How Data-Driven Segmentation Drove Diesel Sales Across Europe’s HGV Market

Introduction

​A major supplier of fuel to the European trucking market, needed to understand how to boost diesel sales across five priority countries (Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK) in the HGV sector (12+ ton trucks) of the European trucking market.

​Objective
The client required a research program designed to map the entire landscape: market size and structure; behaviors of fleet managers, owners, and drivers; use and effectiveness of fuel cards and technology such as fleet management systems, critical trends and issues, customer segmentation, and actionable growth opportunities. Their goal was to develop a robust, data-driven understanding of fuel-buying behavior by fleet type and size to enable them to directly target potential growth segments.

​Solution 
A multi-stage approach was developed, combining desk research, quantitative surveys, and qualitative interviews, to deliver a comprehensive view of the European HGV market.

• ​Desk Research: Established market size, structure, and key trends to frame the analysis.
• ​Quantitative Research: Surveyed 750 fleet managers, owners, and drivers across five countries to generate statistically robust insights on fleet and driver behaviors, refueling patterns, issues, and preferences.
• ​Qualitative Research: Conducted 17 in-depth interviews with fleet managers, truck drivers and card providers to validate survey findings, understand customer pain points, and uncover opportunities not visible through quantitative data.
• ​Segmentation & Market Sizing: Developed a behavioral segmentation framework with seven behaviorally distinct groups, identifying three high-value segments where the client was well-positioned to drive market share and loyalty.
• ​Where to Play and How to Win: Distilled and synthesized insights across all research stages into a unified strategic framework outlining segment sizing, unmet needs, targeting priorities, and potential winning strategies, thus helping the client determine where to compete and how to win across different fleet types and fleet manager/driver behaviors.​

​Outcome
The study equipped the client with actionable insights and a clear roadmap to drive growth, improve customer experience, optimize the value of refueling stations, and implement targeted strategies across different high-value HGV segments.

• ​Strategic Growth Roadmap: The study provided the client with a clear basis to develop new, segmentation-specific strategies for customer acquisition and revenue growth. High-value segments were identified for targeted campaigns and tailored service offerings.
• ​Enhanced Customer-Centric Approach: Insights highlighted critical pain points across fleets, refueling stations, and regions, enabling the client to reframe its customer engagement model. This guided the client to develop targeted, high-value sales and marketing strategies tailored to the distinct needs of fleet managers and drivers.
• ​Refueling Station & Service Improvements: Operational and regional challenges identified in the study informed the client of refueling station-level reforms, service enhancements, and resource allocation to address customer needs and increase satisfaction.
• ​Partner Integration & Collaboration: Understanding fleet behaviors and refueling patterns allowed the client to strategically collaborate with existing or new partners and co-create value-added services for fleet operators.

​Our team strategically combined AI agents with human-in-the-loop validation to accelerate research design, data analysis, and insights generation, delivering in just six months what typically takes a year, despite the project’s scale and complexity.

​Impact
The resulting final set of deliverables provided the client with actionable intelligence, equipping the client with the necessary intelligence to strengthen its presence in the European HGV fuels market, target high-growth segments, and optimize the value of refueling stations. The client was enabled to decide how best to exploit fuel cards and the technology associated with them, fleet management systems, and enhance customer engagement.