Fuel Cards Remain Vital for Fuel Retailers to Increase Throughputs and Improve Loyalty at the Service Station

18 Mar 2011 • by Natalie Aster

The European commercial fuel card market is worth €71,536m. In recent years the proportion of fuel purchased on fuel cards has increased and a number of new independent and smaller oil company fuel card issuers have emerged. The report “Commercial Fuel Cards in Europe: Market Size, Issuer Strategies and Competitive Success” by Datamonitor outlines the value of the fuel card market across 25 European countries, assesses the key market drivers, such as commercial vehicle registrations, and provides a forecast of fuel card demand to 2012. It also identifies the sales and market share performance of the leading fuel card issuers, their product propositions, and the merchant partners accepting their cards and their site numbers.

The report is an essential resource for existing fuel card issuers seeking to enter new markets and benchmark their performance, providers of business to business vehicle services such as leasing companies, as well as other players in the cards and payments market interested in the very lucrative fuel card sector.

Report Details:

Commercial Fuel Cards in Europe: Market Size, Issuer Strategies and Competitive Success
Published: January 2011
Pages: 120
Price: US$ 3,450.00

Report Sample Abstract:

Germany is the largest fuel card market in Europe

In 2009, 11,370 million liters of fuel were sold on commercial fuel cards in Germany. With a 16.0% share of total European fuel card volumes, and a 16.8% share of the value, Germany is the largest fuel card market in Europe. Germany is followed in terms of volume and value size by France, Spain, and the UK. Slovakia is the smallest fuel card market in Europe, with the country accounting for 0.5% of total fuel card volume and value sales in Europe.

Looking at volume sales, Italy has a fairly small fuel card market relative to its total service station fuel volume sales. Italy has an 11.6% share of total service station fuel sales in Europe, but a 5.0% share of total fuel card volume sales. On the other hand, Sweden has a 3.2% share of total fuel volumes in Europe, but a 6.0% share of total fuel card volumes. Indeed, in Sweden 40.0% of fuel is purchased using fuel cards, whereas in Italy it is only 9.0%.

In terms of both volume sales and the number of sites that accept the card, DKV's largest market is Germany. Partly due to the fact that the country is DKV's home market, it has a sizable share of the German fuel card market. Indeed, DKV has the third highest volume share in the country, at 18.0%, and the highest network of sites accepting its card, with 72.0% of service stations that accept fuel cards accepting the DKV card.

In some markets, DKV has partnered with an oil company to offer a dual-branded fuel card. This arrangement typically occurs where the oil company has only a small country coverage and is mutually beneficial for both parties. Indeed, the oil company benefits from attracting customers who are seeking a pan-European acceptance, while DKV benefits by picking up fuel volume sales from outside its home market. The co-branded DKV and Repsol card is a good example of this arrangement. Indeed, without a tie-up with DKV, Repsol, which only has sites in Portugal and Spain, would not be able to attract customers seeking an international card.

DKV does not only issue co-branded cards with oil majors, however. In Netherlands, independent issuers MTC and Travelcard both issue a co-branded card with DKV. In the case of the MTC, one side (Multi Tank Card) can be used in Netherlands, while the other side is DKV-branded and can be used at accepting sites outside of the country.

Figure 112: Switzerland fuel card volumes, and share of sites accepting, by competitor

More information can be found in the report “Commercial Fuel Cards in Europe: Market Size, Issuer Strategies and Competitive Success” by Datamonitor.

To order the report or ask for sample pages contact [email protected]

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