Petrol prices are rising again but cash-conscious consumers should cast a careful eye on the price of other forecourt purchases.
Convenience shopping is blurring the lines between retail outlets, supermarkets and petrol stations as cash-rich but time poor customers are prepared to pay more for one-stop shopping.
Convenience foods and the availability of forecourt parking are the main reasons, according to Mr Mark Reihill, of Top Oil.
A recent survey of Irish dietary habits, carried out by the Irish Universities Nutrition Alliance, found Irish adults consume almost one quarter of their daily calories outside the home.
While convenience ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat items are a rapid growth area, more than 80 per cent of grocery sales via petrol forecourts in the Republic are core lines such as soft drinks, confectionary, crisps and snacks, and milk, according to a survey carried out by the UK-based Mintel International Group late last year. Non-fuel sales have doubled in the past six years.
Mintel concludes that a wide selection of products and a modern store layout (average forecourt shop sizes have doubled since 1990) are important factors in the growth of forecourt retailing. A large proportion of these shops open early and close late, with some offering 24-hour shopping.
At the end of last month, Superquinn and Texaco began a new venture, SuperQ, which brings Superquinn's fresh food and grocery products to a Texaco Service Station in Raheny, Dublin. This is the first time Superquinn's brand and service are available outside Superquinn's own shops and the first time a supermarket has become involved in forecourt retailing in the Republic.
Ms Paula Mee, nutrition adviser to Superquinn, said research indicated people now spent an average of 20 minutes of preparation on meals but that would fall to 10 minutes by 2010. The SuperQ brand is operated under licence. Mr Eamonn Quinn, Superquinn's marketing director, said SuperQ would "appeal to customers in a hurry". It is expected that more SuperQ outlets will be opened at Texaco stations in the future.
There are 410 Texaco stations in the Republic with almost 90 per cent engaging in forecourt retailing. A spokeswoman for Texaco said the main changes within its business "have centred around the development of convenience store retailing." The major groups operating stores in Texaco outlets are Centra, Spar and Mace.
Tesco Ireland had no immediate plans to develop a forecourt alliance with an oil company, but a spokeswoman said it could not be ruled out in the future. Ms Niamh Wood, of Esso, said in the early 1960s and 1970s people bought lubricants, car-care products, cigarettes and sweets at the forecourt. "The traditional TBAs (tyres, batteries and accessories) have given way to groceries, fresh food, fast food, snacks, newspapers and magazines," she said. Esso has some 70 company service stations as well as 330 independently owned stations.
Shell has 310 stations in Ireland, with 60 Select stores.
More emphasis is being placed on the development of convenience stores and generating income from them as fuel margins continue to decline, according to Shell.
This approach is echoed by Mr Reihill of Top Oil, where about 110 of the 140 stations have a shop and 50 offer convenience foods. "Petrol and diesel are just two additional products . . . Petrol, in many respects, is now a loss leader. In the future there will be even less margin so that's why we are going into the shop business. People are less discerning about prices of convenience foods than about petrol prices," said Mr Reihill.
According to Mintel, the main multinational oil companies "enjoy a sizeable presence in the Irish petrol forecourt sector, with the likes of Esso, Texaco and Shell well represented in terms of selling fuel and nonfuel products. However, these concerns face strong competition from Statoil, a Norwegian state-owned oil company which also operates in Ireland, and Irish independents Maxol and Tedcastles Oil Products (which trades under the Top name)."
Maxol and Top are at the forefront of developing convenience retail outlets in conjunction with major symbol brand groups - Maxol-Mace and Londis Topshop - according to the survey. Statoil has more than 300 service stations in Ireland, and more than two-thirds of these have forecourt shops. Fareplay convenience stores, with their emphasis on fresh food, were designed by Statoil Ireland.
Non-fuel sales have grown from £120 million in 1995 to an estimated £280 million last year, according to Mintel. Car ownership is increasing rapidly and fuel consumption has soared from 1,643,000 tonnes in 1995 to 3,012,000 tonnes in 1999.
A sizeable proportion of this increased volume can be attributed to sales of petrol to drivers from Northern Ireland, the Mintel report states. Northern Irish drivers also account for considerable amounts of tobacco sales.
With petrol prices up to 30 per cent lower in the Republic there has been a substantial increase in the number of Northern Irish drivers going to petrol stations in the Republic. The number of petrol stations in the North is in decline, with the volume of fuel sold there down by as much as 40 per cent between 1995 and 1999, despite growing car ownership.
Mintel predicts little respite for petrol forecourt retailing in Northern Ireland, although the future looks brighter for those engaged in forecourt retailing in the Republic.