Mid-State Petroleum is launching the FuelLinks loyalty program at 10 company-owned Pop Shoppe locations in the Greensboro-High Point and Charlotte, N.C., markets, the company said.
Mid-State vice-president Tony Perez said the 10 stores, which are Citgo-branded, are the first phase of a planned rollout to approximately 40 Pop Shoppe locations – including dealer-owned stores – over the next six months.
As part of the program, Mid-State will offer FuelLinks rewards on in-store purchases, and will also honor FuelLinks rewards that consumers earn from other participating local businesses or online at www.FuelLinks.com.
FuelLinks is developed and supported by MetroSplash Systems Group Inc. It’s a card-based program that enables virtually any type of business to issue fuel-based rewards. Consumers earn “Cash for Gas” rewards on qualified purchases used to pay for fuel at participating fuel centers, essentially reducing the consumer’s out-of-pocket fuel costs.
Rewards are funded by issuing merchants or third-party sources (manufacturers, vendors, jobbers, etc.), typically with redirected marketing and promotional dollars.
“We did a lot of due diligence searching for a loyalty program for The Pop Shoppes,” Perez said. “We chose FuelLinks for a variety of reasons. Along with its demonstrated success, we like the underlying technology, particularly its operating visibility, in terms of the downloadable reports available, and the ability to easily change promotions in individual stores.”
“It is very exciting for us to have an experienced and progressive operator like Mid-State bring FuelLinks to market in North Carolina,” said Steve Babick, MetroSplash president and CEO. “With their support, we look forward to introducing the program to other area businesses. We believe that they will see value in helping their customers cope with fuel prices and will choose to repurpose their normal discounts and incentives as FuelLinks fuel rewards.”
