Fuel retailer Neste’s September move to end loyalty card fuel discounts sparked a price war, with Circle K and Alexela adjusting their loyalty programs and discount strategies.
One filling station, Neste, ended its fuel discount to loyalty card holders in September, reducing prices at pump to all buyers instead and triggering a temporary price war.
The price war led to greater price differential as retailers competed and added more discounts, though even these competitors conceded at the time that since fuel retail is a highly competitive sector and the changes had caused confusion on the market.
Initially, Neste’s did not immediately follow suit with adjustments to their own loyalty programs.
However, at the end of last month, Circle K announced changes to its loyalty program, scrapping the discount to loyal customers of three to five cents per liter, depending on their fuel consumption, and replacing it with a discount of one to three cents per liter – based on the amount of fuel purchased from Circle K over the preceding 90 days.
Read more: ERR.EE
