EG America is reshaping how convenience stores engage with their customers. As the fourth-largest chain in the U.S., with familiar brands like Cumberland Farms, Turkey Hill, and Fast Track, it’s leading the charge in integrating technology and personalization into its loyalty strategy. At the helm of this transformation is Whitney Johnson, Senior Vice President of Marketing, who is redefining the company’s approach to customer loyalty by blending AI-driven insights with hyper-local, tailored experiences that resonate with today’s on-the-go consumer.
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Speaker 2 (00:02):
Good afternoon, good morning Mark.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Johnson from Loyalty360.
I hope everyone's happy, safeand well.
It's Thursday, so welcome backto the Brand Stories edition of
our Leaders in Customer Loyaltypodcast.
Today we're going to drive intothe crucial role of championing
internal stakeholders toachieve true customer loyalty
success.
Customer loyalty should be themagic fulcrum that propels
(00:25):
customer experience, marketingand brand engagement to new
heights.
Yet brands today are divided.
Some see customer loyalty as avaluable investment, while
others view it as a cost to beminimized.
In 2025, one of the biggestchallenges is ensuring everyone
within the organizationunderstands and supports the
(00:46):
customer loyalty program.
Misunderstandings must beaddressed promptly, as internal
champions are just as crucial tothe efficacy of the program as
external advocates.
Programs with strong leadershipand senior-level alignment,
leveraging technology to deepencustomer relationships, are
thriving.
Eg America, the fourth largestconvenience store chain in North
(01:10):
America, is excelling in thisdynamic landscape.
Today we're joined by WhitneyJohnson.
She's the Senior Vice Presidentof Marketing for EG America.
She's going to share how theyare navigating internal and
external stakeholders tomaximize brand engagement and
build long-term customer loyalty.
Whitney, thank you very much fortaking the time to join us.
(01:32):
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Mark, thanks so much for having me.
I'm thrilled to be here on thissunny spring day in Boston
Massachusetts.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
It's always good to have sunny days, especially in
the spring.
We've got a lot of rain in Ohio, so I would trade you if we
could.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
We've had some too.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
First off, for those who may not be familiar, can you
give us a short introduction toEG America?
How, why was the companystarted?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Absolutely, I'd love to so.
Eg America is actually thefourth largest convenience store
chain in the United States.
Our parent company, eg Group,founded over in the United
Kingdom and we are aorganization of different
mergers and acquisitions across32 states here stateside.
(02:23):
So we fly about 10 differentretail banners that our
customers can see on theconvenience and gas front, with
some of the most prominentbanners being Cumberland Farms
here in New England, turkey Hillconvenience stores in
Pennsylvania, as well as FastTrack convenience stores in New
York.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Okay, For those who may not know you, can you tell
us a little bit more about yourrole within EG America?
You know how did you get towhere you are now.
Were there some positions thatmaybe led to this role, or maybe
an epiphany?
You know how did you get intomarketing and customer loyalty?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Absolutely, mark.
So I joined EG America lessthan 10 months ago because I
found tremendous opportunityhere and an incredible executive
leadership team.
So I work for Brian Ferguson,our chief marketing officer, who
has had an incredible career inpilot travel centers, as well
(03:19):
as Abercrombie and Fitch.
Me personally, I have prettymuch stayed in the convenience
and gas arena since my firstinternship in college.
So I started off at Sunoco incategory management and space
planning and I also went toMurphy, usa where I did more
merchandising strategy andanalytics and analytics.
(03:49):
Recently I led themerchandising team at GoPuff and
now I'm here at EGA.
So within my vertical we haveloyalty, digital commerce,
delivery and digitalpartnerships.
We have retail media networks,as well as some of the
advertising, brand marketing andsome of the category management
.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
That's awesome, and I'm sure you're very well versed
in the difference between thefront court and the back court.
It took me a while to learnthat, but we have a number of
fuel entities that are membersof loyalty 360.
So we got to know that I didn'twant to be playing basketball.
What are you doing it?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Oh you know, with the NBA playoffs right around the
corner, I think that's a perfectanalogy.
Here at EGA we're really proudof what we call our backcourt
and the banners we fly right.
We have really strongconvenience offerings here at
EGA.
So not only is Fuel a trafficdriver to get customers onto our
(04:43):
lots, but things like ourcoffee brand and our commissary
products our customers reallylove and they tend to be trip
missions for us here at EGA.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
And that's awesome because the Turkey Hill, at
least in Ohio, kind of the icecream brand, it was kind of
affiliated with Kroger at onepoint.
So you do have some strong CPGbrands, private label brands,
which are good.
So, but that can be a challengesometimes.
Right, when you look atcustomer loyalty and loyalty
programs that function well, thefront court and back court do
(05:15):
they work together?
Are they branded the same?
So I know that you know withinthe fuel brands that we are
members that that can be a bigdiscussion point, right, making
sure you have a consistentoffering.
They can identify themselvesand you can know that person in
both of those environments,correct?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah, it's such a good question.
So when I joined EGA, we spenta lot of time in 2024 ensuring
that our foundationalmerchandising offering was
really strong for all customers.
But, as you know, when you haveas many stores as we do, we fly
about 1,500 domesticconvenience store flags here in
(05:55):
the United States you can'taverage averages right, and the
customers in Pennsylvania arelooking for something different
than the customers in Maine andMassachusetts are looking for.
So what we've done on ourmerchandising evolution and
transformation is we've set thefundamentals of our
merchandising assortment for ourcustomers and now we're
(06:18):
starting to regionalize ourofferings for what customers are
really looking for and givingus credibility for offerings for
what customers are reallylooking for and giving us
credibility for.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Okay, when you talk about that personalization,
being able to understand theregional differences, how they
may impact behavior, interests,attitudes, perceptions, is very
important.
So, when you look atpersonalization and you talk
about some of the regionaldifferences, talk about the
(06:53):
difference between the frontcourt and back court.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
What does personalization mean to EG
America and how do you executeon that?
We could license.
We weren't the first retailerto get into the loyalty game.
Many competitors have gotteninto loyalty before EGA has, and
we had an opportunity as asecond mover advantage right
where we didn't have to buildeverything from scratch
ourselves.
(07:17):
So what we chose to do was wechose to rebuild our loyalty
offering, both through a buildand a license solution.
With that license solution,we're using AI at a rate in
which is really modern for the21st century retailer to deliver
(07:38):
personalized offers to ourcustomers.
We're letting the machines do alot of the work for us.
We issue intended businessoutcomes to our loyalty engine
and we focus on trip missions.
Right, we focus on the big,high-priority, high-revenue,
(07:58):
high-driving products at EGA,whether that's fuel, whether
that's coffee products at EGA,whether that's fuel, whether
that's coffee, whether that'snicotine or energy drinks, and
we're really allowing AI todeliver personalized campaigns
to our customers.
