Supermarket fuel prices often cheapest – Gaspy
Motorists who pick up petrol with their groceries may have been getting some of the cheapest prices for fuel, new data shows.
The two supermarket chains both tempt shoppers with petrol deals. Foodstuffs, the owner of New World and Pak’nSave, has 52 fuel sites located at some of its supermarkets nationwide and offers discounts for them at the checkout.
Countdown’s loyalty scheme allows customers to collect AA Smartfuel discounts, and the chain offers additional discounts from time to time.
United States wholesaler Costco has also entered the petrol game in this country, opening its station at the site of its new store in Westgate, Auckland.
Gaspy managing director Mike Newton looked at the prices at petrol stations within a 5-kilometre radius of a supermarket fuel station in four regions over the past six months.
The data showed that in the first week of the month from February until June, the average price of petrol at New World Fuel in Miramar, Wellington, was often cheaper by 10 cents than at the nearby Z, Mobil and BP stations.
This was the same at Pak’nSave Fuel in Auckland’s Mt Albert and at New World Fuel in New Plymouth (against Z, BP and Mobil).
But at Christchurch’s Pak’nSave Fuel Moorhouse Ave, the average price had been on par with Z, BP, and NPD for the past six months.
Newton sampled the prices at midnight on a Monday to try to be outside the times when stations might be changing their prices.
Emma Wooster, the head of public relations at Foodstuffs New Zealand, said the way the business operated meant it could offer cheaper fuel. Its ‘‘pay at pump’’ self-service model meant it was able to keep its overheads low and fuel prices competitive, she said.
Wooster said the price of fuel did not affect the price of groceries, but shoppers received discounts on fuel by shopping in store.
She was unable to disclose some information, such as how much profit the company made from fuel, citing commercial sensitivity.
First Retail Group managing director Chris Wilkinson said the operational model of self-service reduced costs and helped maintain margins when supermarkets offered headline deals, which are tied to minimum grocery spending. He said it was a strategic move for the supermarkets. They gave up some margin but could ‘‘capture spend and goodwill over competitors’’.
Typically, discounts had needed to be sizeable before they were a real ‘‘call to action’’ for consumers.
But in the current climate, and with staples such as petrol and groceries, it did not take much to capture attention, spending and goodwill, Wilkinson said.
New World and Pak’nSave shoppers could get up to 40c off at its fuel sites and at Z Energy by spending up to $200. If they spent $1, they would receive 6c off.
Countdown Onecard users could link their card to AA Smartfuel and get 3c a litre off with a weekly $100 supermarket shop, or 6c off with every $200 spent.
Costco could keep prices lower because people had to be members to purchase fuel. In the US, membership sales make up about 75% of the chain’s profit.
Supermarkets gave up some margin but could ‘‘capture spend and goodwill over competitors’’. Chris Wilkinson First Retail Group