OREANDA-NEWS. With 158 economy service stations opened in just three years and effective management of its service station network, LOTOS has markedly strengthened its position in the retail market.

In 2011, the Company built from scratch its own chain of budget service stations. As a result, LOTOS-branded stations have appeared in around one hundred new locations across Poland, creating approximately 1,500 new jobs.

Instead of large urban areas, most of the service stations were opened in small towns and settlements, where each new station is an important part of the local market landscape, usually contributing to stabilisation of fuel prices for the local people and driving competition between retailers to win new customers.

"Customers are very sensitive to the prices of fuels, and our economy segment perfectly fits with their expectations. We keep retail prices at our own LOTOS Optima stations below the national average," said Pawel Lisowski, President of the Management Board of LOTOS Paliwa.

A service station's efficiency is measured by the achieved margins, but it also depends on the level of costs it generates and, consequently, on its effective management. "The range of LOTOS Optima services is not as wide as in the premium segment, and we constantly revise our pricing policy for each location to maximise its efficiency. Consequently, fuel sales at some LOTOS Optima stations are comparable to sales recorded by our premium stations," Mr Lisowski added.

The rapid growth of the economy segment - 158 service stations in three years - has had another positive effect on the entire LOTOS network. New locations help to expand the portfolio of products and services offered under the LOTOS Biznes fleet programme for both international transit traffic and companies operating in Poland.

In spite of the vast number of independent stations and large chains populating the market, there remains a niche, which LOTOS Optima is successfully exploiting. There are plans to open several dozen new service stations by 2015. One of the LOTOS Group's strategic goals is to secure a 10% share in the domestic retail market by the end of 2015. As at the end of the first quarter of 2014 the share was 9.2%.