What that means is that ouroperators have to think
differently.
Right, our operators areaccustomed to what I call these
(08:20):
big billboard banner promotions.
Every year, we sell two for $4sodas 20 ounce sodas, right.
Well, with loyalty, thecustomer to my right who's a
Celsius drinker and the customerto my left who's a Gatorade
drinker may not get that samebillboard promotion.
So it's a cultural shift we'reforging here at EGA to move from
(08:43):
not only big billboard andbanner promotions but also
personalized offers based on howour customers are shopping and
what they're giving us creditfor.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Okay, you mentioned.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
AI.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
That's a very germane topic to the members of Local
360, how you can leverage AI.
Some brands are being veryproactive.
Some are concerned, right,because you know who has access
to the data and you mentioned,kind of how you're leveraging
technology license and also youknow very unique in how you're
(09:16):
kind of structuring yourtechnology stack.
But some are really concerned,right.
So they've actually built upteams to manage the output of AI
, which reduces the efficacy ofthe customer loyalty efforts,
right?
So when you look at AI and youtalked about that cultural shift
from an operator perspectivehow do you get them on board?
Because many brands don't feelthey have the organizational
(09:39):
heft, the teams, to reallyleverage AI in the most
effective manner.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
You know it's such a good question.
I think I'm going to answer ittwo different ways.
I heard a phenomenal quote lastweek from the CEO of Par Retail
, savneet Singh, and he saidthat he questions companies'
efficacy on the AItransformation journey.
(10:04):
If companies are buildingcenters of AI excellence and I
tend to agree with him right,mark, we want to include AI in
how we manage our business,whether it's marketing
technology, whether it'scategory management, whether
it's revenue growth management,whether it's loyalty and
(10:26):
personalized ads.
We don't want just one centerof AI excellence here at EGA, so
that's how we're proposing itfrom a organizational standpoint
.
The other question is about thecultural shifts and the dynamics
changing right, and I believeour success here at EGA has been
(10:51):
through partnerships andcollaborations with our
operators and demonstrating alot of self-awareness.
So, when we're not the first tothe loyalty game here at EGA,
we had a chance to speak to eachof our store managers and we
have 1,500 of them and when werelaunched the loyalty program,
(11:14):
we gave every single storemanager an opportunity to tell
myself personally, our seniormanager of loyalty and our CIO
personally what are theirfavorite and least favorite
things about our historic appand when our operators felt like
their voice was heard.
(11:34):
That went a long way inbuilding collaboration and
credibility across our MarTechfunctions and our operations
functions here at EGA.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Now, that's a very interesting point as well
because one of the we keeptalking about the challenges we
see.
You know we sit at a neatfulcrum between the technology
providers and the brands and sowe see kind of a broad swath of
technology, innovation,challenges, opportunities.
But one of the challengesyou've kind of touched on is
listening to kind of theoperators, right, the franchisee
owners, who could have one to10 to hundreds of locations, and
(12:11):
you know there's going to besome change there.
So kind of understanding that'svery important.
Being able to listen to themand truly understand is also
very important as well.
But being able to take thatinsight you have from them and
action on it is very importantbecause oftentimes brands will
go ask a series of questions adhoc questions, structured
questions and they may not doanything with it.
(12:32):
So to be able to take thatfeedback and loop it into your
process is very important,correct?
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
You're exactly right.
So, ega, we have both corporateowned stores the majority of
our locations are corporateowned stores, but, you're
exactly right, we have franchiseowned stores as well.
And what we did when we startedbuilding product requirement
documentation for our loyaltyprogram is we started with our
guest services team, right, weanswered phone calls, we
(13:01):
listened to our customers, weanswered emails, we read and
heard what our customers werefeeling on our pre-existing
loyalty app and then, to yourpoint, we went out to our store
managers.
We listened to our storemanagers, because not every
customer who has a consternationwith a loyalty app is going to
(13:22):
call into the guest servicesline, right?
Some folks just tell theirlocal store manager and that's
where they end.
So we wanted to build ourproduct requirement
documentation for our newloyalty program founded in what
we were hearing from ourcustomers and our frontline
employees, and that wascritically important for EGA.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
And it's interesting because one of the things that
we also see as well.
It seems to be kind of arepeating record or a skipping
record over here, butunderstanding kind of where
programs are, especially youbeing 10 months new to the
program, is very important.
We see the brands that have atruly successful customer
loyalty fabric, that they putthe customers first, right, it's
(14:06):
not just lip service, it'sintegrated, right.
So coming in and understandingwhere everyone is on the program
is very important, right.
So brands that do well, they'realways getting the feedback
from the operations staff, theorganization staff, marketing,
whomever to understand where theprogram is, what they
understand about the program,because oftentimes customer
loyalty can be in someorganizations kind of black
(14:28):
sheep of the family where theydon't really have, you know,
true understanding of theprogram.
So coming in and asking theindividuals who the frontline,
also the, you know the seniorlevel, you know operations
managers, finance remember whatthey know about the program is
very important because that canhelp you address and assuage any
challenges that exist in theprogram.
(14:48):
You know understanding.
Oh well, the finance teamreally doesn't understand the
program, right, they may nothave the metrics, or the
operations team isn't, we're nottrained enough on them.
We train them on an onboardingprocess.
So it sounds like you have avery you know proactive approach
to that, because many brandsdon't have that, and that's good
to hear.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
It's such an interesting point you bring up
and I have a couple things toadd on to your observations.
So one is that at a previousemployer there was a protocol in
which you had to work inoperations to get promoted to
manager back at headquarters.
I think that's such a strongbusiness practice for retailers
(15:28):
to institute.
I know not everyone caninstitute that, but it gave me
personally a sense ofunderstanding of operators right
that year in the field.
I have so much respect for ouroperators and I really include
so much respect for ouroperators and I really include
so much of that respect in how Imanage my teams today.
Secondly, bringing people alongis so important.
(15:52):
I'm really proud of my team andhow quickly we've rebuilt our
loyalty app.
We got it signed, sealed anddelivered in just about four
months, which is prettymiraculous, thinking about where
we started and the RFP processand the product requirement
documentation and then buildingthe new app.
So while we moved reallyquickly, we did spend some time
(16:16):
with cross-functional businesspartners.
It is so easy, mark and loyaltyto see what the expense of a
loyalty program is costing,right, whether it's the SaaS
costs or the IT developmentcosts, or even just the
discounting and the investmentsyou're giving back to your
customers.
(16:36):
It is very easy for a CFO to seewhat a program costs.
We need to bring ourcross-functional partners along
and we continue to get better atthis at EGA to demonstrate what
are the benefits of the program, what is the incrementality of
the program, what are ourbusiness goals as a MarTech team
(16:56):
and how are we performingtowards those business goals.
