Back to business at forecourttech’21

After a near two year hiatus forecourttech made a triumphant return to its in-person format at the Asia Gardens Hotel in Alicante, Spain. The success of the event was, in no small part, due to the sheer enthusiasm of the delegates to finally be able to do business face-to-face. The simple act of being able to greet colleagues, clients and business partners with a handshake, fist bump or elbow tap will never again be overlooked.

The two day event, comprised of informative speaker presentations and one-to-one business meetings was moderated by Mark Wohltmann, Director of NACS Global. “It was a great pleasure to moderate and present at forecourttech 2021. Once again high quality speakers shared valuable insights and the networking discussions were lively,” he said. 

“At NACS, we support our good cause, to advance the global Convenience-and Fuel Retailing Industry. A key element to this is for members of our industry to get together to build strong strategic and commercial relationships with peers and partners. For this we operate global, regional and local events around the world to bring our network of forward looking leaders that want to stay in the know together. And we support events, like forecourttech, that also do exactly that. Because we can only advance our industry if we know where we need to go.”

In his presentation Mark highlighted some of the current trends in the industry, in particular the emergence of new players in the market. He shared the example of car manufacturer Tesla opening lounges for their EV customers to wait as they charge their vehicles. This can be perceived as a threat as it challenges the current fuel retail business model, or as an opportunity to collaborate.

Collaboration was a key talking point throughout the conference. Retailers opened up about their challenges and expectations for the future and solution providers spoke about industry link-ups that ultimately seek to enhance operations on the forecourt and convenience store.

Whilst presentations covered a range of topics surrounding technology from e-mobility to payment solutions, one theme at the heart of all presentations was the need to be customer-centric. As Aart van Rooijen, Commercial Director at BigBrother so aptly put it: “The customer will determine the future. We should stick to the customer and focus on the customer experience.” Martine Thijs, Global Strategic Accounts, ICASA echoed this idea stating that the vast amounts of data available on the forecourt can help retailers make the customer “the centre of your universe.”

Other speakers included Zdenko Tobek, Lead Business IT Infrastructure Expert at Kuwait Petroleum who discussed how Q8 are using technologies to enhance the customer experience; Peter van Nauw, Snr. Director Systems & Payment at Dover Fueling Solutions who explained how the customer experience is at the forefront of their solution design process; Tom Hatton and Simon Martin from Kalibrate who discussed data-driven fuel pricing strategies; Harald Pöpke, Senior Product. Manager at Scheidt & Bachmann Fuel Solutions, who spoke about moving from being vehicle-centric to customer-centric; Elias Pöyry Cofounder & CEO at Virta who outlined how retailers can monetise EVs and their drivers; Ciaran McNally, Head of Capital Development & Food Strategy at Maxol Group who talked about  the company’s recovery from the pandemic and how the business has evolved and Robert Onion from Circle Brands who outlined a concept for a fuel retall station of the future.

The conference also featured panel discussions for the first time, moderated by Christian Warning, Founder of The Retail Marketeers. The panels included representatives from Tesla and rydpay, amongst others, and debated the key issues of the day.

To see key highlights from the event, including interviews with the speakers in the forecourttech studio sponsored by BigBrother, follow us on LinkedIn.