The FINANCIAL — The oil-product market comprises a wide range of suppliers. Despite this fact, Wissol, Eko Georgia and Socar are distinguished as the main leaders of the market.
These companies have a wide net, but still they are being competed against by “ordinary” petrol stations: on the whole, such companies comprise about 18% of the market. This seems to be a small number from first sight, but if we take into consideration the leader of the market, Wisol, which comprises 28.2%; Lukoil – 25.8%; and Rompetrol, being in third position – 15.7%, the number given above will not seem so insignificant.
The comparison of data for the different months reveals that the unsteadiness of customers mostly relates to large brands, the main competitors: Wissol, Lukoil and Rompetrol. The number of customers of ordinary petrol stations is almost invariable. We should not exclude that in the mentioned category over some months various patrol stations entered, but as for the large brands, from the point of view of competition this case has no essential importance.
Companies Eko Georgia and Socar were not affected by an unsteady number of customers. These companies seem to be distinguished by stable peculiarities, which encourage customers to use their service.
During the period of October 2009 including December 2009 the customer numbers of oil-market leaders Wissol, lukoil and Rompetrol decreased. In the case of Wissol and Rompetrol this tendency of reduction continued in to January. By that time company Lukoil has been increasing and become the inevitable leader.
In February the situation radically changed – Wissol returned to lead position. The number of the Wissol’s customers is decreasing in the same proportion as it increased in January. The number of Rompetrol’s customers increased, but not to the same degree as Wissol’s customers and takes third position between the main competitors.
In March and April Wissol preserved stability – the position of leader and the stable tendency of increasing customers. Lukoil preserved positions till March, although in April the number of its customers decreased. However the situation is different for Rompetrol – the number of the customers decreased by March and increased by April and equalizes the number of Lukoil’s customers.
After establishing the number and changeability of the customers, the reason why customer prefer to use the service of the particular petrol station is interesting.
The reason they choose a particular petrol station – low price, became clear in January and the following period. This might depend upon January – on the financial side during the Georgian New Year period, and further, during the following months, the likelihood of this reason gradually decreases.
The chart shows the index of the main reason – the price of the petrol is satisfied, stated by the customers of different companies in different periods of time.
In the case of Wissol – stating the quality of the product as a reason for using their service from October till February is distinguished by an unstable dynamic. It can be said mostly about January. In January the reason for using their service was not the quality of the product. After February Wissol improved its stability and most of the customers stated that the main reason is the high quality produce. The tendency is progressive – Wissol seems to pay more attention to the quality of the product, other reasons are considered additional components. Accordingly Wissol keeps the progressive tendency in increasing the number of its customers.
In the case of Lukoil, an ordinary petrol station – the satisfaction by quality of the product is changeable over seven months. Changes in quality of the product are not straightforward – it is high in some months and low in others. Such changes in quality are in direct proportion with the number of customers. When the quality decreases gradually the category which uses the service of the company is the one who is satisfied by the mentioned quality. But the process of changing the provider company goes on for a long time. If the changing of the quality frequent and unstable the customer, to say it simply, becomes tired of waiting or just has no will to waste any time and prefers to change the supplier company as quickly as possible.
For Rompetrol, Eko Georgia and Socar satisfaction with the quality of product is changeable. During some periods the satisfaction increases, but then decreases. The satisfaction with the changing quality of these companies is straight lined and sequential. Several months are not distinguished by zigzags. If we don’t mention that changes are expected, we can suppose that the companies Rompetrol, Eko Georgia and Socar have possessed a certain segment of the market by their peculiar quality and number of their customers.
The customer market experiences changes constantly. In most some competitive companies strengthen their position on the market by a straight lined workable layout, such as Wissol – as a principle of necessity, serious changes in other Oil Product Supplier Companies may be expected. Supposedly, the changes will be directed towards improving the quality of petrol – the number of the customers is mainly dependent on the quality of the provided product.
