In today’s competitive environment having an effective loyalty program is essential for convenience stores. As technology continues to advance, more chains are upgrading their rewards program, enhancing their mobile app capabilities, integrating data and paving the way for more personalization for shoppers.
Each year, CStore Decisions looks at loyalty program launches, relaunches, upgrades and enhancements in the c-store industry over the past year and recognizes two chains standing out for their loyalty offerings.
To determine this year’s loyalty award winners, CStore Decisions partnered with NexChapter, a c-store advisory firm that helps retailers drive business growth by tapping into digital capabilities.
Winner: RaceTrac
RaceTrac launched an upgrade to its popular RaceTrac Rewards app in May, which includes a completely redesigned app with a modern look and improved functionality. The loyalty experience for customers is both frictionless and personalized. For all this and more, CStore Decisions and NexChapter are recognizing RaceTrac as a 2024 Loyalty Program Awards winner.
“The RaceTrac team invested their time and talent into building a program that is based on feedback from their guests and team members,” pointed out Mike Templeton, VP of digital strategy for NexChapter. “When you’re in the customer service business, making the customer voice the priority is critically important.”
He noted that as customers scroll and swipe through the app, they’ll see every screen has been built around the RaceTrac brand.
“It’s in the language they use and the visuals they present. The app is a natural extension of what RaceTrac is to guests in real life,” Templeton said. “The special attention paid to app navigation — from initial onboarding to highlighting priority features — shows that the team has been attentive to the details as well. Every guest can easily find their (way) as they’re tapping through the app.”
The new app enables faster sign-up and points redemption and makes it easier for customers to understand the offers available to them from auto-applied coupons to personalized promotions, noted Lanna O’Connor, director, loyalty & digital marketing, RaceTrac Inc., which operates over 800 RaceTrac and RaceWay locations in 13 states.
“We’ve also enabled contextual experiences based on who you are and how you engage with RaceTrac. Your experience will vary whether you’re an auto driver, professional driver or electric vehicle (EV) charger,” O’Connor explained. “We’ve also added identity verification powered by ID.me that will allow us to easily extend special offers to community groups like teachers, nurses, first responders and active military or veterans.”
Professional drivers who are loyalty members, for example, will be able to take advantage of a soon-to-be-released Route Planner, while EV drivers will be able to scan and pay for EV charging at RaceTrac locations that feature EV.
Tier-Based Approach
The core of the RaceTrac Rewards program remains the same.
“Our TracFanatics will continue to earn points for free stuff and fuel discounts when they shop and fuel at RaceTrac,” O’Connor said.
Customers earn four points for every dollar they spend on qualifying products and one point for every gallon of fuel purchased.
Plus, the more members engage with the program, they begin to unlock new tiers. For example, once they reach 500 tier points, they can get a free dispensed beverage monthly, and when they hit 3,500 tier points, they can receive a free dispensed beverage daily.
“For RaceTrac, this tiered approach boosts engagement as members strive to reach the top tier while providing a compelling benefit to members and program ‘badge of honor’ that they’re excited to reach and maintain,” O’Connor said.
Templeton concurred that the tiered-benefit system helps the program stand out.
“This motivates guests to keep collecting points so that they earn incremental value for consolidating their purchases,” he said.
Another feature of note is the paid VIP membership, where guests can pay $2.49 per month for guaranteed fuel savings on each gallon of gas they purchase, Templeton pointed out. “Consumers can quickly do the math to see the savings outweigh the costs, plus RaceTrac wins by gaining a larger share of their members’ fuel trips,” he said. “Lastly, I like how RaceTrac has incorporated zero-party data insights right within their app. Members can identify things like their favorite food or merchandise categories, enabling RaceTrac to serve up a more personalized experience to guests over time.”
Time For A Refresh
RaceTrac first designed its core loyalty program in-house and rolled it out in 2016. In February 2021, it migrated to Punchh, keeping its existing program to avoid disruptions to the guest experience. PAR Technology acquired Punchh in April 2021. Par Punchh represents the integration of Punchh’s loyalty platform with Par’s broader technology solutions.
O’Connor noted that there are challenges with migrating an existing loyalty program to a new platform, including custom development requirements.
“Maintaining a consistent guest experience was a key driver during that migration,” O’Connor explained. “Punchh is our current loyalty backend that maintains the program infrastructure. Our app is a fully custom build (program) that leverages Punchh’s loyalty platform but also includes custom functionality and integrations built in-house.”
