Founded more than 100 years ago, Aloha Petroleum is one of Hawaii’s oldest companies, providing the state’s 1.4 million residents and over 6 million tourists with fuel, food, and more each year. The Aloha Island Mart brand was born in 1992 when Aloha Petroleum acquired five Circle K stores and has grown over three decades. The company now operates 56 Aloha Island Mart locations on Kauai, Maui, Oahu, and the island of Hawaii.
“It is [a] consistent, desired experience that builds trust and trust is the foundation for loyalty and promotion.” – William Arruda, Senior Contributor, Forbes Magazine
Brand Consistency Drives the Bottom Line
A recent Salesforce report showed that 91% of customers prefer a consistent experience with a product or service regardless of location. Creating a consistent customer experience is key to success for multi-unit convenience store owners and operators, whose customers often move between different sites. Well-defined and enforced brand standards reinforce a brand’s reputation and drive consumer satisfaction. Customer loyalty, repeat business, and profits all increase as a result.
Research shows that consistent experience has a significant impact on customer lifetime value. Customers who experience better consistency with their favorite brands are more likely to stay loyal and purchase from them again in the future, resulting in higher revenue for businesses. According to statistics, 65% of a company’s business comes from existing customers, and it can cost up to five times more to attract a new customer than to retain one. Also, 43% of people spend more money on brands they’re loyal to, and a 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 25% increase in profit or more. Furthermore, 84% of US adults are loyal to specific retailers, and almost 90% of buyers are willing to pay more for an improved customer experience.
Customers who feel that a brand consistently delivers on its promises are five times more likely to repurchase products and services than those who disagree. With an investment in consistency and accountability across multiple locations, businesses can see an increase in key customer metrics that directly correlate to profit including satisfaction, loyalty, and lifetime value. However, achieving brand consistency can be a challenging task, especially for c-store companies with multiple locations spread far apart.
This was the case for Aloha Island Mart.
A Need to Improve Brand Consistency
Despite working hard to define brand standards, compliance was difficult to enforce, and consistency was hard to achieve for Aloha Island Mart. Richard Rasay, Area Supervisor, who is responsible for ten company-owned convenience stores, was tasked with gathering and passing information along to the CEO and other executives at the corporate office. He devised a manual paper and pen checklist system, but data collection remained a labor-intensive process. In-person site visits were routinely necessary, but hours spent in the car driving hundreds of miles from one side of the island to the other weren’t always enough for Rasay to get his job done. It was even worse for other regional managers who had stores on multiple islands. Frequent costly and time-consuming plane trips were required to accomplish their goals. Without a single storage point and integrated tracking system, analysis was cumbersome and difficult to manage. Managers gained occasional insights, but they were often out of date by the time they were shared.
Looking for a simple, effective way to maintain consistency across locations, Aloha Island Mart turned to Audit App by MeazureUp.
How Aloha Island Mart is Achieving Success
Richard Rasay and his colleagues now use AuditApp to monitor customer service evaluations, track their c-store audit results, and manage safe audits. Rasay and the other managers often have to juggle issues and respond to situations at several locations simultaneously, multitasking and reprioritizing throughout the day. Aloha Island Mart’s investment in MeazureUp has relieved them of their old paper checklist system and freed them up to devote more time to important tasks. “Like the rest of retail, we’re understaffed,” Rasay says. “Accomplishing things in a timely manner has been a problem.” Addressing issues by sharing the information that he gathers through MeazureUp with employees is easy and convenient for Rasay. He inputs the information he gathers during a site visit, then sends his report to the local computer. Staff then review it, print it out, and use it as a powerful tool to maintain on-site brand consistency and improve customer service.
AuditApp’s photo capabilities have proven particularly valuable for the Aloha Island Mart managers. Rasay says, “It’s easy to take a snapshot and include it with a report. If the store manager is not at the store when an audit is conducted, a sales associate will do it, but the manager will be able to see exactly what the issue was and come up with a plan to resolve it when they return.” He goes on to say that providing images creates a springboard to action for his team. The photo feature became particularly useful when a new maintenance supervisor joined the Aloha Island Mart team, empowering him to respond to issues nearly immediately and lead the company’s efforts around consistent facility excellence.
MeazureUp’s usability across devices makes the platform especially convenient for Rasay. He enjoys being able to pull up the app’s convenient dashboard on his phone, tablet, or laptop. As a manager responsible for collecting and analyzing data, he says, “Not only can I see other supervisors’ information, but I can also see the entire market and identify the stores that need follow up.” When Rasay needs help using AuditApp, he prefers to send his questions by email. He reports that, while Hawaii’s time difference can make communication with some mainland companies difficult, he has not encountered that issue with MeazureUp and has been pleased by quick responses and easy-to-follow instructions.
In the end, Richard Rasay’s assessment of MeazureUp’s impact on his work at Aloha Island Mart takes only eight words: “MeazureUp has been very helpful in my life.”
Partner with MeazureUp to create a culture of consistency and accountability across locations at your company. Schedule a free demo of AuditApp today.
