bp and M&S have agreed to extend their convenience agreement until 2030, aiming to build on the success of their 16-year collaboration and work together to evolve the forecourt offer as customers’ behaviour changes over the next decade.
The pair first teamed up in 2005 to introduce M&S Food stores at bp retail sites in Great Britain and transformed the market by offering a tailored curated range of fresh quality food for the customer on the move. M&S Food is now available at almost 300 bp-operated sites across Great Britain.
“We’re proud to continue to build on nearly two decades of our great partnership with M&S, one of the UK’s leading food retailers,” says Alex Jensen, bp’s senior vice president for mobility and convenience, Europe and Southern Africa.
“Of course, our sites provide advanced fuels, but our customers also want high-quality healthy food options, for now and for later. And they also want increasingly convenient ways to buy that fit in with their busy lifestyles. bp’s partnership with M&S Food has led the way in the UK and we aim to continue to innovate and grow to meet our customers’ needs.” continues Jensen.
M&S Chief Operating Officer and M&S Food Managing Director Stuart Machin said:
“M&S Food is famous for great quality food at fantastic value and over the past 16 years our partnership with bp has given many more customers the opportunity to enjoy our wide range of delicious sandwiches, meals and everyday staples in almost 300 locations across Great Britain.
“This extended commitment will enable us to work together to invest in the look and feel of the stores, building on the M&S renewal programme, and our supply chain to maximise availability and reduce food waste.”
Convenience – a key contributor to bp’s strategy
The convenience sector continues to grow, fuelled by changing consumer demands – shopping little and more often and topping up at convenience stores, and the growing trend for delivered food. During lockdown customers were buying 20% more at bp forecourt stores and this trend continues as the forecourt becomes an integral part of the community.
Based on Euromonitor analysis, in 45 of the leading economies of the world convenience is expected to nearly double by 2030, growing at more than 5% a year.
Today, customers can choose from a wide range of curated M&S Food products with some bp stores stocking up to 1,300 different M&S Food products.
Over the past 16 years, customers have bought 13 million bunches of flowers, 25 million bottles of wine and 14 million packets of Percy pigs. And just in the last 3 years, customers have bought 28 million pints of milk and 22 million loaves of bread.
With around half of forecourt transactions today being retail only (not involving fuel), we can see that customers enjoy the appeal and convenience of M&S Food at bp.