The partnership gave RaceTrac more visibility into its member base and user behavior.
“(It) empowered our business teams to be nimbler with loyalty marketing via email, push and SMS (short message service), which had posed challenges with our previous homegrown loyalty solution,” O’Connor added.
RaceTrac felt an app refresh in 2024 was key for continuing to best serve its customers, as a lot had evolved over the past several years. For one, RaceTrac’s rewards program had experienced substantial growth. In February, Par Punchh noted that RaceTrac’s loyalty program saw a 46% year-over-year increase in loyalty transactions and a 76% year-over-year rise in loyalty revenue in 2023. What’s more, the chain had expanded into new markets and store types, which had changed its user base and what they needed from RaceTrac’s rewards program and its app.
“From commuters and road-trippers to professional drivers and EV-enthusiasts, we’ve enabled the new RaceTrac app to cater to the unique needs of each and position us to be nimble so we can address new features and requirements as needs change,” O’Connor said.
App Features
The upgraded app was rebuilt from the ground up to include a new look, faster speeds — including quicker loading times — and new features, which help enable speedy transactions and a streamlined in-store experience. The improved navigation aims to make the user experience frictionless. As customers earn points, they are automatically tracked in the app; customers can now easily identify the available reward points on the home screen that they can redeem for free items and discounts on fuel.
The upgraded app includes a new “Scan & Pay” feature that replaces the former “Checkout” button, which allows for quick loyalty recognition and the use of contactless payment via RaceTrac gift cards. The app also includes a redesigned FAQ (frequently asked questions) tab as well as a new chat feature and enhanced purchase history. The app’s redesigned store location finder lets users “favorite” their most visited stores for easy access and special offers. Plus, they have the option to place a mobile order for pickup.
To incentivize customers to use the app and rewards program, RaceTrac offers a wide range of auto-applied coupons that are available to its loyalty members each month.
“Loyalty promotion approaches vary across the industry, with many retailers taking different points of view,” Templeton said. “Rather than presenting single-use coupon barcodes or offers that require loyalty activation, RaceTrac has gone completely frictionless by enabling every loyalty coupon to be applied automatically for members. This dedication to speed and convenience is sure to be a hit with their guests.”
RaceTrac also provides personalized offers and promotions, such as its summer “Thank You Days” campaign.
“Summer Thank You Days is a summer-long surprise and delight campaign offering free drinks, snacks and treats throughout the summer that’s enabled via the promo code ‘SUNNYDAYS’ in the app,” O’Connor said.
RaceTrac has been acquiring 30% more new members per month since the new app launched, and daily active app users have increased 54%, O’Connor said.
As RaceTrac continues to serve its diverse customer base through its upgraded RaceTrac Rewards app, it’s zeroing in on data management to best meet evolving customer needs.
“We have a lot of data at our fingertips,” O’Connor stated. “Based on the objective, we’re able to get very granular in how we segment and communicate to our guests. Visit patterns, spend, user type, transactional behaviors and more play into all of our targeted marketing decisions.”
Winner: Jacksons Food Stores
Jacksons Food Stores recently partnered with Bounteous x Accolite and PAR Punchh to revamp its Let’s Go Rewards Program, introducing a new customer experience platform that includes a next-generation mobile app and web integrations. Its new digital-first approach to loyalty is providing a seamless and personalized experience for customers. For all this and more CStore Decisions and NexChapter are recognizing Jacksons as a 2024 Loyalty Program Awards winner.
The new platform’s wide-scale rollout launched on April 24 at the chain’s over 300 company-operated Jacksons Food Stores and ExtraMile by Jacksons convenience stores in Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, California and Utah.
While the primary changes to the program included the transition to a new platform and new partners — PAR Punchh is powering the loyalty program, while Bounteous x Accolite manages the web app and third-party service integrations — the most significant shift the program saw is the transition from a card-based loyalty program to a digital-first approach, noted Kristin Sword, loyalty and e-commerce manager for Jacksons.
By transitioning to a digital-first platform, Jacksons now has greater control and flexibility and can better meet its customers’ ever-changing needs, while the collaboration with its partners is helping the chain create a seamless and more personalized experience across all digital touch points.
