In Focus: Convenience retail

In response to evolving customer lifestyles we are rapidly increasing our range of convenience products and services across Shell service stations worldwide to make our customers’ lives easier and their journeys better. By 2025, our ambition is to generate 50% of our margin share from products and services beyond fuel. We will achieve this by making our Shell service stations a retail destination that enriches the customer's day and contributes to a more sustainable tomorrow.

In North-West Europe, more than 50% of our customers make purchases other than fuel. We are always seeking to innovate and increase our range of convenience products and services for our 30 million customers per day, across 45 thousand Shell-branded service stations worldwide. We believe that collaborating with other well-known brands such as Coca-Cola, Costa Coffee, Red Bull and Unilever will help us achieve this growth, as will initiatives such as:

• ‘on the go’ food and beverages: through our fastest-growing category deli by Shell (and/or local variants in over 15 markets including offers in Europe, Canada, South Africa, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore and China), deli2go brands and our partnership with chef Jamie Oliver in the UK;
• food and drinks delivery: through innovative digital pilot projects such as Deliveroo in the UK and Singapore and deli2order being available as an in-car service while filling up at two premium fuel sites in Thailand and seven sites in India;
• collect and pick-up points: by offering Amazon lockers in the UK and piloting pick-up points with DHL in Hungary, trialling Click ‘n’ Collect service in Turkey and using our UK network for drop-off points for parcel returns;
• self-service check out/one-stop-shop: with Bingo Box in China customers can self-serve and play in our deli-café, or in Malaysia they can use the facilities of a fully unmanned store;
• becoming #1 destination for customers: by teaming up with well-known brands like Freshii in Canada, Pizza Hut in Russia, Billa in the Czech Republic and Austria, Waitrose in the UK and Migrolino in Switzerland;
• connected while ‘on the go’: by using digital technology to enable customers to pay for their fuel from their car; to pre-order food and drinks from their car in Turkey and India; and to benefit from free WiFi while using Shell Recharge services in Singapore;
• maximising convenience for certain types of customer: by adapting stations in India to cater for the huge volume of two-wheeler drivers and in the Philippines, co-creating ‘Shell Mango’ – a study area for students on the second floor of our Shell Select building; and
• car and bike servicing: through our network of quality car washes and Shell lubricants service bays.

We aim to minimise waste and help customers reduce, reuse, and recycle on-the-go:

• sustainable packaging: by being committed to ensuring 100% of our deli by Shell range packaging is widely recyclable and made from at least 50% recycled content by 2025. Packaging for our Jamie Oliver deli by Shell range is made from recycled material – up to 90% recycled polyethylene terephthalate plastic (rPET) – and has clear labelling to help customers dispose of it responsibly;
• reducing food waste: by partnering with innovative start-up and social enterprises like, for example in the Netherlands, 'Too Good To Go', an app allowing customers to buy surplus food at a third of the normal price when it would otherwise have gone to waste; and
• eliminating unnecessary single-use plastic and encouraging reuse: by initiatives such as replacing all plastic carrier bags in the UK with certified compostable bags made from cornstarch and replacing plastic straws in Malaysia with an alternative.

Shell is looking for ways to identify and meet customers’ evolving needs. This means being agile, nimble, data-driven and, above all, customer-centric in our decision-making. It also means evolving the products and services we offer, elevating Shell-branded sites beyond people’s traditional expectations of a service station into genuine retail destinations.

Shell was recognised in 2019 (by the US-based National Association of Convenience Stores), as the European industry leader for transforming our retail business beyond fuels into a full-service convenience retailer.