Fuel cards in Europe, Western markets, 2010-2020e

Fuel cards in Europe, Western markets, 2010-2020e

Summary

The Western European commercial fuel card markets are worth €15.1bn. In recent years the proportion of fuel purchased on fuel cards has increased and a number of smaller, independent oil company fuel card issuers have emerged. In 2015, fuel card volumes across the Western European markets grew 3.0% totaling just less than 12.7bn liters. The Netherlands is the largest fuel card market in Western Europe and accounts for 37.8% of fuel card volume sales across the region but the popularity of fuel cards varies across the continent. Verdict predicts that growth in Western European fuel card markets is likely to come from Switzerland as small commercial fleets begin to use fuel cards to reduce transport costs.

Key Findings

• The average CRT vehicle in Western Europe uses more than one fuel card. On average, CRT vehicles across Western Europe have more than one fuel card per vehicle as companies attempt to combine the benefits of multiple cards to their advantage. By 2020, nearly a third of all CRT vehicles in Western Europe will have at least two fuel cards; in Switzerland every CRT vehicle has at least two fuel cards. This trend makes it even more vital that card operators invest in their card offerings in order to differentiate themselves from the rest of the market
• Over three million fleet vehicles will be without fuel cards by 2020. Over 50% of fleet vehicles in Western Europe will not be able to use fuel cards in 2020 as operators fail to provide a realistic card offering for small domestic fleets. Heightened competition will cause an increase of 162,034 fleet cards between 2015 and 2020 as fleets are attracted to services such as price discounts, credit periods and rural acceptance networks; however, the majority of fleets do not meet minimum volume requirements. If card operators want to increase their fuel card volumes they must change this trend of ignoring fleet vehicles and begin to offer their own fleet-based cards to appeal to fleets.
• Lack of card offerings causes CRT fleets to mix and match fuel cards. CRT vehicles have a large number of needs when travelling across Europe and not many, if any, fuel cards singularly meet all of these needs. This has led to the trend of multiple card ownership over the last five years. To encourage CRT fleets to switch to one card, operators need to invest in services such as online monitoring, fraud protection, VAT reclaim, toll payments, roadside assistance and international card acceptance

Synopsis

“Fuel cards in Europe, Western markets, 2010-2020e”, a Sector Report by Verdict Retail, provides an executive-level overview of the Western European card markets today, with forecasts of values and volumes up to 2020. It delivers deep quantitative and qualitative insight into the fuel card market, analyzing key trends in the market based on in depth interviews with major fuel card operators across Europe and proprietary data from Verdict Retail’s service station retail databases.

It provides in-depth analysis of the following:

• Fuel Card Volumes, Values and Market Shares – Forecasted to 2020
• Fleet and CRT fuel card data
• Analysis of major competitors in each market
• In depth analysis of trends that will have a major impact on the market over the next five years.

Reasons To Buy

• Plan effective market entry strategies by uncovering the current and future volume and value of fuel card transactions in Western European fuel card markets.
• Assess whether you should increase network acceptance of your card and identify potential new merchants by uncovering the position of competitors.
• Whether you are an issuer, a processor, a leasing company, or a fuel retailer, make informed pitches to partners by understanding their business.
• Enhance fuel sales at your service stations by identifying which fuel cards you should accept based on their market shares and network acceptance.