M&S Food and bp extend successful forecourt convenience relationship

bp and M&S have agreed to extend their convenience agreement until 2030, aiming to build on the ‎success of their 16-year collaboration and work together to evolve the forecourt offer as customers’ ‎behaviour changes over the next decade.‎

The pair first teamed up in 2005 to introduce M&S Food stores at bp retail sites in Great Britain and ‎transformed the market by offering a tailored curated range of fresh quality food for the customer on ‎the move. M&S Food is now available at almost 300 bp-operated sites across Great Britain.‎

“We’re proud to continue to build on nearly two decades of our great partnership with M&S, one of the ‎UK’s leading food retailers,” says Alex Jensen, bp’s senior vice president for mobility and convenience, ‎Europe and Southern Africa.

“Of course, our sites provide advanced fuels, but our customers also want high-quality healthy food ‎options, for now and for later. And they also want increasingly convenient ways to buy that fit in with ‎their busy lifestyles. bp’s partnership with M&S Food has led the way in the UK and we aim to continue ‎to innovate and grow to meet our customers’ needs,” continues Jensen.‎

M&S chief operating officer and M&S Food managing director Stuart Machin said: “M&S Food ‎is ‎famous for great quality food at fantastic value and over the past 16 years our partnership with ‎bp has ‎given many more customers the opportunity to enjoy our wide range of delicious ‎sandwiches, meals ‎and everyday staples in almost 300 locations across Great Britain.‎

“This extended commitment will enable us to work together to invest in the look and feel of the ‎stores, ‎building on the M&S renewal programme, and our supply chain to maximize availability ‎and reduce food ‎waste.”‎

Convenience – a key contributor to bp’s strategy

The convenience sector continues to grow, fuelled by changing consumer demands – shopping little ‎and more often and topping up at convenience stores, and the growing trend for delivered food. During ‎lockdown, customers were buying 20% more at bp forecourt stores and this trend continues as the ‎forecourt becomes an integral part of the community.

Based on Euromonitor analysis, in 45 of the leading economies of the world convenience is expected to ‎nearly double by 2030, growing at more than 5% a year.‎

Today, customers can choose from a wide range of curated M&S Food products with some bp stores ‎stocking up to 1,300 different M&S Food products.‎

Over the past 16 years, customers have bought 13 million bunches of flowers, 25 million bottles of ‎wine and 14 million packets of Percy pigs. And just in the past three years, customers have bought 28 ‎million bottles of milk and 22 million loaves of bread.

With around half of forecourt transactions today being retail only (not involving fuel), we can see that ‎customers enjoy the appeal and convenience of M&S Food at bp.‎