This article is brought to you by Upside, a NACS Hunter Club member.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—In the current economic environment, fuel and c-store retailers are looking for new ways to reach customers and stay competitive. Fuel and c-store retailers have many options for how to spend their marketing budget. These programs—from on-premise marketing campaigns, transportation apps, ad platforms and others—have different pricing models and also deliver different outcomes.

Most retailers are accustomed to cost per impression marketing programs. These programs enable retailers to target, reach and advertise to a large group of existing and potential customers. The problem with these programs is that they cannot reliably validate whether they generate incremental or profitable business.

“With so many challenging market forces happening at once, old marketing strategies won’t cut it,” said Bryant Getzel, vice president of sales at Upside, a retail technology company. “Savvy, forward-thinking merchants are turning to lightweight personalization technology.”

Upside is a retail technology company that allows fuel and convenience stores, grocery stores and restaurant retailers to expand their customer reach through digital initiatives resulting in increased sales and profit. Upside’s top-rated app and network of partner apps deliver personalized promotions to millions of consumers, ensuring that they purchase from participating stations, instead of the competition.

When Upside can prove to a business that they brought them customers or a purchase they weren’t expecting, they share in the profit earned on that purchase together. Consumers get cash back for choosing that business, and businesses get more sales. It’s a win-win, and Upside doesn’t get paid until both make money first.

“We only share on profit that we can prove came from Upside,” said Getzel. “If not, Upside eats the cost of the promotion.”

Upside’s goals align with the retailer’s goals in a profit-share model. Upside’s promotions are always within the retailer’s set margins. Additionally, Upside's personalization drives customers to higher-margin areas of a fuel retailer’s business, like inside the c-store, to boost customer spending.

“In times of uncertainty, focusing on marketing programs that deliver proven profit, not just impressions, is critical,” said Getzel.

Upside said its merchants see a 60% average return on investment per year after partnering with Upside, and the platform helps its partners sell more than 600 million incremental gallons of gas each year.

In addition, retailers who partner with Upside see new customers turn into repeat customers. Upside increases monthly visit frequency among existing customers by two times and increases monthly spending among existing customers by 2.6 times.

Here’s how to get started with Upside.

This is the second installment of a two-part NACS Daily series on how fuel retailers can use personalized digital promotions to increase profit and loyalty. Read Upside’s latest eBook, "How Fuel Retailers Turn Excess Capacity Into Profit", to learn more.