A lot of convenience store apps focus on pushing fuel savings to shoppers, like 3 cents off per gallon for loyalty members, or 5 cents off with the purchase of a beverage. It’s a strategy that acknowledges the power of fuel discounts in drawing customers on a regular basis and keeping them loyal.

But with so many operators relying on gas discounts as a way to reach digitally savvy customers, the strategy is losing its edge, said Denise Jenkins, vice president of marketing with Cincinnati-based United Dairy Farmers.

“It’s kind of table stakes now,” she noted during a panel discussion at the NACS Show earlier this month.

To stand out from the competition and reach a consumer base that has grown accustomed to using their phones as shopping tools, United Dairy Farmers has expanded its app rewards and features over the years. It now offers a “price lock” savings program for fuel, weekly app freebies, various reward trackers and full integration with the company’s U Drive Plus loyalty program.

“What we're trying to do is find a lot of new ways to reward them and incent them with other opportunities across the store,” Jenkins said.

She continued: “I really want our app to be a second storefront.”

The U Drive Plus program offers numerous promotions, and the app serves those up and lets shoppers track their progress. This includes “stackable” gas savings, which let users bank gas discounts over time and then apply them to a fuel purchase, as well as a “Market Basket” promotion that gives them 5 cents off per gallon for every $25 spent in stores. 

Over the summer, United Dairy Farmers ran a “Five and Drive” promotion that awarded 50 cents off per gallon to loyalty customers who bought five milkshakes — a signature offering from the company, which makes its own ice cream.

United Dairy Farmers’ app also pushes “app freebies” — free products available to app users — each week, and offers special discount pages for alcohol and tobacco products.

To differentiate the app, United Dairy Farmers and developer Rovertown zeroed in on those ever-popular fuel savings. Users can track the price of gas at their nearby station, shown as a digital board on the main app interface. They can also sign up to get an app alert if the price of fuel at their local station is going up. The feature allows them to lock in the lower price, and gives them until midnight that day to head to the pump.

Once the user checks in at the pump by scanning their loyalty card or entering their ID, the price rolls back to their locked-in rate.

“When you see that gas price roll back, it's so satisfying,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins, who came to United Dairy Farmers in 2018 after serving in various marketing roles at 7-Eleven, said the company’s app has evolved alongside its loyalty program. United Dairy Farmers relaunched its U Drive program last year to offer more digital features and personalized promotions. This summer, the company rebranded the program to U Drive Plus, Jenkins said.

United Dairy Farmers is experimenting with various loyalty features, like placing green tags around stores to highlight products with members-only price discounts. She said the company, which operates close to 200 stores in three states, has also discussed phasing out its physical loyalty card and relying just on its app.

The app, she said, has become not only a valuable extension of its loyalty program, but a way to pull in new users as well. It’s now used by 70% of U Drive Plus members, and its user base is increasing by 2.5% each month. 

“We’re looking at where new loyalty guests are coming from … and we’re seeing a lot of them start in the app,” Jenkins said.