It requires a lot ofconversation, a lot of
collaboration, and I'mconstantly telling folks at EGA,
mark, that I welcome theconversation.
If you question the way we'remeasuring this or you think that
this could be measured adifferent or better way, let's
have that conversation.
Find 15 minutes on my calendar,let's discuss it.
(17:20):
The last thing I'll say to yourpoint is I think some retailers
make the mistake of thinkingabout MarTech solutions as
projects versus programs.
When I joined EGA, I institutedthis idea of a digital commerce
ecosystem and I am constantlytelling those I work with all
(17:44):
ships rise with a rising tideand I think it's really
important here at EGA, that weare relaunching loyalty.
At the same time, we'relaunching our first ever retail
media network.
At the same time, we'reinstituting a consumer insights
function.
At the same time, we're triplingour delivery and digital
partnerships programming.
(18:04):
I think that is so important tothink about MarTech as more of
a digital ecosystem than just afinite project in which you have
to launch a loyalty app and younever look at it again.
I think that's a mistake inretail and we take a much more
comprehensive and holisticapproach more comprehensive and
holistic approach.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
No again, this is probably the best interview I
had in a long time.
I love getting away from thescripted questions and having
this in open dialogue, and thishas been one of those.
So, again, another thing wekeep hearing a lot about and as
a great discussion point rightnow, is this whole idea of cost
versus value.
We talked earlier a little bitabout kind of the dichotomy
between brands who are soobsessed on the customer
multi-cost and versus those whoview it as an investment.
(18:46):
Right, and they'rediametrically different.
The organizations that view itas an investment can, you know,
invest in technology.
They have staffs that want tounderstand technology.
You talked about your approachto the digital ecosystem, right,
and kind of the MarTechapproach.
Many people look at the MarTechchoice as a solution.
Right, it's not the solution.
It's an enabling opportunityfor the brand and the
(19:10):
organization, but it gets to.
Many brands don't feel theyhave the technology teams to
truly act on or put forth a truecustomer centricity offering.
So, getting back to that costversus expense, that's a big
area of discussion right now too.
Those who are looking tominimize expense right, they
don't see the expense.
(19:31):
They don't see customer loyaltyas a true platform to coalesce
all the marketing efforts around.
But the brands who do it wellare the ones who are leaning in.
More and more authors are goingto customer loyalty members.
Less and less is going intomass or kind of acquisition
right.
So the customers they have,they're spending more time in
(19:51):
the personalization but makingsure that the team knows how to
handle that right, because keepthe customer loyal, keep engaged
, you don't lose them.
So we've seen again the brandswho do very well are shifting
more in that budget to thecustomer loyalty platform
because it can be proven theincrementality, the performance
and you can also hone the model.
(20:12):
So you don't have to giveeveryone an 80% discount or a
40% discount, right, you knowthat Whitney may only want a 5%
discount, or she may like coffee, or today may be her birthday.
It's being able to truly actionon the data and insight, gets
away from that cost perspectiveand it switches more to an
investment, correct.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
You're exactly right, mark.
There's a patience that'srequired with turning your
loyalty program into aninvestment vehicle, and I'm very
fortunate that we've had theexecutive support to pursue that
here at EGA.
So our chief informationofficer, soren Hilden, is also
our chief digital officer.
So I'm really advantaged hereat EGA to not only have the IT
(20:56):
leadership and partnership butalso the digital visionary as a
partner, and that's reallyallowed us to move quickly here
at EGA but also be on thecutting edge of thinking about
this as an investment versusjust a cost.
The other thing I would say isthe patience to run these
(21:17):
hypothesis-based test and learnopportunities right.
Whether you have an AI platformthat's doing it like we do here
at EGA or you have 20 datascientists doing it the old
fashioned way for you, just thepatience to measure
incrementality is so important.
It takes executive courage toput together a P&L for a loyalty
(21:41):
program.
To ask your CFO I need thislevel investment.
I'm going to get half of itfrom my vendor partners in the
CPG community, but I may ask fora portion of that for us to
self-infest back into theloyalty program.
It takes that executive courageto put a comprehensive P&L
together so that there's nosurprises for your CFO when
(22:05):
you're over-investing orinvesting just like your budget
said you were going to in-year.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
No, and I think that's a very interesting
perspective as well too, becausewe have some peer groups that
meet very senior levelorganizations and we meet every
depending on the group, likeonce a month.
So in that discussion aroundkind of leveraging CPG partners
you talked earlier about thekind of the media network that
you bring out.
(22:32):
There's different ways tomonetize customer loyalty
programs and that's a bigdiscussion right now with some
of this economic uncertainty wehave.
Right, how do you monetize itright?
How do you lean into the CPGpartners, but even the whole
trans that's, do you lean intothe CPG partners?
But even the whole trans?
That's transformed as well theCPG relationship, because it
used to be slotting fees mass.
You wanted to get as muchproduct space as you want.
(22:57):
So there's been kind of alearning curve with the CPG
partners.
You may not have as much space.
If you can optimize me and workwith me in a proactive manner,
give me some additional fundings, right, get away from kind of
that traditional CPG fundingmodel.
It can be advantageous to bothpartners.
But that takes some time too.
I think most brands are beyondthat, but that was a struggle as
well for a good period of time,wouldn't you say?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
I think you have to ask yourself do you want a
quarter million dollars one timeor do you want $50,000 every
quarter for the next three years?
Right, Because CPG vendors?
Speaker 1 (23:34):
who are?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
seeing ROAS or ROI on retailers negotiations will
continue to invest and possiblyeven invest more.
There's $40 billion going intoretail media networks this year.
How much is each retailer goingto get out of that piece of the
pie and how much return are wegoing to give back to our
clients?
Right, Because our CPG vendorsin a retail media network are
(23:58):
now our clients.
So we're always balancing thathere at EGA and when we need a
tiebreaker, I go back toConsumer Insights.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
I try to take the subjectivity out of it and I try
to figure out the best way todeploy our CPG vendor funds via
Consumer Insights discussionwe've been having as well, too,
is kind of the early adopters ofthe retail media networks or
(24:29):
some of the partnershipapproaches or even different
reward opportunities.
From a customer loyaltyperspective, we're going to have
some advantages, right, becauseat some point the retail media
networks, you're competingagainst the Amazons and the
Kroger's and whomever.
But if you have displayterminals at the point of sale,
there's some unique things thatyou can do.
But as everyone starts to getinto that, it becomes a little
(24:49):
crowded potentially, right.
But you have the opportunity ofbeing ahead and you have that
kind of modality or mentalitywithin the organization that is
for pro-investment, right, theyare open to trying different
things where others are maybenot as forward thinking.
So it gives you an advantage.
(25:10):
But that's a big discussion.
Again, if everyone else offersfree Verizon for my loyalty
program to the top tiers, atwhat point does that not matter?
