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English Español Shell receives the most fuelling visits in the U.S.

The Petroleum and Convenience Store annual competitive study, organized by Market Force Information, surveyed over 10,000 US consumers asking about their fuel and convenience store purchasing habits.



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Shell receives the most fuelling visits, representative of their large market share but Kwik Trip, Quik Trip, and Wawa fiercely compete for the lead with nearly identical CLI scores. Based on our last industry study, overall sentiment has increased with Wawa still taking the lead.

The top three brands that changed their stars to improve CLI scores significantly were Marathon Oil up by 17 points, followed by Mobil with a 15-point gain and RaceTrack up 13 points over 2018 results.

Over 1 in 4 consumers surveyed now use Petroleum and Convenience Store apps with adoption quickly growing amid the younger age group of 25-34. Retailer branded apps have outpaced industry targeted apps like GasBuddy, which now takes second place to retailers, followed by Google Maps and Waze.

Locating gas stations and comparing prices are the top used features for apps at 69% and 65%, respectively, with paying for purchases showing the greatest growth from 1% in the last survey, to 22% in 2020. The date shows a clear trend towards higher interaction customer-retailer on the digital channel.

Compared to convenience store locations, the perception of fuel quality is higher with grocery and big box retailers along with loyalty, with nearly 2 in 3 customers indicating brand loyalty. Costco and Kroger received the most fuelling visits but Costco and BJ’s lead with excellence amongst their loyal customer base.

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