Petroleum refining and marketing major Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has applied the brakes on the expansion of its retail outlets in the country – already numbering 7,800 – to focus on quality rather than quantity. The idea is to cut down on outlet expansion and focus on commercial viability by providing more customer-centric services at the existing outlets. Of the total 2,299 retail outlets that public sector oil companies added in the fiscal 2006-07, BPCL had added only 480, although it enjoys a share of 25% in petroleum retailing in the country.
In comparison, the other PSU retailers – Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) – added 1,214 and 605 outlets respectively during the fiscal.
Says S Krishnamurti, executive director-retail, BPCL, ?If we had gone by the normal expansion activity that oil PSUs carry out, we would have added more than 800 retail outlets.? Stating that the requirements of the customers have changed, Krishnamurti added, ?We need to make sure that we provide a variety of services including multi-cuisine restaurants and convenience retail chains where the consumer has the opportunity of combining shopping with fuelling.? BPCL?s retail strategic business unit (SBU), in consultation with international consultant Mckinsey & Co, had chalked out a strategy to build stronger customer ties to leverage the full potential of the company?s large national network. It had launched the ?In & Out? stores at the Bharat Petroleum petrol pumps in 2001, where a number of typical household errands are brought together under one roof.
BPCL is planning to set up single screen cinema halls at its retail outlets spread across the country. The company is in the final stages of entering into a tie-up with a major film distribution company for the purpose and is currently setting up 14 cinema halls in major cities and towns as a pilot project. The target is to set up 21 such cinema halls this year, each of which will incur an investment of Rs 5 crore and bring in revenues of around Rs 10 lakh every year. The pilot projects will come up in Gujarat, and in towns like Jabalpur, Trivandrum and Kochi.