The fuels' market and the positions of the major chains of petrol stations
The data from the latest of our regular studies on the consumption of fuels and the shares of the petrol station chains show that in 2011 the trend, established in the previous year of constant increase in the monthly average volume of fuel, purchased by individuals using cars, was discontinued. Apparently this is a direct reflection of the lasting financial problems, since with the upward trend in the number of vehicles, the reason for the reduction in the amount of fuel consumed can only be the shriveled consumers' demand.
Indeed, in the past 2 years the consumption of gas and oil was increasing, mainly due to the constantly increasing total number of cars, used by people. The present data however unambiguously indicate that even though the number of vehicles in the country continues growing, the annual average mileage per car decreases in 2011 - the monthly average number of fuel fillings and the average amount of fuel taken per single visit at the gas station decrease.
The change in customers' behaviour - as well as the ability or inability of the chains of petrol stations to adapt to the new situation (and to the dynamics in clients' attitude and motivation in the choice of a gas station chain), lead to some noticeable rearrangements in the ranking of the petrol station chains.
The methodology for estimation of the Brand Marketing Strength Coefficient®, created by Progress consult, allowed the identification of the different trends in the ranking of the petrol station chains in customers' minds. For the second year this methodology was applied to the major chains of petrol stations on the Bulgarian market: Eco, Lukoil, OMV, Petrol, Rompetrol, and Shell. The dynamics in their individual Coefficients clearly displays that they have had quite dissimilar strategies for this unusual year in terms of customers' demands and behaviour. For some of them the increased value of the Brand Marketing Strength Coefficient® was adequately reflected in expansion of their clients share. Moreover, there is a new leader in this category due to the opposite dynamics for the two chains with the highest Brand Marketing Strength Coefficient® on the Bulgarian market.
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