The coronavirus pandemic has triggered a silent revolution in on-demand fuel delivery services in the UAE, with industry pioneer CAFU clocking one million fill-ups in just eight months since March.
The company said it is hopeful of notching up its next million fuel fill-ups in double quick time as it is seeing a 124 percent month-on-month spike in the number of monthly active customers.
“As for a new normal, we believe this (pandemic) period has led to a significant shift in consumer behaviour and patterns which seem to be here to stay,” Clare Holburn-Archer, chief marketing officer at CAFU, told Arabian Business in an exclusive interview.
“Once you realise you have a more convenient and safe option – on-demand delivery service – that saves you time and money, why would you choose any other way?” she asked.
It took CAFU, which runs its ‘anywhere, anytime’ fuel fill up services at customer doorsteps across Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain, about 14 months to add its first million fill-ups.
CAFU pioneered the on-demand fuel delivery service in the Middle East, bringing disruption to an industry that has not seen any changes for over 100 years.
Industry experts said multiple sectors such as e-grocery, food delivery and fuel delivery have seen hyper-growth during this time, as many first time consumers have adopted on-demand services during the pandemic.
“We are already seeing such high stickiness in sectors such as grocery where many customers continued to buy online even after the lockdown. We expect to see even high growth in on-demand fuel-delivery services even after normal commute patterns are established – especially if price parity is maintained,” Sandeep Ganediwalla, managing partner, RedSeer Consulting, told Arabian Business.
Holburn-Archer said CAFU has been registering a month-on-month growth in fuel sales as opposed to brick-and-mortar petrol stations, after it decided to permanently remove its delivery fee on fuel on-demand.
“This has meant the company’s customers getting fuel delivered to them at the same price as at a petrol station, besides the convenience of on-demand and contactless services which are added benefits as we navigate this pandemic,” she said.
“When we launched our on-demand fuel delivery in 2018, it was the first time anyone in the region had created a service of bringing fuel to your vehicle anytime and anywhere with convenience, with a view to simply making life better for our customers.
“Two years on, we are witnessing a significant and continuous increase in the number of customers who are choosing our simpler, smarter, and convenient on-demand car services,” she said.
She also revealed that CAFU is working on plans for a huge expansion in its on-demand delivery services bouquet.
“We have big ambitions and will keep using our technology to continuously find ways to make life better for our customers, so we definitely have plans to include more of such services in the near future,” she said.
With its on-demand fuel supply getting traction with consumers in the Gulf region, CAFU has been adding more services related to vehicle servicing such as car wash, engine oil change, tyre change and battery change.
Holburn-Archer said the company has no plans currently to enter into strategic partnerships for growing the business.
“At present, we are solely focused on evolving and growing to provide our customers with the most convenient, simpler, and smarter services,” she said, when asked about industry rumours of the company being in talks with some of the players in the oil and industry for striking a partnership deal.
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