One BonusA loyalty program for a petrol station
Updated 31 August 2026
Fuel margin is too thin to give away, but the shop beside the pump is not. The design that works is to earn on litres and redeem on coffee, snacks and goods — where the margin is, and where the reward feels bigger than it costs.
Earn on fuel, redeem in the shop
A one percent give-back on fuel is barely worth printing. The same value expressed as a free coffee after a number of fills reads as generous, and the coffee costs a fraction of what the customer thinks it is worth.
That asymmetry is the whole trick, and it is available to any forecourt with a shop attached.
Fuel is a habit, and habits are geographic
Drivers refuel where it is convenient and switch on almost nothing. A loyalty balance is one of the few things that reliably overrides convenience, because it is a cost to switch that the competitor cannot see.
The shop is where the data is
Recorded purchases tell you which shop lines actually sell to repeat customers rather than to passing traffic, and which hours the shop earns in as opposed to the pumps. Those are two different businesses on one site, and most operators only measure one of them.
Common questions
How does a petrol station run loyalty on thin margins?
Earn on litres, redeem in the shop. A free coffee after a set number of fills costs a fraction of its perceived value, whereas the same value given back on fuel is invisible to the customer and expensive to you.
Does a loyalty program actually change where drivers refuel?
It is one of the few things that does. Drivers switch on convenience, and a balance held at one station is a real cost to abandon that a competing forecourt cannot match by lowering a price.
Earn on litres, reward in the shop
Read next
- By industryA cafe, a pharmacy and a car wash need different programs. Visit frequency, basket size and margin decide the mechanic — pick your trade and see the fit.
- CafeA coffee shop is visited daily and sells cheaply, so a stamp card beats points. How many stamps to ask for, what the free cup costs you, and how to run it without paper.
- RestaurantA restaurant is visited rarely with a large bill, so points and levels fit better than stamps. Where to set tier thresholds and how to reward a booking, not just a bill.
- BakeryBread is bought on the way home, every day, in cash. A stamp card on a phone survives what a paper card does not, and it tells you which hour of the day sells.
- Bar and pubA bar lives on regulars and on quiet weeknights. Reward the visit rather than the spend, and use coupons to move the nights that need moving.
- Grocery storeA grocery basket is frequent and varied, which is exactly what a points rate is for. How to set the percentage, and why the checkout queue decides the design.
- ShopA small shop cannot ask people to install an app for it alone. Joining a network means the card is already in the pocket before the first purchase.
- Clothing storeFashion sells in bursts and goes quiet between them. Levels hold the gap, and a coupon timed to a new arrival beats a permanent discount that trains people to wait.