All Petrom filling stations in Romania operating under Full Agency System

• Transfer of filling stations to Full Agency system completed
• Approximately 300 dealers administrate the Petrom filling stations in Romania

Petrom, the largest oil and gas producer in South Eastern Europe, finalized the transfer process of all of the approximately 500 Petrom filling stations operated in Romania to the Full Agency administration system. Under this system the management and personnel of filling stations are transferred to a third party (independent dealers).

Tamas Mayer, member of Petrom Executive Board, in charge of Marketing: “We introduced this administration system in order to increase the commercial performance of Petrom’s network of filling stations, by granting income depending on the results obtained by each unit. The purpose of the change is to give an incentive to the filling stations employees by having them more involved into achieving the sales objectives and customers’ satisfaction.”

The process of transferring the stations from the COCO system (company owned company operated) to the Full Agency system (CODO – company owned dealer operated) lasted less than three years as it started in 2005. The selection of dealers, both from within the company as well as from outside, was carried out through centers of objective analyses, organized by an independent recruitment company, namely Bernard Brunhes. Around 300 dealers were selected and trained by Petrom teams and the employees of the filling stations received a labor offer from the new administrators.

The Full Agency concept is successfully used in many countries and brought significant results in terms of commercial performance for the companies that implemented it. Petrom still is the owner of the filling stations, establishes the company standards, products portfolio working procedures, prices policy and promotional campaigns. The key for success is the standardization process that requires the same quality level of products and services in all filling stations. This objective is achieved following regular training sessions for dealers, a strict control through area managers and measurement of customers’ satisfaction by specific research.

“I am convinced that this administration system significantly contributed to the increase in the throughput per station, which will allow us to reach before the time planned our objective of annual sales of 2.9 mn liters/station. This year, in the first nine months only, the fuel sales volume of the entire network increased by 23% comparing to the same period last year and the non-oil segment recorded an improvement of 76% comparing to the same period of 2006”, added Mayer.