Parkland teams up with Amazon Web Services to accelerate digital transformation

CALGARY, Alberta, July 22, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Parkland Corporation ("Parkland", "we", the "Company", or "our") (TSX:PKI) announced it is collaborating with Amazon Web Services (“AWS”) to further strengthen its customer value proposition and loyalty initiatives and accelerate its digital transformation. With AWS as its strategic digital provider, Parkland intends to tap into leading expertise in machine learning and analytics to improve its logistics and enable frictionless commerce.

“We are excited to be teaming up with AWS to advance our strategic priorities and support our ambitious organic growth targets,” said Ian White, Senior Vice President Strategic Marketing and Innovation at Parkland. “AWS is a renowned global technology leader who is laser-focused on customer experience and innovation.”

“Across our growing business in North America, the Caribbean, Central and South America, we complete over one million customer transactions every day,” added White. “Through digital, we will build on this unique perspective and uncover valuable insights into our customers’ needs and preferences to provide enhanced services, products and personalized offers.”

Parkland has been building its internal capabilities to leverage digital technology trends for some time. It has identified several technologies and customer-centric opportunities that support organic growth. These include:

• Loyalty program data optimization (including the Canadian JOURNIE™ rewards loyalty program) and personalized customer offers;
• Real-time price optimization using enhanced data feeds and machine learning;
• Progressing our vision for the convenience store of the future.

Moving forward, additional strategic opportunities include monitoring fuel inventories in real-time and optimizing routing and distribution, harnessing digital to help scale the business without adding significant cost and complexity, and improving the speed and efficiency of M&A integration.

“By embracing digital, we will strengthen our position as a leading fuel and convenience marketer and believe that through enhanced customer focus we can drive organic revenue growth and margin expansion,” added White. “Digital services are changing constantly and teaming up with AWS helps us channel those developments to elevate our customer focus and enhance our core competencies of retailing, customer loyalty, pricing, supply and distribution.”

About Parkland Corporation

Parkland is an independent supplier and marketer of fuel and petroleum products and a leading convenience store operator. Parkland services customers across Canada, the United States, the Caribbean region and the Americas through three channels: Retail, Commercial and Wholesale. Parkland optimizes its fuel supply across these three channels by operating and leveraging a growing portfolio of supply relationships and storage infrastructure. Parkland provides trusted and locally relevant fuel brands and convenience store offerings in the communities it serves.

Parkland creates value for shareholders by focusing on its proven strategy of growing organically, realizing a supply advantage and acquiring prudently and integrating successfully. At the core of our strategy are our people, as well as our values of safety, integrity, community and respect, which are embraced across our organization.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking information and statements (collectively, "forward-looking statements”). When used in this news release the words "further", "intends", "advance", "build", "believe", “potential” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements with respect to: Parkland's ability to strengthen its customer value proposition and loyalty initiatives and accelerate its digital transformation; Parkland's ability to tap into AWS' leading expertise in machine learning, artificial intelligence, logistics and frictionless commerce; Parkland's belief that teaming up with AWS will advance strategic priorities; Parkland's expectation that the collaboration will allow it to provide enhanced services, products and personalized offers; Parkland's expectation that the collaboration with AWS will allow for the monitoring fuel inventories in real-time, the optimization of routing and distribution, allow Parkland to harness digital to help scale business without adding significant cost and complexity, and improve the speed and efficiency of M&A integration. Forward-looking statements are based on Parkland's current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions that were made by the company in light of its information available at the time the statement was made. These forward-looking statements consider Parkland and AWS' experience and Parkland's expectations and assumptions concerning: capital efficiencies and cost savings; the adoption and implementation of technology; the sufficiency of budgeted capital expenditures in carrying out planned activities; the availability and cost of labour and services.

No assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. See the risks and uncertainties described in "Forward-Looking Information" and "Risk Factors" included in Parkland's Annual Information Form dated March 30, 2020 and in "Forward-Looking Information" and "Risk Factors" in the Q1 2020 MD&A, which are filed on SEDAR and available on the Parkland website at . The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

For Further Information

Investor Inquiries

Brad Monaco

Director, Capital Markets

587-997-1447

Media Inquiries

Leroy McKinnon

Senior Specialist, Corporate Communications

403-567-2573