Benzina, the largest network of filling stations in the Czech Republic, continues expanding its retail network in Slovakia. Five more Benzina stations have been opened in recent weeks following the first Slovak outlet launched in Malacky in April. Drivers in Slovakia can now fill up their cars with high-quality Efecta and Verva fuels in six locations. Benzina wants to continue its expansion in the coming years and aims to cover the entire territory of Slovakia and become one of the major players on the local market.
Five new Benzina stations have been opened in Slovakia in recent weeks. Besides Malacky, the end-to-end offer of Benzina fuels is now available in Holice at Dunajská Streda, Lužianky at Nitra, Šelpice at Trnava, Šurany at Nové Zámky and Strečno. All of them are modern, renovated sites taken over from their previous operators.
“When entering the Slovak market this spring, our plan was to operate about ten filling stations by the end of the year. We are quickly approaching this target because we are now finalising the talks with other operators who are interested in coming under our brand. But it is still true that we prefer adherence to our planned business model to a high pace of development,” says Tomasz Wiatrak, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Unipetrol Group which also includes Benzina.
Benzina plans to build as wide a network in Slovakia as possible in the coming years and to become a significant player on the market which currently includes about 900 petrol stations. Almost half of them belong to the three largest chains. Still, the traditional brand has seen major interest among station operators in Slovakia. Besides renovations of the existing stations, Benzina plans to build brand-new sites, including self-service stations. It puts great emphasis on the consistent implementation of its business model with top quality and customer satisfaction being the main pillars.
This strategy is already bearing fruits. The popularity of high-quality additivated fuels, Efecta 95 and Efecta Diesel, with a purification effect and of premium fuels Verva 100 and Verva Diesel with Slovak customers keeps growing. Just like in Malacky, the renovation of the exterior of the new stations will next year be followed by the interior modernisation and expanded offer of supplementary goods and services, including the Stop Cafe fast-food concept which offers delicious coffee according to an original Belgian recipe and variations of the popular hot dog. “We are also working hard on the introduction of customer fuel cards as we know them from the Czech market. Our Tank Karta Business card could be available to Slovak customers by the end of this year,” Marek Zouvala, Director of the Benzina network, speaks about the coming plans.
Benzina has decided to return to Slovakia after 15 years. The brand was born in the then Czechoslovakia in 1958. After 1989, Benzina was transferred to private owners and temporarily lost the right to use the brand on the Slovak market. Benzina is coming back to Slovakia as a leader on the Czech market where it operates the widest network of 413 filling stations and controls 24% of the market by the volume of fuels sold. Benzina is part of the international Orlen Group, which operates nearly three thousand petrol stations in five countries (Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Lithuania and Slovakia).