Kroger, Shell Reward Roanoke, Va., Market
Kroger loyalty cardholders in Roanoke, Va., will have access to new savings at the gas pump next week, as Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. has expanded a reward program with Shell to the area, enabling Kroger customers to earn savings at participating Shell stations with qualified purchases at the grocer’s stores, the Roanoke Times reports.
Starting Monday, consumers can swipe their Kroger loyalty cards at participating Shell stations in the Roanoke Valley, Lynchburg and surrounding areas. By doing so, they can receive 10 cents a gallon off their purchase when they accumulate 100 points on their Kroger card, according to the report.
Kroger launched this program with Houston-based Shell in five markets in Ohio, Tennessee and California, the newpaper said.
The recent expansion includes 48 Shell stations in the Roanoke region and surrounding areas that are located near Kroger stores, Carl York, a spokesman for the grocer's mid-Atlantic region office in Roanoke, told the newspaper.
“Fuel is definitely important to us,” York said. “We’ve learned that it’s a nice fit with the grocery business. We can drive grocery sales by providing fuel centers.”
Also, because there are numerous Shell stations in the region, the partnership “allows us to have a bigger footprint to make our fuel promotion more impactful,” he added.
Meanwhile, customers can also earn $1 off a gallon of gas at Kroger's own fuel centers in the area, once they accumulate 1,000 loyalty points, York said.
In other fuel news, Excentus, the provider of the fuelperks! Rewards program, has launched fuelperks! Online Shopping. Now, in addition to earning discounts on gasoline by shopping at participating grocery stores like Bi-Lo, Copp’s, Martin’s, Pick ’n Save, Rainbow and Winn-Dixie, fuelperks! members will have the ability to earn five cents per gallon or more in fuelperks! rewards for every $50 dollars they spend making online purchases. Over 700 merchants are currently participating in the fuelperks! Online Shopping program, according to the Dallas-based company.
Members may access fuelperks! Online Shopping by visiting the company’s newly designed Web site at www.fuelperks.com. Actual purchases are made through the individual online merchant’s website, and the fuelperks! rewards are usually deposited into members’ accounts in three to five days.
Consistent with how fuelperks! Rewards are earned at most participating fuelperks! grocery stores, the $50 purchase amount threshold within fuelperks! Online Shopping may be met in single or multiple transactions. Plus, some Online Shopping merchants offer increased earning opportunities (2X, 3X, etc.) which will help members reach the $50 threshold more quickly by doubling or tripling the purchase amount.
In addition to Online Shopping, other features have been made available to members through the new and improved fuelperks! website. Members can now link multiple loyalty cards under a primary member account and keep track of the fuelperks! rewards they’ve accumulated and subsequently redeemed through the revamped member account overview section.The site also offers enhanced mapping capabilities, enabling members to find issuing and redeeming sites more fluidly.Members may also receive SMS text messages with their account balance if they register their cell phone number on the site.