Quality Mart streamlines curbside pickup with leading-edge technology

A regional convenience store operator is making curbside pickup of online orders as seamless as possible.

Southeast fuel/convenience store operator Quality Oil is deploying the Swipeby geofencing-based curbside pickup platform at five select locations of its Quality Mart banner in the Winston-Salem, N.C. market. The deployment is taking place during April 2022.

The Swipeby platform is designed to help small-to-medium-sized convenience and foodservice retailers compete with larger, food-oriented drive-thru retailers by providing a geofenced “virtual drive-thru” solution. In addition to enabling convenience store retailers to seamlessly fulfill curbside pickup orders when customers arrive, the solution also allows users to acquire customer delivery data they can leverage to drive marketing efforts with existing and potential customers.

In one example of how larger foodservice retailers are leveraging geofencing technology for their curbside pickup options, national quick-service chain Panera offers an option for customers that allows for fast, contactless delivery right to their cars. curbside pickup service enabled by geofencing technology. For the customer who orders and opts in to the service, the Panera location will be notified automatically when the customer arrives.

Here’s how Panera’s curbside program works: The customer places an order for curbside and, in the ''special instructions,'' specifies the make, model and color of the vehicle they will arrive in. Upon arrival, the customer parks in the parking lot and, for those who have opted-in, a Panera employee brings the order out to the car without any action needed by the customer. Those who don't opt-in to the service tap ''I'm here'' in the MyPanera app or order confirmation email upon arrival.

“We have always believed in providing our customers with the best possible products and the highest level of service each and every time,” said Sam Metzler, senior VP with Quality Oil Company, the parent company of Quality Mart convenience store. “That’s why we jumped at this opportunity with Swipeby not only to extend that philosophy, but to think of new ways to deliver on this promise. We are really excited about this opportunity with an industry innovator like Swipeby.”

“It is pretty clear that the trend toward greater demand for ordering-to-curbside pickup due to societal and convenience issues is pushing us to think broader and more outside the box in terms of our type of retail technology,” said Carl Turner, Swipeby CEO and founder. “There are so many applications for it and we feel these pilots with large convenience store chains will say a lot to the market. We are excited about starting the Quality Mart pilot and creating an innovative solution for other c-stores.”

Quality Oil owns gas stations and convenience stores under the brand names of Quality Mart, Quality Plus, and Gogas. Quality Oil is headquartered in Winston-Salem, N.C. and has gas stations and convenience stores throughout the Southeast.