Right, if someone offers freestreaming where the top tiers
it's kind of the rewards, theincentives, the customer value
propositions are changing, butit sounds like you have a pretty
unique focus on that.
But you also have an advantageof being an early adopter, I
(25:31):
think.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I believe in strategic targeted positioning
Right.
So when I think about thethings customers buy at
convenience and gas stations,it's heavily commoditized at
convenience and gas stations.
It's heavily commoditized.
You can get them in ourindustry, you can get them in
other industries and you can getthem at our competitors or our
locations.
So what is our STP that drivescustomers onto our lot?
(25:56):
What makes us famous?
And we really believe in tripmissions and creating a divide
and a moat around our tripmissions so we continue to
become more famous for thosethings our customers are already
giving us credit for.
I think that's really importantin both personalized
advertising and retail medianetworks.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Excellent.
A couple last questions ondigital partnerships or all
types of partnerships, that moreone-to-one versus in making
(26:49):
sure the value proposition isright for both brands, getting
away from more theaffiliate-based relationships
which don't provide value toboth brands and then they can be
kind of deleterious to both.
Right?
So if Avis and Budget had thesame thing as Hertz with Wyndham
, you know there's no valuethere.
So making sure you get thatright is very opportune but it's
(27:10):
very challenging.
So how do you do that?
Because, getting back to yourROAS and the ROI on these
programs, you know you caneither do kind of a currency
exchange, potentially to do apartnership, but the more
strategic ones require somethinking.
And now we talked about thatwhole performance-based approach
making sure that you have theright ROI to do a bigger program
(27:31):
.
That's going to have moreimpact and be more challenging,
correct, but it also can be moreadvantageous.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
It's such a good question.
So in the month of March, egarelaunched our loyalty program,
we launched a retail medianetwork and we relaunched our
delivery partnership platforms.
So it was a really big monthfor us and we are focused right
now, mark, on driving thosebusinesses forward.
(27:57):
A lot of green pasture in frontof us to move from operating
those digital commercebusinesses to joint partnerships
in similar industries that ourcustomers would find value to.
I would say we are in theinfantile stages of those
partnerships and your point isextremely well heard and your
(28:22):
point is extremely well heard.
We have to find out what ofthose partnerships create great
currency for our customers butalso differentiate ourselves.
And then, if you think aboutour brand tone, how can we have
fun?
Right, let's not do what'sexpected of us.
Let's give our customerssurprise and delights that fall
(28:47):
well within our brand tone andour strategy.
So that's what we're working onnow as we go into 2026 business
planning.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Excellent, Kind of wrapping this up.
When you look at your program,the customer loyalty program,
customer experience, everythingthat you're doing, what are two
or three things that you're mostproud of?
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Oh gosh, I'm so proud of our team, right?
I think it always has to startwith the team.
Whether it's the team atheadquarters who built these
solutions so quickly, includingour loyalty program.
Whether it is our businesspartners that, through rigorous
RFP processes, they came out ontop.
(29:27):
Whether it's our operationalpartners who gave us really
honest and constructive feedbackso that our loyalty program, as
we rebuilt it and relaunched it, would be the best possible
loyalty program we could build.
It always has to start with thepeople.
I'm so proud of the people weget to work with every day, and
that is a choice.
(29:47):
Who you get to work with is achoice.
I would also say I'm reallyexcited and really proud of the
data sets that we're creatinghere at EGA.
If you think about theconvenience industry, one KPI
that makes the convenienceindustry very valuable from a
(30:08):
consumer insights perspective isthe frequency in which
customers are coming onto ourlots.
So, while we may not have verylarge baskets compared to other
industries, we have reallyinteresting frequency data
points.
And, as I think aboutadditional partnerships in 2026,
here at EGA, we're going tofigure out how we harness
(30:32):
frequency and consumer insightsto build more value for all of
our future partners.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Okay, and the last question we have what can
Loyalty360 do to help you andyour team in your customer
loyalty journey?
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Oh gosh, it's such a great question.
I think today was an incrediblestart, right?
We just want to be included inthe conversations.
We are really proud of whatwe've built over the past 10
months and we're really excitedto be here today with you.
And we're really excited to behere today with you, mark, and
we just want to continue to haveconversations with you and
(31:06):
continue to share the contentthat you're sharing.
One of my very favorite sayingsin business is that business is
an open book test, and here atEGA, we learn from everyone,
whether it's in our industry,out of our industry or nothing
to do with our industry.
We have dozens of loyalty appsdownloaded to our iPhones.
(31:29):
We have tons of CRM emails andpush notifications and messages
we're receiving, and we learnfrom everyone.
So the knowledge Loyalty360 issharing across all sorts of
different industries is veryvaluable to us here at EGA.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Excellent.
Well, thank you for that.
Now we have the wonderfulquickfire question round, so we
like to keep these to a shortword.
One word answers a short phrase, or I get in trouble with
Hannah, which I don't want to bein trouble.
So the first question what isyour least favorite word that
others use?
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Strategy.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
That made my day.
I abhor people to use that wordbecause everyone who uses it
they have no idea what it means,and when they put it in their
LinkedIn bio or they use itobsessively, they yeah 100%.
That's a yeah.
This is 100, sorry is 100.
Sorry.
100.
Strategy.
Hate that word.
Um, uh, critical thinking wouldbe my next one, but that's a
(32:29):
whole different discussion.
Um, what is your favorite word?
Growth, excellent.
What excites you at work?
Opportunity okay, what do youfind tiresome at home or at work
?
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Reading too much.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Okay, is there a book , speaking of reading, that
you'd like to recommend to yourcolleagues that you found
impactful?
Speaker 2 (32:54):
What Got you here, won't Get you there.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Okay, is there a profession other than one that
you're currently in?
Maybe that you'd like to try?
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Designing homes.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Okay, what do you enjoy doing that you often don't
get the chance to do?
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Working out on my Peloton.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Okay, who inspired you to become the person you are
today?
Speaker 2 (33:21):
My dad.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
That's awesome.
I like that one.
And what do you typically thinkabout the end of the day?
Speaker 2 (33:30):
What I could have done better.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Okay, and how do you want to be remembered by friends
and family?
Speaker 2 (33:39):
As someone who cares, but made the world a better
place.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Okay, that's awesome.
Well, whitney, this, uh, I cansay it's the best interview I've
had all year.
Uh, this might be one of thetop two or three interviews of
all time.
Uh, I love it when we get awayfrom kind of descriptive
questions and have a dialogue.
Uh, many people aren'tcomfortable doing that, but, uh,
this, uh, it was a pleasurespeaking with you and, uh, I'm
not trying to be trite it was anawesome interview.
(34:05):
Just from your vision, fromyour focus, from your holistic
approach to customer loyalty,customer experience, how you're
getting the team involved, theorganization involved.
You're checking all the boxes.
