Low-cost petrol station and service station franchises emerged with the liberalisation of part of the sector. They have become a very interesting business opportunity, especially with the development of low-cost stations.

For these petrol stations, the franchising system aims to reduce fixed costs. This has led to the spread of self-service refueling systems, which in many cases are unmanned. Mixed-product shops and car washes have been added, making the investment even more profitable.

But the most important thing is that they have the management of large petrol stations and service stations such as Repsol and Cepsa.

The main objective of these brands is to guarantee really low prices compared to traditional petrol stations. In addition, they guarantee very attractive margins to their franchisees.

The year 2021 is undoubtedly a big year for Repsol petrol stations, which have decided to make a definitive commitment to the franchise business model and currently have a number of petrol stations and service stations under the franchise system.

What are low-cost franchises?

Low-cost or «white label» petrol stations are a business model that is growing by leaps and bounds. Their prices, which are almost 20% lower than those of traditional petrol stations, and self-service are the most effective advantages of these stations. The 2013 Hydrocarbons Law in Spain freed the sector from the monopoly of the big oil companies. As a result, low-cost petrol station franchises have emerged as a new way of doing business.

But are these petrol stations reliable, is the fuel of good quality and how can you start your business? In this article we tell you all about it. Read on to find out about the best low-cost petrol stations you can invest in.

Cheap petrol stations: poorer fuel quality?

These low-cost petrol stations sell fuel between 5 and 10 cents per litre cheaper than conventional petrol stations. In this sense, the quality of the fuel is the point that most worries users when talking about cheap petrol stations. As with any product that is sold at a lower price than the normal market price, users wonder whether they are sacrificing quality for the difference of a few cents between prices.

First of all, you should know that cheap petrol comes from the same distributor, CLH (Compañía Logística de Hidrocarburos), as the big fuel chains. This company does not distinguish between traditional and cheap petrol stations. It supplies all of them with the same fuel directly from the refineries.

So why is it cheaper? Well, because low-cost stations balance the price of petrol and investment costs (click and go model), the absence of other services (cafeterias, convenience stores, etc.) and the self-service model (no staff). In other words, being a station that reduces investment costs and dispenses with the usual services of traditional petrol stations justifies the lower fuel prices.

Does cheap petrol harm motor vehicles?

As mentioned above, the basic fuel is the same as that dispensed at all filling stations, whether it is cheap or standard fuel. However, the difference in cost lies in the use of additives.

The petrol stations of the oil companies add additives exclusively from their own laboratories. This means a lot of money for these companies.

According to the oil companies, these additives are responsible for cleaning the engine, reducing fuel consumption, and improving vehicle performance.

Low cost petrol franchises: prices and how to buy them

The basis of the automotive industry is «black gold». Therefore, setting up a petrol or service station is an excellent opportunity to earn money. If you are thinking of investing in this sector, you have two options. The first option is to start from scratch and cover all expenses and problems. The second option is to buy a gas station franchise where everything is pre-established and automated.

The advantages of buying a franchise are quite clear: you are investing in a proven and reputable business, which increases your chances of success. In addition, franchisors offer advice on franchise management and work with you to attract more customers on a daily basis.

List of the best franchises for Low Cost gas stations

If you don’t want to risk a big investment, you can opt for a low-cost petrol station. Here are the best on the market.

Franquicia PetroGold

PetroGold offers the opportunity to join a modern franchise focused on the hydrocarbon and car wash sector.

Unlike other brands, they treat each customer individually and always ensure that their fuels are up to the best on the market.

Competitive prices, the best quality, and a customer-focused approach set us apart from the competition and give us greater confidence. PetroGold has developed three lines of business to offer a complete service and maximize the profitability of your franchise.

With two centers currently open, PetroGold combines quality and cost-effectiveness not found in other alternatives in the sector.

• Quality at the best price
• Individual approach
• Advice on location and feasibility studies.
• Advice on the management of opening licenses
• Individual and detailed study of the economic viability of each site.
• Financing options through agreements with financial institutions.
• Research and development of new products.
• Initial and continuous training.
• Initial and ongoing marketing plan

Franchise Autonet&Oil y Elefante Azul

The business model of the AUTONET&OIL-ELEFANTE AZUL franchise
It proposes a franchise model updated to the new times, focused on the energy sector and the high-pressure car wash business.

Their business concept does not require a very large plot of land, as it is possible to set up an establishment of 500-1000 square meters, but a plot of land with a good location. They should be located in places with industrial and/or commercial suitability, as close as possible to urban residential areas with high traffic volume, without excluding other possible locations.

