Introduction

Based on Verdict's proprietary market data and insight into key fuel retailers, this brief provides you with an up-to-date picture of the fuel retailing market in Bulgaria. In addition to outlining service station numbers, fuel sales, competitor shares, and fuel and site forecasts, it also details retailers' c-store, car wash, and unmanned site numbers with an overview of their product offerings.

Features and benefits

• Benchmark your service station retail offer against the major national players in the sector by examining their number of sites, shops and car washes.
• Develop new marketing ideas for your service station shop, car wash and card propositions by examining the activities of key players across Bulgaria.
• Make informed pitches to potential partners by gaining insights into the major retailers’ networks, market shares, fuel throughputs, and future plans.
• Assess overall market entry potential by accessing key market indicators including registered cars, national fuel volumes, and average prices.

Highlights

In Bulgaria, the total number of service stations increased by 12% to 3,142 sites in the year to January 2011. In 2010, total fuel volume sales in Bulgaria dropped by a dramatic 17.2% on the previous year, as sales of both petrol and diesel fell significantly.

The top five fuel players in Bulgaria by fuel sales account for only 27.9% of all service stations in the country, making it a very fragmented market. Petrol Bulgaria is the largest player in terms of site numbers, with 11.8% of outlets operating under its brand.

Service station shops are present at 68% of sites in Bulgaria. The total number of sites with a shop in Bulgaria rose by 13% in the year to January 2011, in line with the rise of the total number of service stations. The service station car wash market is quite underdeveloped, with less than 5% of sites featuring a car wash.

Your key questions answered

• Who are the top five players in the Bulgarian service station retail market and how many sites, shops, and car washes do they have?
• What is the market share and average fuel throughput per site of the top five players in Bulgaria?
• How is the service station network evolving and which players are opening new outlets, as well as increasing forecourt shops and car washes?
• What strategies do the key players have across their fuel and non-fuel offerings in terms of products sold, branding, partnerships and suppliers used?