Jacksons is also meeting customers where they are by launching a hybrid app that allows their shoppers to engage with the program in the way that works best for them, whether that’s via the web app, downloading the mobile app or entering a phone number at the pin pad. Jacksons has found this level of flexibility to be crucial in today’s digital environment, where convenience and personalization are among the top customer demands.
“Jacksons tackled its entire digital experience with this latest refresh of Let’s Go Rewards,” said Templeton. “The app is certainly the primary focus, but the Jacksons website is still a full-featured option for those who may be hesitant to download another app. This ensures the Jacksons team doesn’t miss any opportunity to connect with their customers. Many brands may forgo their website to go all-in on an app; this shows how powerfully the two can work in tandem.”
A Personalized Experience
“The primary motivation behind refreshing our loyalty program was to better align with the evolving expectations of our customers and the digital landscape,” explained Todd Michael, SVP, merchandising & marketing, Jacksons. “We recognized that a traditional card-based loyalty program was limiting our ability to engage with our customers in a personalized and dynamic way. As consumer behaviors and preferences shift more toward digital and mobile interactions, we knew it was essential to modernize our approach to stay relevant and competitive.”
Jacksons also saw the growing importance of data-driven marketing and recognized the need for a platform that would give it the visibility and dexterity needed to create more personalized user experiences. To that end, Jacksons now benefits from an enhanced segmentation tool that allows it to tailor offers to specific customer groups.
“This targeted strategy ensures that our customers receive offers that truly resonate with their shopping habits and preferences, leading to higher engagement and satisfaction,” Michael said.
“With the new digital-first platform, we can now build and deploy offers in real time, automate personalized offer distribution and gain deeper insights into how customers are interacting with our program,”
Michael added.
This ability to create and send offers in real time has been a “game changer,” Sword said, allowing Jacksons to react swiftly to market trends, customer preferences or unforeseen events.
“We no longer have to rely on a one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, we have better visibility into how offers are performing, which allows us to create targeted user journeys and leverage segmentation,” Sword said. “This level of personalization has been key in driving customer engagement and satisfaction.”
“The Jacksons experience is loaded with exciting things for customers to explore — with everyday offers and featured promotions to integrated sweepstakes opportunities from partners,” Templeton pointed out.
This gives customers a reason to return and check out what might be new, which is an essential component to operating an engaging loyalty experience, he noted.
“Jacksons has done a great job prioritizing focus areas in their app, even with an immense amount of content to explore,” Templeton added. “The points meter on the opening screen helps direct attention to what a customer has collected so far, plus a filterable rewards catalog provides the opportunity to home in on exactly what reward a member might be craving.”
Shooting For The Stars
Jacksons’ Let’s Go Rewards is a points-based program, where purchases earn “stars.”
“Every time a customer makes a purchase, they’re collecting stars, which can be redeemed for rewards. It’s like a little sprinkle of stardust with every visit,” Sword said.
Customers earn 10 stars for every $1 purchase they make and can redeem them for rewards from a catalog of freebies that include new healthy items.
While the star system is the foundation of the program, Sword noted that Jacksons is building on this core framework to create a loyalty experience that’s “truly rewarding in every sense.”
“The beauty of the stars model is that it’s intuitive — customers immediately understand how their spending translates into rewards. It’s easy to track progress, which keeps the excitement going and drives repeat visits. Plus, the system fits perfectly with our digital-first approach. Whether through our mobile app, web app or by simply entering a phone number at the pin pad, customers can easily manage their stars, see what rewards they’re close to unlocking and receive personalized offers,” Sword said.
And with a more personalized approach to rewards, Jacksons can now offer rewards like double stars on favorite products, exclusive discounts on frequently purchased items or special promotions tied to broader campaigns, such as holiday events or customer anniversaries, Sword explained.
Data and analytics also play a crucial role. The chain now has better insight into customer behaviors, giving it the ability to continuously refine its offerings to ensure it is delivering the rewards that matter most to shoppers.
“Overall, these technological improvements have empowered us to create a more engaging and responsive loyalty program,” Michael said. “We are only just scratching the surface, and we’re excited to continue building out additional features and benefits to enhance the experience for our guests.”
What’s more, throughout the app experience, Jacksons nudges customers down a particular path using highlights and previews, while also making space for exploration and discovery of the brand’s many offerings, Templeton noted.
“Just like in a physical store environment, getting the prioritization and presentation of messages correct is key,” Templeton said. “Jacksons has done that and more, balancing promotions, messaging and loyalty education all in one integrated experience.”
