A new rival station, known the next morning

Ali manages forty fuel stations across Bahrain for a big energy company. When a rival opens down the road, his sales there drop by a fifth within weeks. He hears about it from the station manager, a month late. By then the rival has its regulars, and his price changes and promotions come too late. With xMap Flows, Ali built Polaris. Every morning at six, across the whole of Bahrain, Polaris scans the maps for fuel stations, picks out the ones that were not there before, finds which of Ali’s stations each is closest to, keeps those within three kilometres, and emails that area’s manager the same morning. On Sunday, Polaris spots a new station on the Riffa highway, two kilometres from one of Ali’s busiest. His area manager has a car wash offer and a coffee deal ready that week. Sales there hold steady, and the rival’s first month is quiet. Ali used to hear about rivals from his managers. Now they hear it from him.

The story in words