Barcodes Fuel Customer Loyalty
Oil Company Rolls Out Next-Gen Customer Loyalty Program with Barcode Scanners
Keeping Customers in The FAST Lane
In an increasingly-mobile world, things that slow us down rarely last long. With more than 211,000,000 licensed drivers in the United States, gas stations are no exception, but in southwest Michigan, life doesn’t have to slow down when motorists stop to fill up their tank or grab something from the convenience store.
Fleming Brothers Oil Co., a family-owned and operated Marathon Oil and Shell Fuel distributor with 19 locations, recently deployed 1900GSR Honeywell barcode scanners to each of their locations in an effort to keep their customers in the fast lane. These new scanners give associates the ability to scan barcodes on mobile devices, speed up transactions, improve employee and customer satisfaction and –most importantly– paved the way for Fleming Brothers’ next-generation loyalty program.
Building Customer Loyalty through Technology
The Challenge
Fleming Brothers Oil has been building customer relationships for the past eighty years. With such a rich history, it’s no wonder they understand their customers so well and recognize the value of customer loyalty programs and mobile couponing in their market.
During the summer of 2014, Fleming Brothers designed and implemented a SMS/text message-based coupon program for their customers to subscribe. Customers could now receive coupons and other communications from the company directly on their mobile devices – the challenge then was how customers could redeem them once in store. Tim DeVries (Fleming Brothers’ Marketing Director) soon realized that their current technology might not support their new mobile strategy. They needed their customer check-out experience to be seamless.
Using their older model 1D laser scanners, Fleming Brothers Oil Co. faced the following challenges:
- Barcodes often needed to be scanned multiple times
- Scanning and processing was slow
- Barcodes were not readable on a mobile device
It soon became clear that their current 1D laser scanners were not fit for the program.
The Solution
After reviewing the loyalty program’s challenges and goals, L-Tron suggested Fleming Brothers Oil Co. use a Honeywell Xenon 1900GSR 2D Area-Imaging Scanner. This omnidirectional scanner can scan barcodes faster than their old laser scanners and is able to scan the reflective surface on a smartphone screen.
Solving Fleming Brother’s loyalty program challenges, the Honeywell Xenon 1900 was the perfect fit for the task at hand.
The new 1900GSR Honeywell barcode scanners were programmed and shipped on a compressed time-table and are now mounted to the counters at each of Fleming Brothers’ 19 gas stations. The scanners are hooked up to a common POS system and set in mounts for a hands-free scanning experience.
How the Loyalty Program Works:
The solution was created by L-Tron. L-Tron specializes in data collection and workflow process hardware and software solutions. They work collaboratively with clients to define, develop and deliver the best solution to fit each client’s unique requirements. For more information, visit L-Tron at www.l-tron.com
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