It was great to hear.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Mark, thank you so much for having me here today
and I look forward to futureconversations together.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Absolutely, and everyone.
Thank you very much for takingthe time to join us for our
Brand Stories edition of ourLeaders in Customer Multiseries.
Join us back every Thursday fora new edition.
Until then, have a wonderfulday.
Good afternoon, good morning Mark.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Johnson from Loyalty360.
I hope everyone's happy, safeand well.
It's Thursday, so welcome backto the Brand Stories edition of
our Leaders in Customer Loyaltypodcast.
Today we're going to drive intothe crucial role of championing
internal stakeholders toachieve true customer loyalty
success.
Customer loyalty should be themagic fulcrum that propels
(00:25):
customer experience, marketingand brand engagement to new
heights.
Yet brands today are divided.
Some see customer loyalty as avaluable investment, while
others view it as a cost to beminimized.
In 2025, one of the biggestchallenges is ensuring everyone
within the organizationunderstands and supports the
(00:46):
customer loyalty program.
Misunderstandings must beaddressed promptly, as internal
champions are just as crucial tothe efficacy of the program as
external advocates.
Programs with strong leadershipand senior-level alignment,
leveraging technology to deepencustomer relationships, are
thriving.
Eg America, the fourth largestconvenience store chain in North
(01:10):
America, is excelling in thisdynamic landscape.
Today we're joined by WhitneyJohnson.
She's the Senior Vice Presidentof Marketing for EG America.
She's going to share how theyare navigating internal and
external stakeholders tomaximize brand engagement and
build long-term customer loyalty.
Whitney, thank you very much fortaking the time to join us.
(01:32):
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Mark, thanks so much for having me.
I'm thrilled to be here on thissunny spring day in Boston
Massachusetts.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
It's always good to have sunny days, especially in
the spring.
We've got a lot of rain in Ohio, so I would trade you if we
could.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
We've had some too.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
First off, for those who may not be familiar, can you
give us a short introduction toEG America?
How, why was the companystarted?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Absolutely, I'd love to so.
Eg America is actually thefourth largest convenience store
chain in the United States.
Our parent company, eg Group,founded over in the United
Kingdom and we are aorganization of different
mergers and acquisitions across32 states here stateside.
(02:23):
So we fly about 10 differentretail banners that our
customers can see on theconvenience and gas front, with
some of the most prominentbanners being Cumberland Farms
here in New England, turkey Hillconvenience stores in
Pennsylvania, as well as FastTrack convenience stores in New
York.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Okay, For those who may not know you, can you tell
us a little bit more about yourrole within EG America?
You know how did you get towhere you are now.
Were there some positions thatmaybe led to this role, or maybe
an epiphany?
You know how did you get intomarketing and customer loyalty?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Absolutely, mark.
So I joined EG America lessthan 10 months ago because I
found tremendous opportunityhere and an incredible executive
leadership team.
So I work for Brian Ferguson,our chief marketing officer, who
has had an incredible career inpilot travel centers, as well
(03:19):
as Abercrombie and Fitch.
Me personally, I have prettymuch stayed in the convenience
and gas arena since my firstinternship in college.
So I started off at Sunoco incategory management and space
planning and I also went toMurphy, usa where I did more
merchandising strategy andanalytics and analytics.
(03:49):
Recently I led themerchandising team at GoPuff and
now I'm here at EGA.
So within my vertical we haveloyalty, digital commerce,
delivery and digitalpartnerships.
We have retail media networks,as well as some of the
advertising, brand marketing andsome of the category management
.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
That's awesome, and I'm sure you're very well versed
in the difference between thefront court and the back court.
It took me a while to learnthat, but we have a number of
fuel entities that are membersof loyalty 360.
So we got to know that I didn'twant to be playing basketball.
What are you doing it?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Oh you know, with the NBA playoffs right around the
corner, I think that's a perfectanalogy.
Here at EGA we're really proudof what we call our backcourt
and the banners we fly right.
We have really strongconvenience offerings here at
EGA.
So not only is Fuel a trafficdriver to get customers onto our
(04:43):
lots, but things like ourcoffee brand and our commissary
products our customers reallylove and they tend to be trip
missions for us here at EGA.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
And that's awesome because the Turkey Hill, at
least in Ohio, kind of the icecream brand, it was kind of
affiliated with Kroger at onepoint.
So you do have some strong CPGbrands, private label brands,
which are good.
So, but that can be a challengesometimes.
Right, when you look atcustomer loyalty and loyalty
programs that function well, thefront court and back court do
(05:15):
they work together?
Are they branded the same?
So I know that you know withinthe fuel brands that we are
members that that can be a bigdiscussion point, right, making
sure you have a consistentoffering.
They can identify themselvesand you can know that person in
both of those environments,correct?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah, it's such a good question.
So when I joined EGA, we spenta lot of time in 2024 ensuring
that our foundationalmerchandising offering was
really strong for all customers.
But, as you know, when you haveas many stores as we do, we fly
about 1,500 domesticconvenience store flags here in
(05:55):
the United States you can'taverage averages right, and the
customers in Pennsylvania arelooking for something different
than the customers in Maine andMassachusetts are looking for.
So what we've done on ourmerchandising evolution and
transformation is we've set thefundamentals of our
merchandising assortment for ourcustomers and now we're
(06:18):
starting to regionalize ourofferings for what customers are
really looking for and givingus credibility for offerings for
what customers are reallylooking for and giving us
credibility for.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Okay, when you talk about that personalization,
being able to understand theregional differences, how they
may impact behavior, interests,attitudes, perceptions, is very
important.
So, when you look atpersonalization and you talk
about some of the regionaldifferences, talk about the
(06:53):
difference between the frontcourt and back court.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
What does personalization mean to EG
America and how do you executeon that?
We could license.
We weren't the first retailerto get into the loyalty game.
Many competitors have gotteninto loyalty before EGA has, and
we had an opportunity as asecond mover advantage right
where we didn't have to buildeverything from scratch
ourselves.
(07:17):
So what we chose to do was wechose to rebuild our loyalty
offering, both through a buildand a license solution.
With that license solution,we're using AI at a rate in
which is really modern for the21st century retailer to deliver
(07:38):
personalized offers to ourcustomers.
We're letting the machines do alot of the work for us.
We issue intended businessoutcomes to our loyalty engine
and we focus on trip missions.
Right, we focus on the big,high-priority, high-revenue,
(07:58):
high-driving products at EGA,whether that's fuel, whether
that's coffee products at EGA,whether that's fuel, whether
that's coffee, whether that'snicotine or energy drinks, and
we're really allowing AI todeliver personalized campaigns
to our customers.
What that means is that ouroperators have to think
differently.
Right, our operators areaccustomed to what I call these
(08:20):
big billboard banner promotions.
Every year, we sell two for $4sodas 20 ounce sodas, right.
