LAVAL, Quebec — The rebranding of the global Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. convenience store and gas station network begins in January 2016, according to CSPnet.com.
Couche-Tard plans to consolidate its Circle K, Kangaroo Express, Mac’s and Statoil retail brands worldwide to create a new, redesigned convenience brand under Circle K, stated the article.
The company expects the rebranding to take around three years to complete, reported the article, and customers in Europe will start to see the new brand on gas stations starting in May 2016, while Canadian customers outside of Quebec will not see the new brand until May or June 2017.
The rebranding does not put a stop to acquisitions for Couche-Tard, added the article.
The company was in the process of closing a deal to acquire 13 Fast Max c-stores from Kocolene Marketing LLC in Indiana during the rebranding announcement on Sept. 22, the article continued.
“We do acquisitions all the time,” said Darrell Davis, senior vice president of operations for Couche Tard, in the article. “Any new-to-industry (NTI) stores will get the new Circle K brand image as soon as it’s available.”
Davis is heading the Kangaroo Express transformation, noted the article, which will be completed within six to nine months.
Professional Carwashing & Detailing recently featured the Kangaroo Express transformation in a past edition of Carwash eNews. You can find that coverage here.
“The executive team met for over a year and a half. We ‘arm wrestled’ all of our different [brands], and we asked, ‘Do we continue to have all these different brands, or do we unite under one brand?’ What are the advantages and disadvantages of both? We all agreed on the advantages of one global brand,” stated Davis in the article. “The second question was, ‘What’s the right brand?’ Circle K is a global brand now. … We decided Circle K had more brand awareness than the other brands. … The advantages of a global brand just make sense — from advertising, to procurement, to synergies, to recognition [and] to similar products.”
You can find the article here.
