A Growth Engine for Europe

In 2011, Guillaume Bort and Hervé Degrève spotted a gap in the online market. In 2012, they were the first to launch a 24/7 online ordering service for domestic heating oil. They then opened a Google AdWords account to promote the service. As a young contender in the heating oil market, FioulReduc faces stiff competition from major multinationals. “AdWords helped us gain visibility, bring traffic to our site and raise funds for new marketing campaigns. This let us grow at our own pace, while monitoring the investment we’d made,” explains Hervé. AdWords quickly proved to be one of the most effective advertising tools they tried, bringing them more customers, more sales and greater recognition: “We gained traffic without a lot of resources, and ultimately attracted 500,000 qualified prospects and 50,000 customers in France – half of whom are still loyal to us.” Having originally started with its two founders, the company now boasts ten employees. “We hope to employ a further five people by the end of this year.” Hervé Degrève wants to develop the company’s activities and conquer 10% of the market – making it one of France’s top three retailers for domestic heating oil. “Because AdWords is easy to use, we were able to make the best use of our budget from the start. I especially love how effective, ergonomic and intuitive the user interface is. Google has helped us to go head to head with the industry giants despite our modest resources.”