Well, with loyalty, thecustomer to my right who's a
Celsius drinker and the customerto my left who's a Gatorade
drinker may not get that samebillboard promotion.
So it's a cultural shift we'reforging here at EGA to move from
(08:43):
not only big billboard andbanner promotions but also
personalized offers based on howour customers are shopping and
what they're giving us creditfor.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Okay, you mentioned.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
AI.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
That's a very germane topic to the members of Local
360, how you can leverage AI.
Some brands are being veryproactive.
Some are concerned, right,because you know who has access
to the data and you mentioned,kind of how you're leveraging
technology license and also youknow very unique in how you're
(09:16):
kind of structuring yourtechnology stack.
But some are really concerned,right.
So they've actually built upteams to manage the output of AI
, which reduces the efficacy ofthe customer loyalty efforts,
right?
So when you look at AI and youtalked about that cultural shift
from an operator perspectivehow do you get them on board?
Because many brands don't feelthey have the organizational
(09:39):
heft, the teams, to reallyleverage AI in the most
effective manner.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
You know it's such a good question.
I think I'm going to answer ittwo different ways.
I heard a phenomenal quote lastweek from the CEO of Par Retail
, savneet Singh, and he saidthat he questions companies'
efficacy on the AItransformation journey.
(10:04):
If companies are buildingcenters of AI excellence and I
tend to agree with him right,mark, we want to include AI in
how we manage our business,whether it's marketing
technology, whether it'scategory management, whether
it's revenue growth management,whether it's loyalty and
(10:26):
personalized ads.
We don't want just one centerof AI excellence here at EGA, so
that's how we're proposing itfrom a organizational standpoint
.
The other question is about thecultural shifts and the dynamics
changing right, and I believeour success here at EGA has been
(10:51):
through partnerships andcollaborations with our
operators and demonstrating alot of self-awareness.
So, when we're not the first tothe loyalty game here at EGA,
we had a chance to speak to eachof our store managers and we
have 1,500 of them and when werelaunched the loyalty program,
(11:14):
we gave every single storemanager an opportunity to tell
myself personally, our seniormanager of loyalty and our CIO
personally what are theirfavorite and least favorite
things about our historic appand when our operators felt like
their voice was heard.
(11:34):
That went a long way inbuilding collaboration and
credibility across our MarTechfunctions and our operations
functions here at EGA.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Now, that's a very interesting point as well
because one of the we keeptalking about the challenges we
see.
You know we sit at a neatfulcrum between the technology
providers and the brands and sowe see kind of a broad swath of
technology, innovation,challenges, opportunities.
But one of the challengesyou've kind of touched on is
listening to kind of theoperators, right, the franchisee
owners, who could have one to10 to hundreds of locations, and
(12:11):
you know there's going to besome change there.
So kind of understanding that'svery important.
Being able to listen to themand truly understand is also
very important as well.
But being able to take thatinsight you have from them and
action on it is very importantbecause oftentimes brands will
go ask a series of questions adhoc questions, structured
questions and they may not doanything with it.
(12:32):
So to be able to take thatfeedback and loop it into your
process is very important,correct?
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
You're exactly right.
So, ega, we have both corporateowned stores the majority of
our locations are corporateowned stores, but, you're
exactly right, we have franchiseowned stores as well.
And what we did when we startedbuilding product requirement
documentation for our loyaltyprogram is we started with our
guest services team, right, weanswered phone calls, we
(13:01):
listened to our customers, weanswered emails, we read and
heard what our customers werefeeling on our pre-existing
loyalty app and then, to yourpoint, we went out to our store
managers.
We listened to our storemanagers, because not every
customer who has a consternationwith a loyalty app is going to
(13:22):
call into the guest servicesline, right?
Some folks just tell theirlocal store manager and that's
where they end.
So we wanted to build ourproduct requirement
documentation for our newloyalty program founded in what
we were hearing from ourcustomers and our frontline
employees, and that wascritically important for EGA.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
And it's interesting because one of the things that
we also see as well.
It seems to be kind of arepeating record or a skipping
record over here, butunderstanding kind of where
programs are, especially youbeing 10 months new to the
program, is very important.
We see the brands that have atruly successful customer
loyalty fabric, that they putthe customers first, right, it's
(14:06):
not just lip service, it'sintegrated, right.
So coming in and understandingwhere everyone is on the program
is very important, right.
So brands that do well, they'realways getting the feedback
from the operations staff, theorganization staff, marketing,
whomever to understand where theprogram is, what they
understand about the program,because oftentimes customer
loyalty can be in someorganizations kind of black
(14:28):
sheep of the family where theydon't really have, you know,
true understanding of theprogram.
So coming in and asking theindividuals who the frontline,
also the, you know the seniorlevel, you know operations
managers, finance remember whatthey know about the program is
very important because that canhelp you address and assuage any
challenges that exist in theprogram.
(14:48):
You know understanding.
Oh well, the finance teamreally doesn't understand the
program, right, they may nothave the metrics, or the
operations team isn't, we're nottrained enough on them.
We train them on an onboardingprocess.
So it sounds like you have avery you know proactive approach
to that, because many brandsdon't have that, and that's good
to hear.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
It's such an interesting point you bring up
and I have a couple things toadd on to your observations.
So one is that at a previousemployer there was a protocol in
which you had to work inoperations to get promoted to
manager back at headquarters.
I think that's such a strongbusiness practice for retailers
(15:28):
to institute.
I know not everyone caninstitute that, but it gave me
personally a sense ofunderstanding of operators right
that year in the field.
I have so much respect for ouroperators and I really include
so much respect for ouroperators and I really include
so much of that respect in how Imanage my teams today.
Secondly, bringing people alongis so important.
(15:52):
I'm really proud of my team andhow quickly we've rebuilt our
loyalty app.
We got it signed, sealed anddelivered in just about four
months, which is prettymiraculous, thinking about where
we started and the RFP processand the product requirement
documentation and then buildingthe new app.
So while we moved reallyquickly, we did spend some time
(16:16):
with cross-functional businesspartners.
It is so easy, mark and loyaltyto see what the expense of a
loyalty program is costing,right, whether it's the SaaS
costs or the IT developmentcosts, or even just the
discounting and the investmentsyou're giving back to your
customers.
(16:36):
It is very easy for a CFO to seewhat a program costs.
We need to bring ourcross-functional partners along
and we continue to get better atthis at EGA to demonstrate what
are the benefits of the program, what is the incrementality of
the program, what are ourbusiness goals as a MarTech team
(16:56):
and how are we performingtowards those business goals.
It requires a lot ofconversation, a lot of
collaboration, and I'mconstantly telling folks at EGA,
mark, that I welcome theconversation.
If you question the way we'remeasuring this or you think that
this could be measured adifferent or better way, let's
have that conversation.
Find 15 minutes on my calendar,let's discuss it.