By joining the AUTONET&OIL-BLUE ELEPHANT network, you will be assured of a reliable, permanent and professional partner at all stages of your site’s life.

As a franchisee, you will receive advice and assistance from various departments:

• EXPANSION DEPARTMENT: will accompany you from the beginning to the end of your project, evaluate the site, the area of influence, draw up implementation plans, etc.
• ASSEMBLY DEPARTMENT: we will carry out the assembly of structures and equipment, the conversion of an existing center into an Autonet&Oil or Blue Elephant center, and the start-up.
• ZONE MANAGER: Provides support from the opening of the center and throughout the contract to help you increase sales figures and optimize operating costs.
• TRAINING: We provide initial technical training and commercial training.
• TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT: Intervenes in any technical problem and takes care of the maintenance of the operation. The hotline is available every day of the week.
• MARKETING DEPARTMENT: Guarantees the brand’s impact on consumers, provides tools and support for local communication and ensures compliance with the brand concept and image.

We want to give you the opportunity to join a national franchise under the same image that is capable of achieving common objectives, offers a personal treatment to its franchisees and guarantees the quality of its service.

Franquicia Cepsa

Founded in 1989, Cepsa is a network of service stations that offers solutions for all the needs of customers and their vehicles. The Cepsa franchise currently has more than 1,700 points of sale in Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar.

Cepsa offers a wide range of services in three lines:

• Petrol stations: include restaurants and cafés, convenience stores, and Carrefour shops with fuel vouchers, i.e., shopping at supermarket prices.
• Shops: These consist of a bakery with freshly baked sweet or savoury goods, a corner café, and a variety of drinks.
• Car wash: Cepsa has the best technology for first class treatment of your vehicles. They can be washed using an automatic programme or manually with a timed programme that offers various options.

Franchise Cozeta

The Cozeta franchise is a company specialising in the world of hydrocarbons, service stations and petrol stations. Founded in 1996 by Luís Joaquín Cuenca de Vega, a mechanical and computer industrial engineer, the franchise operates nationally as a company specialising in engineering and as a company specialising in oil and electrical installations.

The Cozeta franchise is a company with a competent team of engineers and installers and is able to tackle any project in the oil and gas sector.

The Cozeta franchise actively collaborates with the Polytechnic University of Valencia and hosts the students who are competing for the Bancaja prize.

Franquicia Combustible Fácil

The EASY FUEL, S.L. franchise, a low cost petrol station where all the processes are automated to save costs for the customer and which are reflected in the price of fuel. It is a business opportunity because who wouldn’t want to fill up with cheaper petrol nowadays.

It is a «turnkey» product because we take care of everything, from the installation, works and start-up to the legalisation of the project without our franchisee having to worry about anything. It is a business that requires an investment of 2 years, with profitability from day one.

We are the first pioneering petrol station in Spain to have independent payment modules for each pump, accepting cards, notes and coins at the same time.

Franquicia Fast Fuel

FAST FUEL is a FRANCHISE of low-cost service stations, characterised by the LOW INVESTMENT of its franchisees, which allows them to occupy a privileged position within the sector by offering the best price and maximum quality of fuels, and therefore high profitability.

The investment includes:

• 2 two-way dispensers (8 hoses)
• 1 Debit/Credit card readers
• 1 Banknote acceptor with security tray
• 1 Exclusive design awning
• 1 monolith with clearly visible price indication
• 50,000 litre fuel tank shared with diesel/gasoline
• Construction, design and legalisation work
• Installation of oil, electrical, CCTV and IT systems
• Commissioning
• Automatic fire protection system
• INTRANET computer system
• Management intranet for all clients
• Own card system
• Online invoicing system
• 24-hour surveillance system
• NEW» mobile application.

Franchise La Gaviota

The La Gaviota petrol station franchise is a chain that was created to develop in the field of fuel sales and customer service through La Gaviota petrol stations.

Petro Low Cost Franchise

The Petro Low Cost franchise network is the first self-service petrol station network that aims to minimise the cost of setting up such a franchise business. One of the key factors in choosing one of the Petro Low Cost petrol stations is the fact that no staff is needed, as all activities associated with running a petrol station are self-service, including an automatic dispenser developed exclusively for Petro Low Cost. Thus, the fuel is cheaper than at other service stations, but of the same quality.

If you have come this far it is because you are interested in acquiring a low cost petrol station franchise, the list we have added is that of the companies that offer the most economical conditions on the market in Spain. If you decide to embark on this adventure, do not hesitate to contact these companies for more information. For our part, we recommend this reading so that you can learn more about how franchises work and how to get started with them.

Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms to connect with your audience and build your brand, increase sales and drive website traffic. This involves posting quality content on social media profiles, listening and engaging with followers, analyzing results and running social media ads.

