As Engen launches its first TV ad for the 1-Plus retail convenience offering this week, it already has every reason to celebrate the brand’s successes. Just this month, Engen Quick Shop, the core component of the 1-Plus experience, toppled competitor BP Express Shop as the 2009 winner of The Times-Sowetan Retail Awards (forecourt convenience stores).

In addition, says Pierr Roodt, Engen’s Retail Marketing Manager, the company’s 1-Plus network has garnered much more success than its market-leading fuel offering. Compared with 27% of the retail fuel market, Engen has 40% of the growing forecourt convenience market.

And convenience turnover exceeded fuel turnover for the first time this year, bringing in R4-billion versus the R3.6-billion of the latter, he adds.

The 1-Plus brand was born two years ago as Engen’s urban and suburban answer to the successful 1-Stop highway service station offering. Qualifying sites were re-branded as 1-Plus sites and given other Engen and partner offerings, to stimulate sales with a combined minimum offering for every site:

- A Quick Shop
- On-site banking
- Customer rest rooms
- A food offering (a Woolworths Food outlet or fast food brand such as Steers, Nandos, Wimpy, Fish Aways etc)
- A corner bakery, and
- Engen’s new approved coffee offering – Equatorial Coffee

Besides these brands, Ster Kinekor has recently come on board with DVD rentals at some 1-Plus sites.

Roodt says 1-Plus is an important part of Engen’s plans to defend its retail market leadership in South Africa – and, if possible, to grow it. “Growth stripped of inflation has been pretty flat because of the recession,” he says. “1-Plus is very important to us, whichever way you look at it.”

He says the company has already rolled out 60 1-Plus forecourt stores and will continue an aggressive rollout next year. “With the advertisement we hope to explain what people can expect from the offering – namely all the convenience they’re used to plus a lot else besides in the lifestyle convenience space.”

As the fuel retail chain with the most stores and branded convenience offerings in South Africa, Engen can reach more consumers with more retail convenience innovation than any of its peers.

Roodt says Engen has been able to extract much value out of hosting multiple partners. “It is a challenging business model, but we have been able to guarantee the same prices from our partners as they would offer in their high street stores, based on greater customer numbers. Having more brands under one roof has led to more customers entering our stores, as well as bigger basket sizes.”