last year’s show, has there been any key developments in the UK forecourt market during his period?

A key development since last year’s event is that a major brand has now entered the supply chain for EV charging, which has exciting implications for forging ahead in this area. We’re seeing increasing consolidation of the sector with mergers and acquisitions and the challenge of ensuring that forecourts remain a primary destination continues to be a key development, with operators looking at all sorts of different ideas to remain convenient, well equipped and responsive to customer demands. We can see a real influence from vending, particularly for small and medium operators with space-restricted sites, to now offer a range of services through a vending platform.

Q. The installation of electric vehicle charging stations at petrol stations was one of the key topics at last year’s event. How has that market developed over the year?

Charging times are reducing – the technology is there, but hasn’t been deployed as yet on forecourts. What we are seeing, however, is that the technology is continuously and rapidly developing. We also now have a branded solution come into the market since BP acquired Chargemaster. This demonstrates a bold move by an oil company to secure their place as a provider of fuel for the future. New cars coming onto the market are better adapted to ensure they are ready for the various new speeds of EV charging solutions. It’s all very well people talking about faster charging times, but in order to work, we need the rapid charging solution plus the cars that can take the rapid charging. Both need to be in place in order to benefit. We are also seeing some of the largest car manufacturers coming to Retail’s Best to hear how the industry is looking to position itself to respond to EV charging. That’s a major change this year. There is still a lot of confusion and hesitation by good quality petrol detailers as to when the right time is to take the step to introduce an EV point on their site. The fact that BP is now offering an EV solution goes a long way to help this. Petrol dealers will be interested to hear more about their offer – BP Chargemaster has a wealth of information and attendees this year will find it really valuable to learn about their strategy and plan for road to zero.

Q. Two new partners for Retail’s Best 2019 are BP Retail and BP Chargemaster. What does it mean for the event to have the presence of two BP companies?

This demonstrates our format is established. BP recognises the value of Retail’s Best in order to convey their key messages to the right audience and we’re thrilled to have such a big brand partnering in two key categories this year, particularly as they have chosen our event to soft launch BP Chargemaster to the sector.

Q. This year’s hot topic will be digital disruption at the forecourt. New technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and cloud solutions are changing the way retailers operate their business. Do you expect the industry to adapt rapidly to these changes? Will it have a negative impact on smaller retailers than do not have the resources to adapt as fast as bigger OMCs?

Integration and compatibility are key. As an industry, we need to look at technology really carefully and not just introduce it for the sake of it. We need to go back to basics and ask some fundamental questions. Does it add value to my site(s) and if it does, then how do we embrace it and roll it out phase by phase. If we do this, then we will see more of a progressive and rapid change in our businesses. We need the technology suppliers who are giant players in our sector to look at their solutions and adapt what they’re doing to be compatible to integrate into the infrastructure of our sites. There are lots of good ideas out there, but as an industry, we’re not set up to be able to use most of them in our businesses. Interestingly, many of the smaller retailers that don’t have the resources to adapt as fast as overseas or larger companies are still winning on customer service, simply by listening to their local customers and responding to their current needs.

Q. Mergers and acquisitions continues to be major trend in the British fuelling market. Do you expect this to continue?

Yes. Recent conversations with some of the large oil companies suggests that they’re very aggressive in looking for, and buying, new sites. A lot of the bigger groups continue to look for bigger sites and many retailers and operators who have recently sold their businesses have already started purchasing new sites again and they’re ‘back in the game’. So what’s the attraction? They love the ‘buzz’. This proves that there’s life in this market and there are still lots of opportunities. Our sector is commercially vibrant and we can expect some more disposals of sites that don’t meet the criteria of some of the larger groups.

Q. The UK is one of most developed markets in terms of convenience offering at petrol stations with food-on-the-go a major source of revenue. What makes the UK market so dynamic in this segment?

Independent operators who are true entrepreneurs contribute to the sector by being dynamic. They’re able to use it as a springboard for trialling and experimenting with new ideas. They can respond and adapt relatively quickly to market requirements because they don’t have layers of red tape. Unlike Europe, we don’t have a culture of spending an unhurried few hours catching up with family and friends after work, sharing food and drink together. By contrast, in the UK, everyone is in a rush, there’s no time to stop, everyone is multi-tasking. We need to cater for these busy people who are demanding and looking at other areas to service their dietary requirements, whether it’s vegan or gluten free. And that’s where vending comes in, offering a solution where space is a limitation at most of these sites in our country. Food halls are still considered quite niche in the UK and food to go has an important part to play. It is a good footfall driver and it is paramount that we hold onto that footfall on our forecourts by responding to customer needs. That’s the key message at Retail’s Best.