How Wawa is catering to customers with new convenient offerings

Wawa has always been proud of its culture of innovation. So, when customers and associates expressed a preference for an even more customized experience, Wawa rose to the challenge. Thinking big, they asked: How can technology enhance the more than 400 million customer interactions and over 40,000 associates without sacrificing personal connections?

“We want to continue to push the limits of what it means to be innovative while staying true to our commitment to provide Boundless Convenience™,” noted John Collier, Chief Information Officer, Wawa. “By offering more personal choices and more ordering options, we are better able to support our incredible associates to deliver even greater customer service.”
 

“Constellation Research (pdf) revealed that 77% of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) rate digital transformation as the top priority,” said Jeff Fialko, Wawa Client Service Partner, Ernst & Young LLP. “However, if technology does not enhance the customer’s experience, it won’t drive the desired outcome. That’s why it was important for EY practitioners to join Wawa in both understanding and delivering on its differentiating role in the customer value chain equation.”

How uniting technology and people can drive change

Wawa’s goal is to create a unified commerce strategy — augmenting human action with digital enhancements for greater experiences for both customers and associates. It’s important for Wawa to be available whenever and wherever its customers want. So, Wawa turned to EY professionals, and other key partners, to run several customer persona workshops. Using data and user research, the EY team documented current and potential Wawa consumer needs and buying motivations.

Customer feedback indicated Wawa needed to offer a consistent experience in-store and online. As a result, Wawa set out to utilize new user interface-optimized omnichannel retail options to create a world-class multichannel environment across the web and mobile applications — offering automation and personalization for customers.

“It’s always been our goal to continually adapt to changing customer demands and market trends,” said Collier.“Because of that, we are investing in technology to help meet our customers’ needs using several channels and platforms thus providing more choices and convenience.” 

With today’s consumers having more buying options and demanding more personalized interactions with the companies they choose to shop with, retailers must be prepared to find innovative ways to respond by improving their individual roles within the customer value chain. Technology can be the differentiator businesses need to maintain a competitive advantage.

Wawa’s creative digital transformation is already exceeding consumer and associate expectations while driving significant growth. The catering business is expected to drive new business sales and the Wawa rewards program has been recognized twice by Loyalty360 Awards — in 2020 Wawa received a Platinum award for business transformation and in 2021, they received a Silver award for leveraging customer insights. On top of that, Wawa’s people-centric approach has even positioned the company in the 12th spot nationally on Forbes top Halo 100 list for 2022. These awards showcase Wawa’s commitment to delivering excellent customer experiences.

The new catering business will be successfully deployed with over 950 Wawa stores expected to have catering by the end of 2022. Every customer will be able to order Wawa signature products sold in-store or online through the new catering service for events, milestones and celebrations.

But in true Wawa fashion, the job is never done. Customers will continue to see advancements. Technology will continue to support associates in delivering even better customer service, leading to further increased customer satisfaction scores.

“At Wawa, we believe success and growth come down to our people, our culture and our customers,” said Chris Gheysens, Chief Executive Officer, Wawa. “Innovation helps us support our communities and we will continue to listen and further refine our offerings to continually meet each person who interacts with our company.”