(17:20):
The last thing I'll say to yourpoint is I think some retailers
make the mistake of thinkingabout MarTech solutions as
projects versus programs.
When I joined EGA, I institutedthis idea of a digital commerce
ecosystem and I am constantlytelling those I work with all
(17:44):
ships rise with a rising tideand I think it's really
important here at EGA, that weare relaunching loyalty.
At the same time, we'relaunching our first ever retail
media network.
At the same time, we'reinstituting a consumer insights
function.
At the same time, we're triplingour delivery and digital
partnerships programming.
(18:04):
I think that is so important tothink about MarTech as more of
a digital ecosystem than just afinite project in which you have
to launch a loyalty app and younever look at it again.
I think that's a mistake inretail and we take a much more
comprehensive and holisticapproach more comprehensive and
holistic approach.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
No again, this is probably the best interview I
had in a long time.
I love getting away from thescripted questions and having
this in open dialogue, and thishas been one of those.
So, again, another thing wekeep hearing a lot about and as
a great discussion point rightnow, is this whole idea of cost
versus value.
We talked earlier a little bitabout kind of the dichotomy
between brands who are soobsessed on the customer
multi-cost and versus those whoview it as an investment.
(18:46):
Right, and they'rediametrically different.
The organizations that view itas an investment can, you know,
invest in technology.
They have staffs that want tounderstand technology.
You talked about your approachto the digital ecosystem, right,
and kind of the MarTechapproach.
Many people look at the MarTechchoice as a solution.
Right, it's not the solution.
It's an enabling opportunityfor the brand and the
(19:10):
organization, but it gets to.
Many brands don't feel theyhave the technology teams to
truly act on or put forth a truecustomer centricity offering.
So, getting back to that costversus expense, that's a big
area of discussion right now too.
Those who are looking tominimize expense right, they
don't see the expense.
(19:31):
They don't see customer loyaltyas a true platform to coalesce
all the marketing efforts around.
But the brands who do it wellare the ones who are leaning in.
More and more authors are goingto customer loyalty members.
Less and less is going intomass or kind of acquisition
right.
So the customers they have,they're spending more time in
(19:51):
the personalization but makingsure that the team knows how to
handle that right, because keepthe customer loyal, keep engaged
, you don't lose them.
So we've seen again the brandswho do very well are shifting
more in that budget to thecustomer loyalty platform
because it can be proven theincrementality, the performance
and you can also hone the model.
(20:12):
So you don't have to giveeveryone an 80% discount or a
40% discount, right, you knowthat Whitney may only want a 5%
discount, or she may like coffee, or today may be her birthday.
It's being able to truly actionon the data and insight, gets
away from that cost perspectiveand it switches more to an
investment, correct.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
You're exactly right, mark.
There's a patience that'srequired with turning your
loyalty program into aninvestment vehicle, and I'm very
fortunate that we've had theexecutive support to pursue that
here at EGA.
So our chief informationofficer, soren Hilden, is also
our chief digital officer.
So I'm really advantaged hereat EGA to not only have the IT
(20:56):
leadership and partnership butalso the digital visionary as a
partner, and that's reallyallowed us to move quickly here
at EGA but also be on thecutting edge of thinking about
this as an investment versusjust a cost.
The other thing I would say isthe patience to run these
(21:17):
hypothesis-based test and learnopportunities right.
Whether you have an AI platformthat's doing it like we do here
at EGA or you have 20 datascientists doing it the old
fashioned way for you, just thepatience to measure
incrementality is so important.
It takes executive courage toput together a P&L for a loyalty
(21:41):
program.
To ask your CFO I need thislevel investment.
I'm going to get half of itfrom my vendor partners in the
CPG community, but I may ask fora portion of that for us to
self-infest back into theloyalty program.
It takes that executive courageto put a comprehensive P&L
together so that there's nosurprises for your CFO when
(22:05):
you're over-investing orinvesting just like your budget
said you were going to in-year.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
No, and I think that's a very interesting
perspective as well too, becausewe have some peer groups that
meet very senior levelorganizations and we meet every
depending on the group, likeonce a month.
So in that discussion aroundkind of leveraging CPG partners
you talked earlier about thekind of the media network that
you bring out.
(22:32):
There's different ways tomonetize customer loyalty
programs and that's a bigdiscussion right now with some
of this economic uncertainty wehave.
Right, how do you monetize itright?
How do you lean into the CPGpartners, but even the whole
trans that's, do you lean intothe CPG partners?
But even the whole trans?
That's transformed as well theCPG relationship, because it
used to be slotting fees mass.
You wanted to get as muchproduct space as you want.
(22:57):
So there's been kind of alearning curve with the CPG
partners.
You may not have as much space.
If you can optimize me and workwith me in a proactive manner,
give me some additional fundings, right, get away from kind of
that traditional CPG fundingmodel.
It can be advantageous to bothpartners.
But that takes some time too.
I think most brands are beyondthat, but that was a struggle as
well for a good period of time,wouldn't you say?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
I think you have to ask yourself do you want a
quarter million dollars one timeor do you want $50,000 every
quarter for the next three years?
Right, Because CPG vendors?
Speaker 1 (23:34):
who are?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
seeing ROAS or ROI on retailers negotiations will
continue to invest and possiblyeven invest more.
There's $40 billion going intoretail media networks this year.
How much is each retailer goingto get out of that piece of the
pie and how much return are wegoing to give back to our
clients?
Right, Because our CPG vendorsin a retail media network are
(23:58):
now our clients.
So we're always balancing thathere at EGA and when we need a
tiebreaker, I go back toConsumer Insights.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
I try to take the subjectivity out of it and I try
to figure out the best way todeploy our CPG vendor funds via
Consumer Insights discussionwe've been having as well, too,
is kind of the early adopters ofthe retail media networks or
(24:29):
some of the partnershipapproaches or even different
reward opportunities.
From a customer loyaltyperspective, we're going to have
some advantages, right, becauseat some point the retail media
networks, you're competingagainst the Amazons and the
Kroger's and whomever.
But if you have displayterminals at the point of sale,
there's some unique things thatyou can do.
But as everyone starts to getinto that, it becomes a little
(24:49):
crowded potentially, right.
But you have the opportunity ofbeing ahead and you have that
kind of modality or mentalitywithin the organization that is
for pro-investment, right, theyare open to trying different
things where others are maybenot as forward thinking.
So it gives you an advantage.
(25:10):
But that's a big discussion.
Again, if everyone else offersfree Verizon for my loyalty
program to the top tiers, atwhat point does that not matter?
Right, if someone offers freestreaming where the top tiers
it's kind of the rewards, theincentives, the customer value
propositions are changing, butit sounds like you have a pretty
unique focus on that.
But you also have an advantageof being an early adopter, I
(25:31):
think.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I believe in strategic targeted positioning
Right.
