ABSTRACT
Take petrol, for example. All petrol of the same grade is basically the same regardless of whether it is sold by Shell, Texaco, BP or anyone else. Even the price does not vary greatly between different petrol retailers in the same locality. However, every petrol company presents its petrol to the public in a slightly different way. Some have a mini supermarket on the forecourt, others just a small shop. Some offer tokens, gifts, loyalty cards and other promotional inducements, others don’t. Some concentrate on big trunk-road sites, others go for smaller urban locations. Some put their staff in uniform, others don’t. And overall, the style, decor, layout and advertising of the different companies are distinctly different.