The main social media platforms (at the moment) are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube and Snapchat.

There are also a number of social media management tools that help businesses get the most out of the social media platforms mentioned above. For example, Buffer is a social media management tool platform that can help you achieve success with your social media marketing. Whether you want to build a brand or grow your business, we want to help you succeed.

A quick overview of social media marketing

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Social media marketing started with publishing. Companies shared their content on social networks to generate traffic to their websites and, hopefully, sales. But social media has matured far beyond being just a place to disseminate content.

Social media marketing

is a very important part of social media.

Today, companies use social networks in many different ways. For example, a company that cares about what people are saying about its brand can monitor social media conversations and respond to relevant mentions (social media listening and engagement). A company that wants to know how it is performing on social networks will analyze its reach, engagement and sales on social networks with an analytics tool (social network analytics). Una empresa que quiera llegar a un conjunto específico de público a gran escala, publicará anuncios muy específicos en las redes sociales (publicidad en las redes sociales).

En su conjunto, suelen conocerse también como gestión de redes sociales.

Los cinco pilares fundamentales del marketing en la estrategia de redes sociales:

• Planificación y publicación
• Publicación en Buffer
• Escucha y compromiso
• Análisis e informes
• Buffer Analyze
• Publicidad

Strategy

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Before you jump into posting something on social media, let’s take a step back and look at the big picture. The first step is to think about your social media strategy.

What are your goals, and how can social media help you achieve your business objectives? Some businesses use social media to raise awareness of their brand, while others use it to increase website traffic and sales. Social media can also help you generate engagement around your brand, build a community and serve as a customer service channel.

Social media can also help you generate engagement around your brand, build a community and serve as a customer service channel.

Which social media platforms do you want to focus on? The main social media platforms, mentioned above, are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube and Snapchat. There are also smaller, emerging platforms, such as Tumblr, Tik Tok and Anchor, and social messaging platforms, such as Messenger, WhatsApp and WeChat. When starting out, it’s better to choose a few platforms that you think your target audience is on than to be on all of them.

What type of content do you want to share? What type of content will best appeal to your target audience? Is it images, videos or links? Is it educational or entertaining content? A good starting point is to create a marketing persona, which will help you answer these questions. And this doesn’t have to be fixed forever; you can always change your strategy based on the performance of your social media posts.

To help you create a good social media strategy, here are our step-by-step guides to creating a social media strategy and marketing plan.

Planning and publishing

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Social media marketing for small businesses usually starts with having a consistent social media presence. Nearly three billion people (3,000,000,000,000!) use social networks. By being present on social media platforms, you give your brand the opportunity to be discovered by your future customers.

Posting on social media is as simple as sharing a blog post, image or video on a social media platform. It’s just like sharing on your personal Facebook profile. However, it is wise to plan your content in advance rather than creating and posting content spontaneously. Also, to make sure you’re maximizing your social media reach, you need to post great content that your audience likes, at the right time and frequency.

There are now a number of social media scheduling tools, such as Buffer Publish, that can help you automatically post your content at the time of your choice. This saves you time and allows you to reach your audience when they’re most likely to engage with your content.

Listen and engage

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Listen and engage

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As your business and social media following grows, conversations about your brand will also grow. People will comment on your social media posts, tag you in their social media posts, or message you directly.

It’s even possible for people to talk about your brand on social media without your knowledge. So you may want to monitor social media conversations about your brand. If it’s positive feedback, you have the opportunity to surprise and delight them. If not, you can offer support and correct a situation before it gets worse.

You can manually check all notifications on all social media platforms, but this is not efficient and you will not see posts that do not tag your company’s social media profile. Instead, you can use a social media listening and engagement tool that aggregates all social media mentions and posts, including posts that didn’t tag your company’s social media profile.

Analytics

Analytics

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Along the way, whether you’re posting content or engaging on social media, you’ll want to know how your social media marketing is performing. Are you reaching more people on social media than you did last month? How many positive mentions are you getting per month? How many people have used your brand’s hashtag in their social media posts

How many people have used your brand’s hashtag in their social media posts?

The social media platforms themselves provide a basic level of this information. For more detailed analytics information or to easily compare across social media platforms, you can use the wide range of social media analytics tools available, such as Buffer Analyze.

The social media platforms themselves provide this basic level of information.

Advertising

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Advertising

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When you have more funds to grow your social media marketing, one area you may want to consider is social media advertising. Social media ads allow you to reach a wider audience than just the one that follows you.

When you have more funds to grow your social media marketing, one area to consider is social media advertising.