So when I think about thethings customers buy at
convenience and gas stations,it's heavily commoditized at
convenience and gas stations.
It's heavily commoditized.
You can get them in ourindustry, you can get them in
other industries and you can getthem at our competitors or our
locations.
So what is our STP that drivescustomers onto our lot?
(25:56):
What makes us famous?
And we really believe in tripmissions and creating a divide
and a moat around our tripmissions so we continue to
become more famous for thosethings our customers are already
giving us credit for.
I think that's really importantin both personalized
advertising and retail medianetworks.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Excellent.
A couple last questions ondigital partnerships or all
types of partnerships, that moreone-to-one versus in making
(26:49):
sure the value proposition isright for both brands, getting
away from more theaffiliate-based relationships
which don't provide value toboth brands and then they can be
kind of deleterious to both.
Right?
So if Avis and Budget had thesame thing as Hertz with Wyndham
, you know there's no valuethere.
So making sure you get thatright is very opportune but it's
(27:10):
very challenging.
So how do you do that?
Because, getting back to yourROAS and the ROI on these
programs, you know you caneither do kind of a currency
exchange, potentially to do apartnership, but the more
strategic ones require somethinking.
And now we talked about thatwhole performance-based approach
making sure that you have theright ROI to do a bigger program
(27:31):
.
That's going to have moreimpact and be more challenging,
correct, but it also can be moreadvantageous.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
It's such a good question.
So in the month of March, egarelaunched our loyalty program,
we launched a retail medianetwork and we relaunched our
delivery partnership platforms.
So it was a really big monthfor us and we are focused right
now, mark, on driving thosebusinesses forward.
(27:57):
A lot of green pasture in frontof us to move from operating
those digital commercebusinesses to joint partnerships
in similar industries that ourcustomers would find value to.
I would say we are in theinfantile stages of those
partnerships and your point isextremely well heard and your
(28:22):
point is extremely well heard.
We have to find out what ofthose partnerships create great
currency for our customers butalso differentiate ourselves.
And then, if you think aboutour brand tone, how can we have
fun?
Right, let's not do what'sexpected of us.
Let's give our customerssurprise and delights that fall
(28:47):
well within our brand tone andour strategy.
So that's what we're working onnow as we go into 2026 business
planning.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Excellent, Kind of wrapping this up.
When you look at your program,the customer loyalty program,
customer experience, everythingthat you're doing, what are two
or three things that you're mostproud of?
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Oh gosh, I'm so proud of our team, right?
I think it always has to startwith the team.
Whether it's the team atheadquarters who built these
solutions so quickly, includingour loyalty program.
Whether it is our businesspartners that, through rigorous
RFP processes, they came out ontop.
(29:27):
Whether it's our operationalpartners who gave us really
honest and constructive feedbackso that our loyalty program, as
we rebuilt it and relaunched it, would be the best possible
loyalty program we could build.
It always has to start with thepeople.
I'm so proud of the people weget to work with every day, and
that is a choice.
(29:47):
Who you get to work with is achoice.
I would also say I'm reallyexcited and really proud of the
data sets that we're creatinghere at EGA.
If you think about theconvenience industry, one KPI
that makes the convenienceindustry very valuable from a
(30:08):
consumer insights perspective isthe frequency in which
customers are coming onto ourlots.
So, while we may not have verylarge baskets compared to other
industries, we have reallyinteresting frequency data
points.
And, as I think aboutadditional partnerships in 2026,
here at EGA, we're going tofigure out how we harness
(30:32):
frequency and consumer insightsto build more value for all of
our future partners.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Okay, and the last question we have what can
Loyalty360 do to help you andyour team in your customer
loyalty journey?
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Oh gosh, it's such a great question.
I think today was an incrediblestart, right?
We just want to be included inthe conversations.
We are really proud of whatwe've built over the past 10
months and we're really excitedto be here today with you.
And we're really excited to behere today with you, mark, and
we just want to continue to haveconversations with you and
(31:06):
continue to share the contentthat you're sharing.
One of my very favorite sayingsin business is that business is
an open book test, and here atEGA, we learn from everyone,
whether it's in our industry,out of our industry or nothing
to do with our industry.
We have dozens of loyalty appsdownloaded to our iPhones.
(31:29):
We have tons of CRM emails andpush notifications and messages
we're receiving, and we learnfrom everyone.
So the knowledge Loyalty360 issharing across all sorts of
different industries is veryvaluable to us here at EGA.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Excellent.
Well, thank you for that.
Now we have the wonderfulquickfire question round, so we
like to keep these to a shortword.
One word answers a short phrase, or I get in trouble with
Hannah, which I don't want to bein trouble.
So the first question what isyour least favorite word that
others use?
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Strategy.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
That made my day.
I abhor people to use that wordbecause everyone who uses it
they have no idea what it means,and when they put it in their
LinkedIn bio or they use itobsessively, they yeah 100%.
That's a yeah.
This is 100, sorry is 100.
Sorry.
100.
Strategy.
Hate that word.
Um, uh, critical thinking wouldbe my next one, but that's a
(32:29):
whole different discussion.
Um, what is your favorite word?
Growth, excellent.
What excites you at work?
Opportunity okay, what do youfind tiresome at home or at work
?
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Reading too much.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Okay, is there a book , speaking of reading, that
you'd like to recommend to yourcolleagues that you found
impactful?
Speaker 2 (32:54):
What Got you here, won't Get you there.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Okay, is there a profession other than one that
you're currently in?
Maybe that you'd like to try?
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Designing homes.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Okay, what do you enjoy doing that you often don't
get the chance to do?
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Working out on my Peloton.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Okay, who inspired you to become the person you are
today?
Speaker 2 (33:21):
My dad.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
That's awesome.
I like that one.
And what do you typically thinkabout the end of the day?
Speaker 2 (33:30):
What I could have done better.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Okay, and how do you want to be remembered by friends
and family?
Speaker 2 (33:39):
As someone who cares, but made the world a better
place.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Okay, that's awesome.
Well, whitney, this, uh, I cansay it's the best interview I've
had all year.
Uh, this might be one of thetop two or three interviews of
all time.
Uh, I love it when we get awayfrom kind of descriptive
questions and have a dialogue.
Uh, many people aren'tcomfortable doing that, but, uh,
this, uh, it was a pleasurespeaking with you and, uh, I'm
not trying to be trite it was anawesome interview.
(34:05):
Just from your vision, fromyour focus, from your holistic
approach to customer loyalty,customer experience, how you're
getting the team involved, theorganization involved.
You're checking all the boxes.
It was great to hear.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Mark, thank you so much for having me here today
and I look forward to futureconversations together.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Absolutely, and everyone.
Thank you very much for takingthe time to join us for our
Brand Stories edition of ourLeaders in Customer Multiseries.
Join us back every Thursday fora new edition.
Until then, have a wonderfulday.
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