Opportunity to sell products at Petronas’ Mesra C-Stores By Neil Brian Joseph
FOR most car owners, refueling at our local gas stations is somewhat a dull routine. The only time people would go there is when their low fuel indicators light up.
However, the high number of customers that gas stations receive on a daily basis can actually be transformed into something that can be impactful for the community.
That is what Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) is trying to do for its gas stations. It wants the community to use its gas stations as an avenue to introduce their products in a new and easier way.
Earlier this year, Petronas incorporated a new concept for its Mesra C-Stores (convenience stores), whereby Petronas employs a more communitybased approach in the sale of its products.
Apart from giving the Mesra stores a more modern and trendy image, the new stores will also provide viable business opportunities for locals to expand their business, no matter how small the size of the business is. The Sabah, Sarawak and East Coast media were introduced to this new concept during a briefing session led by Aadrin Azly, who is the Head of Business Retail Division-Petronas Dagang Berhad at the Petronas Station at Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur, last Saturday.
“So far, we have 12 stations with this new image. We are going to roll out 200 more these within this year and next year. This is going to be all over Malaysia.
“As for both Sabah and Sarawak, we are planning to start with around 10 of these new concept stores, probably by the end of this year. We would have to look at the feedback from our customers (which we believe they will love),” Aadrin asserted.
He noted that this is an on going process and hence, as time progresses, more stations with this new concept will be added.
“Two hundred stations is not the end goal. That is just our current investment plan...This is a new concept that we are testing. It will keep growing and growing,” he told reporters.
“The most interesting thing about this new concept is that, this concept is done by asking our customers. This year, we embarked on a CX (Customer Experience) programme. Thus, everything about this store relates to customer experience.
“The methodology that we have used in the CX programme is through the categorization of the different locations into three types, namely, highways, transients and communities.
“So this particular station (Petronas Sri Hartamas) is about communities. So since it is a community station, the way we arrange the station and the way we arrange the products is customized to suit the needs of the local community,” Aadrin said.
He said the Petronas station at Sri Hartamas was a hotspot for local community members to grab their breakfast. Even Aadrin and his own family prefer to enjoy their breakfast there.
What is even more interesting is that the Nasi Lemak served in that station is so good that it had to be served three times daily.
However, in comparison with Petronas stations along highways, it adopts a more ‘quick’ approach as most of the people who stop by there would want things to be done fast.
“These are the small things that we do ... to look at our customers and what they actually want,” he stressed.
More importantly, Petronas wants to create more opportunities for local businesses and entrepreneurs. It wants to grow together as a business with the local community, which sets it apart from the other conventional gas stations out there.
“When you want to sell food at any Petronas station, the old concept would require you to submit nationwide tenders. Now, we have moved away from that. In fact, we are now more localized.
“So all the food products you see in this station today were supplied from all the makcikmakcik and the locals living around the area. This is another opportunity we create for the locals to participate,” he said.
“The food products that were processed in mass production will not be as good as the Nasi Lemak that was made ‘with love’ by your local makcik,” Aadrin quipped.
“If you go to Hartamas, it is Nasi Lemak. If you go to Kota Bharu, it is Nasi Lauk. If you go to Terengganu it is Nasi Dagang and if you go to Sabah, it will be something else,” he added.
To make things easier for prospective business dealers to venture into this new concept of business, Petronas has provided a much simpler platform to do so. All that they have to do is talk to the central managers and they have to ensure that their product is nice, clean, hygienic and high in demand.
Prospective business dealers may opt to apply online at mymesra.com. my and upon completing the online application, the dealers might be called up for an interview.
Aadrin said it was relatively easy to apply as criteria for the dealers was not that strict and that the capital to set up the business was not that high.
“We (Petronas) want to provide an opportunity for as many Malaysians as possible. However, we want people who are very entrepreneurial. The ones who are actually hungry to conduct business and to contribute to the community,” Aadrin said.
Looking at the business side of it, this business opportunity can be a bargain for prospective dealers as all they have to do is to bring in their products since the business location (which costs millions of Ringgit) has already been provided by Petronas.
On top of that, Petronas will also be giving additional assistance to these dealers along the way, from training, collaboration, marketing, promotion etc.
“The main assistance that we give is that we create the infrastructure. We create the product and the dealer comes in with the right attitude. The attitude to grow and to conduct business,” he said.
When asked whether the new concept can actually help boost revenue for the stations, Aadrin said the answer would be a resounding ‘yes’. This can be attributed to the fact that not only Petronas has come up with this new concept, it is also introducing other new things to further differentiate its stations from the other conventional stations.
“One of the other concepts that we have introduced is called FastTo-Fill.
“When we asked our customers, one of the things they dislike when going to a petrol station is the fact that they have to wait for a considerable amount of time before they can actually pump.
“To help counter this problem, we have now equipped each station with additional staff to assist drivers when pumping fuel. Apart from that, we are also currently trying to put every single available products that we have in all of the pumps. We have also tried increasing the pump rate to make things faster. This will save more time,” he said.
Commenting on the possibility of Petronas setting up more stations in the country, Aadrin said it was an issue that Petronas would look into on a yearly basis, especially on new areas of growth.
“At the same time, we have to make sure that the proposed station will be able to sustain itself. We do not want to keep adding the number of stations if the station manager will not be able to gain profit.
“So yes, we would like to add stations, especially for new highways. However, we would still have to look at the demographics,” he said.