Insight
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On The Run Dry Creek
On The Run has successfully created a new trade area with its Dry Creek site in a highly competitive market in Australia, through exceptional planning, design and environmental synergy.
On The Run operates 88 fuel and convenience sites in South Australia.
Competitive market
Competition in the South Australian convenience market is very high relative to the population.
Despite the competition, On The Run services over 30m transactions per annum in this market. The business reports it achieves an average spend that is higher than the competition and, unlike traditional fuel and convenience retailers, has the highest shop conversion in the industry with over 70% of transactions not including a fuel purchase.
On The Run Dry Creek was identified as a long-term strategic opportunity to create a new trade area on a greenfield site with limited current residential housing. There are no retail anchors within walking distance and the site is located on a Government Protected area of land called a ‘wet land’.
Minimising environmental impacts
Given the challenge of both the non existent trade area and wetlands, the site was designed totally with the customer in mind and its environment.
The short term goal of this project was to attract passing traffic of approximately 63,400 customers.
On The Run had to overcome a number of hurdles: minimising any environmental impacts and providing an environmental management and stability plan, including replenishment of the flora.
It replanted vegetation along the wet land using low growing shrubs and groundcovers. These provide continuity of shelter and cover for small birds and animals.
A 60m environmentally-designed bridge was also included by On The Run at a cost of approximately $1m.
Visibility
Site signage was a challenge given the forest and scrub around the area but a 14m tower was installed above the main control building to ensure the site could be seen by the surrounding road network.
On The Run said it was inspired by the landscape to create further energy efficiencies through the inclusion of the following design elements:
- The use of technically advanced glazing to limit heat transfer between internal and external spaces
- High quality insulation throughout the building
- Use of natural ventilation in air handling systems to reduce reliance on refrigerant system
- High output, low energy use LED lighting across the site
- Pavement surface run off channelled to irrigate surrounding landscape beds
The covered link between the canopy and control building protects guests from the harsh Australian sun and elements and contributes to the energy efficiency of the site as it shades the glazed building and is part of the unique design character
Combination offer
The site is 91,493sq ft (8,500sq m), with the main building
occupying 89,88sq ft (835sq m).
The offer is described as a combination of a supermarket, offering over 3,000 products, a food court and truck stop in a smartly-designed environment.
The site can be accessed by road via three entrances and from two directions.
Delivering range optimisation was essential given there was no passing trade.
Dry Creek features On The Run’s own brands C Coffee, EAT and Smokemart as well as licensed brands – Subway and Burger King.
Barista coffee
On The Run’s own barista coffee brand C Coffee is reported to be the most successful and popular coffee business in South Australia. C Coffee is at the heart of the offer and, as a result, On The Run attracts more younger and female customers compared with the industry’s traditional male market bias.
Delivery on great customer service was central to the Dry Creek development. On The Run implemented numerous initiatives including enabling diesel payment at food counters for core customers on the road.
This idea was then extended and customers can now pay for fuel at any of the tills in store – including Subway or C Coffee.
Targeted truck signage quickly guides trucks to the diesel canopy where drivers can access high flow diesel and Ad Blue at the pump and then exit with ease.
Easy access
The store, meanwhile, is spacious and easily accessible with three entry zones, each offering a different targeted experience.
The site has wheel chair access, wide aisles and smart seating options for everyone, which is arranged to take advantage of the external views and floor to ceiling glass surrounding the site.
Themed lighting and music enhance the dine-in experience.
The Dry Creek design sought to provide the ‘best bathrooms in Australia’ for its customers and, with 15 to over 50 people on site at any time, the bathrooms are cleaned every 20 minutes and as needed.
Dry Creek also wanted to provide the best car wash offer in Australia.
Investing in people
Investment in staff development has been a key strand in the site’s development.
On The Run Dry Creek provides training, development and career opportunities for all team members. This includes teams across fuel, shop, Eat, C Coffee, Subway, Hungry Jacks and the car wash.
Part of the recruitment process included delivering flyers to local households to ensure the store was able to recruit team members from the local area as well as going to local schools to talk about the new store. Recruitment is challenging as there is no public transport direct to the site.
Store standards are high – On The Run Dry Creek has achieved over 90% for every standards audit since opening.
Investment is staff development is clearly reaping rewards for On The Run.
Management Pathway programme
The Dry Creek team are a product of the On The Run Management Pathway programme which provides career opportunities for all team members stepping them along the management programme from responsible person to manager in training and then manager.
All new team members have the opportunity to work within a traineeship where their rostered hours can earn qualifications.
The large common training room facilities consolidates the site specific training needs into one area to allow all team members to extend their training across all functions.
‘Ambush marketing’
On The Run adopts what it terms ‘ambush marketing’ to promote the new store.
Local families are invited to attend On The Run Fun days where they can participate in free family activities, face painting and exclusive one day only offers from Hungry Jacks and Subway, such as $2 Whoppers or $2 Subway subs.
Catalogues are are also distributed directly to potential customers’ homes, and help attract over 2,000 people per day.
Setting the standard
Since opening in December 2012, On The Run Dry Creek has very quickly become a success story.
The site is already ranked second in the On The Run network for fuel and with over 15,000 transactions per week, it is already ranked highly in the network for customer visits.
The C Coffee and Eat offer have quickly achieved top 10 sales results relative to the total On The Run business network.
Burger King is the busiest food offer On The Run operates and sales are growing weekly.
Based on the success of this site, a second site in a similar format has already been planned and is expected to start development within 12 months.
On The Run Dry Creek is truly setting a new standard in convenience retailing.
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