Social media advertising platforms are so powerful these days that you can specify exactly who to show your ads to. You can create target audiences based on their demographics, interests, behaviors, and much more.

If you are running many social media advertising campaigns at once, you may want to consider using a social media advertising tool to make mass changes, automate processes and optimize your ads.

If you are running many social media advertising campaigns at once, you may want to consider using a social media advertising tool to make mass changes, automate processes and optimize your ads.

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Social media marketing resources
Social media platforms are constantly evolving. When Facebook started, people could only share text updates. Now, there are many content formats, including images, videos, live videos and stories.

So, social media marketing is also always changing. We want to help you keep up with the latest changes and strategies to succeed in social media. Here are a few resources to get you started.

What is digital advertising and why is it so important?

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Changes in society have marked the last few years in the way we relate to each other. With technology becoming more and more present in our routine, we spend most of our time connected.

With technology becoming more and more present in our routine, we spend most of our time connected.

Companies have also needed to change their communication, and knowing what digital advertising is has become essential.

With technology becoming more and more present in our routine, we spend most of our time connected.

For a long time, communication between companies and consumers was done through physical actions, such as newspaper and magazine ads, but it evolved to channels such as radio and television, further extending the reach of brands.

They have been using digital advertising for a long time, and now it’s time to change the way they communicate with their customers.

Now it’s time for Digital Marketing, which has become the primary way to promote a company.

After all, how can we ignore the fact that data currently indicates a total of 4.54 billion active Internet users worldwide?

The number of active Internet users in the world alone is estimated at 4.54 billion.

On social networks alone there are 3.8 billion people connected. All this has been taken into account by companies and, therefore, digital advertising has become very important.

How about, then, delve a little deeper into this concept so important for the success of your company and know how to best invest the resources of your business?

What about, then, delve a little deeper into this concept so important for the success of your company and know how to best invest the resources of your business?

Let’s talk about:

• What is digital advertising?
• What is digital advertising?
• What are the benefits and differences between traditional and digital advertising?
• What are the benefits and differences between traditional and digital advertising?
• How does a digital advertising strategy work?
• How does it work?
• What are the 4 best examples of digital advertising?
• What are the 4 best examples of digital advertising?

Keep reading and check it out!

What is email marketing?

Email marketing consists of sending a commercial email message to your “email subscribers,” i.e., contacts who have signed up for your email list and have given their express permission to receive email communications from you.

Email marketing is used to inform, drive sales and create a community around your brand (e.g., with a newsletter).

Modern email marketing has moved away from one-size-fits-all mass mailings and focuses on consent, segmentation, and personalization.

Examples of different types of marketing emails

Emails can be promotional or informational and serve a specific purpose in the buyer’s journey.
Email marketing campaigns are used to promote either a special offer, a new product launch, an e-book, or a webinar. A campaign can consist of 3 to 10 emails sent over several days or weeks.

Promotional emails have a clear call to action – or CTA for short. The CTA represents the specific action you want the reader to take, whether it’s visiting a web page or making a purchase.

This type of marketing email is sent as needed, according to the pace of your business.

Informative e-mails

Newsletters: A newsletter, as the name implies, shares news related to your business (new milestones reached, new product capabilities) or to highlight a product use case. Sent on a set schedule (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly), newsletters help maintain a constant connection with your subscribers.

But did you know that? Newsletters don’t have to be just “news.” As email guru Ann Handley says, focus on what the letter looks like. Imagine you’re writing an individual letter to your subscribers about something that interests them.

Put it this way, a newsletter is an opportunity to share ideas, thoughts, tips… whatever brings the most value to your audience.

Announcements: Email is the perfect medium to inform customers of company announcements, new launches, service changes, etc.

As a channel, email has the formality needed to convey important messages. This would explain why the email was the channel of choice for brands to send crisis communications during COVID-19.

Is email marketing still important in 2020?

Email is not a new technology. In fact, it was one of the first digital media to arrive, way back in 1971. But get this: email marketing, nearly 50 years old, is in use today more than ever.

The phrase «Email is dead» is repeated from time to time in the marketing echo chamber. But don’t believe it. Email is only growing. Just take a look at these statistics:

In 2019, there were 3. 900 million email users globally (source: Statista)
80% of Americans check their email at least once a day, and nearly a quarter of them check their personal email multiple times a day (Fluent Inbox Report, 2018)
80% of business professionals believe email marketing increases customer retention (Emarsys, 2018)
Given the numbers, it’s no wonder email is hailed as the most effective channel in B2B marketing.

Not having an email marketing strategy means losing sales opportunities and the possibility of strengthening ties with customers.

The advantages of e-mail marketing

From order confirmations to newsletters, emails are an essential aspect of growing and managing your business.

