In one of the biggest initiatives in the oil sector in the last three decades, Caltex service stations and convenience stores will be rebranded across South Africa. All 850 of its locations will be renovated and converted to Astron Energy during the next four years. On Thursday in Cape Town, the business unveiled one of its new look and space offers to customers. Astron Energy, established in 1911 under the name Texas Company and imported its first shipment of crude oil, is licensed by Chevron to maintain the Caltex brand. It produces and sells gasoline, aviation fuel, marine fuel, and liquefied gas. Rebranding is a component of the company’s diversification in a shifting market.
“The brand itself will attract that investment but off the back of the solid heritage that we have because we are an integrated company with a refinery and it’s really about executing on that integrated value chain, we believe we can execute better than anybody else given the market that we are in and as such provide the consumer with what they need and I think it’s not only about fuel,” says Astron Energy CEO Thabiet Booley.
Chuenespoort along the R37 in Limpopo, KwaMakhuta in Amanzimtoti, Nandi in eThekwini in KwaZulu-Natal, and MACS in Brooklyn in the Eastern Cape are the first Astron locations to display the new brand.
Significant renovations in a few locations across the nation will include convenience stores and other nearby shopping opportunities. According to Astron, the market analysis revealed a gap in the industry.
“We discovered that one of the things that we couldn’t just sell fuel we had to move just beyond fuel and make sure that we offer more than just fuel and that is why we spent a lot of time and effort in our fuel and non-fuel offerings. A lot is changed over the past 30 years but even more what has changed is actually the past two years due to covid cause what is happening is people working from home, hybrid, working from home and sometimes in the office and with that hybrid working model consumer preferences, especially shopping behaviors have changed a lot and that has impacted the retail sector and how people shop in convenience retail,” says Astron Energy Head of Marketing, Cambridge Mokonyane.
It claims that it would carry out its massive initiative over the following four years, making adjustments as necessary.
“We continue to streamline our presence and our participation strategy where it matters and it makes sense, we will grow our network, and suffice to say where people have moved along, to certain areas, we’ll move with the people. So it is essentially driven by the consumer,” says Astron Energy Head of Retail, Tebogo Mekoa.
Forecourts will be rebranded to Astron Energy by 20 regional teams operating concurrently across the nation. It claims that the rebranding won’t have an impact on employment and will generate construction activity where it’s needed.
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