New customer research reveals huge demand for hand‐protection and clean hands on the forecourt

In a world where fuel offers low margins, forecourt convenience store sales hold the key to profitability. Increase sales here and business will boom. You’ve invested in merchandise, promotional materials, produce and new store layouts, all to help increase sales, yet it’s the simplest and potentially one of the cheapest investments that holds the key to boosting sales – the cleanliness of your customers’ hands.

It sounds odd, but if a customer has sticky, dirty and smelly hands as a result of filling up, they are less inclined to buy food and drinks in your shop.

The unpalatable facts highlighted on the handle hygiene page help to explain the barrier to food and drink purchases following fuelling up. So, what can you do to overcome this? After all, you’ve got hand-protection on your forecourt, haven’t you?

Gripping the fuel pump handle can be the first and last touch-point a customer has with a forecourt, and so it's key that this experience is hygienic. New research shows this to be more vital than ever.


Before we get to the results, we have three initial questions to consider:

1) Do customers decide to fill up at a particular forecourt based on price alone?
If there is more than one forecourt in the area, there are other factors involved; and hygiene is a big one.

2) If you have one forecourt which doesn’t really care and offers an ad-hoc provision, and then another across the road with easy, unmissable and totally convenient hand-protection… where are your customers going to fill up?
They're going to buy their snacks, coffee, lunch, household shopping for the next few days in the second convenience store because they offer something as simple as visibly caring and making sure their customers can very easily keep their hands clean at the pumps.

3) If you have children in the back of the car asking for an ice cream and drink when you go in to pay for the fuel, how would you answer if you couldn't find hand-protection and you knew your hands were filthy?

GripHero removes the barriers to follow-on purchases on higher-margin products in your convenience store. Otherwise, who would buy a sandwich with fuel, bacteria and viruses all over their hands? Well, let's find out...

In 2017, GripHero commissioned a survey of 1,000 drivers throughout the UK to understand their opinions on the use, availability and impact forecourt hand-protection has on their experience.

• 82% of people struggle to find disposable hand-protection at garages and forecourts

• 74% of drivers actively hunt for hand-protection or ask forecourt attendants for hand-protection or a wet-wipe

• Worryingly, nearly two-thirds of drivers are unaware that fuel nozzle handles pose a risk to health that could lead to the transmission of serious illness; just under three-fifths of drivers are unaware that petrol contains Group 1 carcinogens in it

• Almost identical numbers of drivers would wear hand protection for petrol as they would for diesel, meaning people want to keep their hands clean no matter what type of fuel their car is

• When asked if drivers would use hand-protection if it were readily available, convenient and located directly on each and every fuel nozzle handle, 91% would use it always or occasionally

 

• Critically for fuel station owners, 76% of drivers would prefer a forecourt with hand-protection on each and every fuel nozzle handle over one nearby without this service

 

• In fact, 41% would travel up to 2 miles further to use a forecourt with hand-protection on each and every fuel nozzle and a further 25% would be willing to pay 1p extra on every litre of fuel for this service

 

• Of even greater value to fuel stations with convenience stores is the finding that 72% of vehicle owners would be more likely to make impromptu purchases of snacks, coffee, ice cream or other items such as sandwiches than they currently do, if they knew they could keep their hands clean while filling up

 

• And 74% would be more likely to plan ahead to visit a forecourt convenience store to make larger purchases, such as convenience shopping for 2 days’ worth of groceries, if they knew they could keep their hands clean

What should we read into this?

This is a stark notice to forecourt retailing. This shows the huge public demand for clean hands at the pumps, and the potentially huge rewards for the retailers that commit to the well-being of motorists.

While you’ve invested in making your forecourt sing and dance, it seems what the customer actually wants is a quick, clean and hassle free experience that doesn’t leave their hands sticky and stinking of fuel for hours; or risks their health by holding the most unhygienic surface for a few minutes. As long as the fuel price is competitive, there’s probably not much else a customer looks for.

So let's ask a few 'what if's'...

As a result of customers having easy access to clean hands at the pumps:

1) What if your repeat business increases?
2) What if your fuel sales increase?
3) What if your store sales increase?
4) What if you suddenly have loyal fans of your forecourt, drivers that had perhaps been filling up elsewhere?