How AVIA Picoty Monitors and Improves the Performance of Its Service Stations

AVIA Picoty used Roamler's Mystery Shopping solution to identify best practices and areas for improvement across its French service station network.

The AVIA Picoty Group

Picoty is a French family business founded in 1922. An importer, stockholder and distributor of petroleum products, it joined the AVIA brand in 1950. With 300 service stations and around twenty subsidiaries, the group covers the whole of western France. Committed to the energy transition, it develops electric, gas, wood, solar and hydrogen mobility solutions. Picoty employs 1,300 people and reported a turnover of €2.3 billion in 2023, with half of its investment directed towards the transition.

Mystery Visits to Evaluate Service Stations

Roamler mystery shoppers visited the stations to assess the outside areas, the toilets, the shop, the food offer both on site and takeaway, and the coffee offer — from standard and premium vending machines through to Nespresso corners.

Each visit measured performance against four pillars:

1. Welcome and reception
2. Infrastructure maintenance
3. Cleanliness of areas
4. Product availability

The Results

Each pillar receives an overall score, giving a comparable performance picture across the 23 stations covered by this wave. Here is an overview of the summer wave.

The data confirmed the strengths of the highway network and pinpointed the stations needing targeted improvement. That distinction is what makes the exercise actionable: it gives operators something specific to work on rather than a general quality score.

In the Client's Words

Alexandre Despres Highway Sales Representative, AVIA Picoty

We have collected a lot of interesting data on the cleanliness of the areas, the availability of products, the welcome given to customers by the staff at the stations, all depending on the time of year, when activity can be very different – very intense during the school holidays and quieter the rest of the time. This makes it possible to compare and monitor service quality throughout the year.

The information gathered by mystery shoppers enables us to establish action plans and improve our performance.

The results of each wave are discussed with all our operators. This allows us to question ourselves in the event of problems or to continue to maintain our performance if the score is at its highest. In any case, the most important thing is to ensure that an area for improvement does not recur from one wave to the next. This allows us to adjust our actions to achieve excellence.

Roamler is a very good, efficient partner that provides good follow-up. The feedback at the end of each wave is particularly appreciated. Last but not least, the people we work with are highly qualified, great listeners who know how to adapt quickly to any changes.