Retail Marketing Survey 2016

Welcome to 2016 edition of Petroleum Review’s Retail Marketing Survey. This year’s supplement, cross-referenced with numbers supplied by market analyst Experian Catalist, indicates that the trend for forecourt closures has picked up once again, with the total number of forecourts in the UK at the close of 2015 standing at 8,472 sites, compared with 8,609 sites in 2014, a 1.59% decrease (compared with a fall of just 0.02% a year earlier, and a drop of 0.94% in 2013).

BP leads the forecourt branding field, topping the listing with 1,278 outlets, followed by Esso with 1,030 branded sites and Shell with 1,023. The next largest is Texaco, with 820 branded forecourts, followed by 512 Gulf-branded service stations. This latter figure is on par with the largest supermarket brand – Tesco, with 506 outlets; followed by Morrisons (336) and Sainsbury’s (302). The small and unbranded sector, which makes up the balance of the UK network, numbered 747 by year-end.

The supermarket sector continues to hold a 44% market share (accounting for just over 43% of total UK fuel sales) with dealer sites holding 39% (up from 32% a year earlier) and company sites the remaining 17% (down from 24%).

Fuel prices fell from an average of 128.18 p/l for petrol in 2014 to 111.79 p/l in 2015 (falling to under £1/litre in early 2016), and from 133.82 p/l for diesel to 115.04 p/l. Meanwhile, petrol sales remained fairly stable at 12.78mn tonnes by year-end (from 12.56mn tonnes at the close of 2014), and diesel sales rose to 15.72mn tonnes (up from 15.16mn tonnes).

Total 2014 road fuel sales for the year were 37.29mn tonnes. Registered UK vehicles once again broke records in 2015, to reach 35.93mn, with each forecourt supplying an average of 4,241 vehicles.

Our first two feature articles look at the shift in ownership of UK forecourts in recent years as oil companies have divested assets and linked purchasing independents into supply agreements. This restructuring trend is expected to continue in the foreseeable future. We also take a closer look at fuel pricing in the UK, which has been enjoying a sustained reduction in pump prices, to reach under £1 a litre in the early months of 2016.

Our final article provides an overview of how developing digital technologies, coupled with the rise of alternatively fuelled vehicles

such as electric cars and hybrids, could radically alter dynamics of the the fuel retail market in the future.

Kim Jackson, Editor

Note: All numbers are as at year-end 2015 unless