Sunoco bringing Upside’s platform to 150 locations

Dive Brief:

Convenience and fuel retailer Sunoco LP has partnered with Upside to bring the retail technology company’s platform to 150 sites in the Pittsburgh area, according to a Tuesday announcement.
Upside’s software finds nearby customers who haven’t visited a specific c-store or gas station, and offers them personalized cash-back promotions via its mobile app to entice them to visit that location.
Sunoco is the third convenience retailer so far this year — after Stinker Stores and Chevron — to announce a partnership with Washington, D.C.-based Upside.

Dive Insight:

Signing onto Upside’s digital marketplace will let Sunoco reach new customers and encourage repeat visits from existing ones, according to the announcement. The retailer will be using Upside’s mobile app, as well as its partner app network, which reaches over 30 million people in the U.S.

"We believe this partnership will enable new ways for us to engage with customers digitally and offer them the convenience and value they seek,” Alison Gladwin, senior vice president of marketing for Sunoco, said in the announcement.

Upside compares users’ purchase histories with local retailers in its database to find new customers or those who only shop at those stores occasionally. It then generates cash-back promotions in the app for those people.

Only 30% of gas stations in an area can participate in Upside’s program, and more than half of its users are new-to-site customers, the company said.

Upside's platform includes over 30,000 gas stations in 48 states and Washington, D.C., or about 20% of all the country’s gas stations. Besides Sunoco, Stinker Stores and Chevron, Upside also works with BP, RaceTrac, Casey’s General Stores, Phillips 66, Shell, Circle K, Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores, Speedway and others.

Dallas-based Sunoco distributes fuel to about 10,000 convenience stores, independent dealers, commercial customers and distributors located in more than 40 U.S. states and territories. Although Sunoco still operates some c-stores across the country, it sold most of its company-operated retail network to 7-Eleven in 2017 for over $3 billion.