FAL into the fuel action

FAL supermarket chain Action has launched a reverse petrol discount plan that offers its customers money off their grocery bill based on the amount of petrol they have bought.

The discount plan, open only to Action card holders, is one of two fuel schemes unveiled this week, with the other coming from eastern States-based EPP Pty Ltd.

To take part in the Action scheme customers need to bring a receipt from any petrol retailer and spend a minimum of $40 on their groceries.

In return they get a discount equivalent to five cents a litre of petrol. If, for example, the customer had bought 30 litres of fuel and spent more than $40 on their groceries, they would be entitled to a $1.50 discount.

The offer runs throughout November.

Action stores have been quarantined from the fuel discount scheme FAL extended to its franchise operators such as Dewsons, which allowed their customers to get four cents a litre off their petrol from Mobil service stations.

The EPP scheme aims to band independent petrol retailers and independent merchants together in a fuel discount scheme.

The scheme has already been launched in Coffs Harbour, NSW, and there are plans to have it operating nationally within 12 months.

Under the scheme the customer spends a certain amount at participating merchants – the average is about $20 – and, in return, receives a $1 card that can be redeemed as a discount at participating fuel retailers.

However, those fuel cards can be accumulated and added towards a fuel purchase so a customer could, theoretically, earn a free tank of petrol over time.

Of the Action and the EPP schemes, industry feeling leans towards the EPP offering.

Motor Trade Association executive director Peter Fitzpatrick said the EPP scheme looked promising.

“My preliminary view is it looks like a worthwhile offer,” he said.

Mr Fitzpatrick said he was not sure the Action plan would be as attractive as the fuel discount schemes being offered by Coles and Woolworths.

“People seem to get more joy getting money off their petrol,” he said.

WA Independent Grocers Association president John Cummings said Action’s reverse fuel discount approach had first been tried in Queensland and had caused some angst there.

“It did provide some traction for independent retailers but was not widely accepted,” he said.