The other day my kid and I were driving around Santa Barbara, keeping an eye out for cheap gas, when we spotted a Vons gas station at an intersection. The price was indeed cheap, but only for Vons Club card holders.
Vons is a grocery store. That’s how it’s “branded”, or “positioned”, as the marketerati like to say. Or just how it is, actually. Far as I know, this is Vons’ only gas station. Every other Vons I’ve seen sells food, not fuel.
Anyway, I bring it up for two reasons. First, because we didn’t buy gas there, since we were not members of Vons Club. That club is exclusive, because we were excluded. Second, because the kid and I goofed on the company. “Where does their Club meet?” the kid wondered. “Do they have a secret handshake?” “Is gas a kind of food?” “Do they have a gas aisle at the store?” “Can only Club members go there?”
So, from a VRM angle, I wonder how much business Vons prevents with its Club card. I mean, besides ours? Does anybody have any figures on that kind of thing?