Email marketing will help you meet 3 key objectives:

1. Conversions (sell your products and services)
   Are you going to launch a sale or a promotion? You can send an email marketing campaign to your subscribers to drive sales.

Other email marketing techniques known to increase conversion rates include

Email a discount or special offer (birthday/anniversary emails, welcome emails, re-engagement emails)
Abandoned cart emails (triggered each time a visitor abandons a cart in your online store).

2. Brand awareness
   The best thing about email is that it allows you to reach someone directly. It’s the best face-to-face communication. Also, nowadays, people don’t let just anyone into their inbox. It’s a space reserved for favorite brands and publications.

Showing up in someone’s inbox will help your brand stay top of mind. A personalized marketing email is more impactful than a social media post, where you can’t be sure someone has seen your message.

One of the main advantages of email marketing is its scalability. This means that emails can be sent to numerous recipients for a relatively low cost (compared to other marketing channels).

3. Customer loyalty
   Email fosters customer loyalty at all stages of the buying process: lead nurturing, conversion, onboarding, and retention.

It is a powerful tool for building a community, as discussed at length in our guide to building relationships with email.

Digital analytics is the process of analyzing digital data from various sources, such as websites or mobile applications, among others. It provides a clear view to the organization on how users or customers behave. Through digital analytics, companies gain insight into areas where they need to improve. Digital analytics helps companies deliver a better online experience to their customers and potential customers, which gradually translates into achieving the desired goals.

Digital analytics is a tool used by organizations to collect, measure, and analyze qualitative and quantitative data. The data is used to improve and modify current business operations in order to provide a better online experience.

What is digital analytics?

Digital analytics refers to tools or platforms that analyze data collected from your online marketing activity. The goal of these tools is usually to improve the customer experience, engage new audiences, and convert more consumers into paying customers.

What are digital analyses?

These analytics can produce information that is gathered from activity on your website, social media channels or a variety of marketing channels used by your company. Ideally, you should use the information from your analytics to track the performance of your content, gain insights from your audience, and decide how to change or improve the content you are creating.
Your digital analytics should provide you with information that is actionable. Because there are so many variables and so much data to report, it is often challenging to turn this data into a clear strategy or inform specific marketing tactics. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Why digital analytics is important for your business and your brand

People often focus on web analytics, but digital analytics encompasses more than just what you can get from your website. There are key analytics on a platform or site that can help you determine a lot of different information about your visitors and the content of the site itself. The value of digital analytics goes far beyond that, giving you ways to gather key information and more accurately quantify the ROI of your campaigns.
Digital analytics reports sort through and show the entirety of your funnel. You are not limited to pulling data collected from a single platform. You can access reports from each of your channels to see the big picture of where your audience is, what they respond to on different platforms, and what you should be spending your time on.
The benefits of digital analytics are numerous. It can help you determine which marketing channels are not performing well so you can decide whether to increase efforts there or decide whether content would be better used in a higher performing channel. You can easily see the difference between views and conversions. For example, you may notice higher traffic coming from one channel but a higher conversion rate from another. That may tell you that you’re not targeting the right audience. Digital analytics helps you put all the pieces together to see your marketing efforts as a whole, rather than breaking them into segments.

The elements of digital analytics

Elements of your digital analytics include all aspects of your digital marketing strategy. By using advanced analytics in digital marketing, you can examine individual problems or aspects of the customer journey for useful, actionable insights.

The elements of your strategy will be unique to your business and the consumers you are targeting. These elements may include:

• Content marketing strategy. In a broad sense, your content marketing strategy includes all the content you create and curate. It’s not just the content you add to your own website or social media platforms. It should also include your recommendations or linked articles, as well as the places where you’ve published pieces.
• Email campaigns. Email marketing, when done well, still offers excellent conversion rates. The analytics you look at here can include open rates, click-through rates, and more intricate data on content types and their conversion rates.
• Video marketing. This may include videos on your website or social media platforms or a channel you use, such as YouTube.
• Paid advertising. If you use paid advertising (such as search or display ads), analytics from the respective platforms can help you tailor your reach to deliver a higher ROI.
• One thing you will look for when specifically addressing individual items is digital customer analytics. These data sets will help you inform your customers and create targeted content for them to drive engagement.

Types of digital analysis and uses

The definition of digital analytics encompasses all data that can be collected, which makes it quite confusing. It’s not just about your Google Analytics on your individual website. You can collect data based on marketplace, your users’ activity, your content performance, and a number of other variables.

If you want to continue learning about digital analytics, what to supplement it with and how to start growing professionally in the digital world, you can read this article to learn more.