What ever Happened to Mobil Super

Exxon Mobil has too many different oils that really aren't necessary. For instance, why do they need to offer two bottom tier synthetics? They've got Mobil Synthetic and then Mobil Super Synthetic. I'm not sure who they are catering to with each of those different lower tier products? Most people are going to go for Mobil 1 anyway, and anyone wanting to save a bit of money only really needs one choice below M1. Besides, I think their target market of people who want to save money but still get synthetic, are going to go for Kirkland Synthetic (especially right now when it's on sale for $15 a jug!) or Supertech.

Not to mention the fact that they still have Mobil Super and Mobil Super synthetic blend. Way too many choices. It's like when you go into a diner and their menu is 40 pages long. Just keep it simple or you'll confuse your customers.
 
It’s their distributor fighting brand. Much like formula Shell is for Shell. Or Chevron’s super syn.

Sold very inexpensively for a branded at the wholesale level. Having a high retail / list price is part of the game. So you can show cost savings to large buyers.
 
Patman said:
Exxon Mobil has too many different oils that really aren't necessary. For instance, why do they need to offer two bottom tier synthetics? They've got Mobil Synthetic and then Mobil Super Synthetic. I'm not sure who they are catering to with each of those different lower tier products? Most people are going to go for Mobil 1 anyway, and anyone wanting to save a bit of money only really needs one choice below M1. Besides, I think their target market of people who want to save money but still get synthetic, are going to go for Kirkland Synthetic (especially right now when it's on sale for $15 a jug!) or Supertech.

Not to mention the fact that they still have Mobil Super and Mobil Super synthetic blend. Way too many choices. It's like when you go into a diner and their menu is 40 pages long. Just keep it simple or you'll confuse your customers.
Click to expand...


See my last post.


Every major has a retail facing brand and has a wholesale / distributor fighting brand. Mobil Super Synthetic is this. It’s their distributor focused branded product. So when’s distributor sells a quick lube, that quick lube can sell a “Mobil full synthetic oil change” for whatever amount.

Shell/Rotella had Rimula. So it went Rimula / T3 or Triple protection / T5 / T6.

Now it’s “T2 Fleet” / T4 / T5 / T6.


Installers (quick lubes, fleets, etc.) tend to get mad when retail sales are equal to their wholesale price.

P66 has their Fleet Supreme EC series.
Citgo has Citguard 600.
Chevron has Ursa and Chevron Super Syn.
Shell has Formula Shell and T2 Fleet.
Mobil is Mobil Super.

They tend to be very limited SKU’s / Formulations.
 
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Hypothetical Mobil pricing:

Mobil 1 AFE 5w30 - $24.99 at Walmart for a 5qt jug. Probably around $15-16 a gallon bulk to an installer from a distributor.

Mobil Super full synthetic 5w30 - $11-12 a gallon bulk to an installer from a distributor.

The installer just wants the Mobil branding. Whether it’s Mobil 1 or Mobil Super doesn’t matter to them. The branding and program matters. So they’re going to go with the cheaper product. The ~1% of people getting their oil changed there who recognize the difference, probably isn’t shopping there. So it’s worth the $4-5 a gallon difference when you’re selling 3000-4000 gallons a year.
 
Invisible said:
All Mobil 1 AFE lubes are 0W-XX. IIRC, Mobil introduced the AFE branding to separate the 0W lubes from the rest of their vanilla lineup. I believe you were referring to Mobil 1 5W-30 vanilla.
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Please note the word Hypothetical.

None of that is real. The pricing is fiction. It was not meant to be a real example for several reasons. I could have used Mobil 1 Poop master 5w30 full synthetic vs Mobil Super Duper Poop 5w30 full synthetic.


It’s just simply a hypothetical example for pricing differences and the purpose of the different branding lines.
 
Foxtrot08 said:
Hypothetical Mobil pricing:

Mobil 1 AFE 5w30 - $24.99 at Walmart for a 5qt jug. Probably around $15-16 a gallon bulk to an installer from a distributor.

Mobil Super full synthetic 5w30 - $11-12 a gallon bulk to an installer from a distributor.

The installer just wants the Mobil branding. Whether it’s Mobil 1 or Mobil Super doesn’t matter to them. The branding and program matters. So they’re going to go with the cheaper product. The ~1% of people getting their oil changed there who recognize the difference, probably isn’t shopping there. So it’s worth the $4-5 a gallon difference when you’re selling 3000-4000 gallons a year.
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Appreciate the insight.

We see these lower tier synthetics at the retail level too, which, correct me if I'm wrong, but appears to be a tactic to gain in-store presence. I'm going to use Castrol for example. My local Walmart has GTX Full Synthetic again (silver bottle). They also still carry GTX blend (white bottle) and Edge.

So in this case, GTX Full Synthetic is the equivalent to Mobil Super Synthetic (which I completely understand the business case for with installers) but it's interesting to me that this middling tier of lower cost synthetic is offered in big-box stores. It's the same with Pennzoil. My Walmart of course carries Platinum but also has Pennzoil Full Synthetic and Full Synthetic High Mileage, right near Platinum and Platinum High Mileage. The price difference between the two lines is miniscule.

I've always thought this was a marketing strategy similar to Tide where the goal is to dominate as much shelf space as possible and have the consumer cross-shopping your own products against each other where either way they get your sale.
 
cheesepuffs2 said:
Appreciate the insight.

We see these lower tier synthetics at the retail level too, which, correct me if I'm wrong, but appears to be a tactic to gain in-store presence. I'm going to use Castrol for example. My local Walmart has GTX Full Synthetic again (silver bottle). They also still carry GTX blend (white bottle) and Edge.

So in this case, GTX Full Synthetic is the equivalent to Mobil Super Synthetic (which I completely understand the business case for with installers) but it's interesting to me that this middling tier of lower cost synthetic is offered in big-box stores. It's the same with Pennzoil. My Walmart of course carries Platinum but also has Pennzoil Full Synthetic and Full Synthetic High Mileage, right near Platinum and Platinum High Mileage. The price difference between the two lines is miniscule.

I've always thought this was a marketing strategy similar to Tide where the goal is to dominate as much shelf space as possible and have the consumer cross-shopping your own products against each other where either way they get your sale.
Click to expand...

So I’m by far not the most familiar with shelf space / retail / branding. But the little I know about it, you’re basically right.

It’s all about the shelf space. If Mobil or Castrol has a deal for XYZ square footage of shelf space as a retailer, they’re going to fill it. And you want more than one thing on the shelf. So you’re exactly right in that branding.

As well, the Oil maker, doesn’t set the price.

So again let’s use my hypothetical example;

Walmart runs Mobil Poop master 5w30 for 24.99 normally, its cost to Walmart is say $13 on the shelf. Walmart also runs Mobil Super Duper poop 5w30 for ~23.99. But its on the shelf cost is only ~$9.

People bargain hunting will buy the cheaper product. But Walmart makes a lot more per jug. And it fills shelf space, that Walmart is getting a kick back for. So it will be part of the request, when you get offered shelf space, to have tiers of products.
 
naterbomb said:
Super use to be my go to around 10 years ago, before jumping on the full synthetic train.

View attachment 217516
Click to expand...
Ran this as my go-to oil in everything circa late 90s. I remember when it changed to the 5k rating, didn't care and still changed @3k. A complete oil change *might* run you $12 if there were no sales running. An oil change at Jiffy was typically $29.99, for reference.

Was cheap and good and in stock everywhere but gas stations. A case (which I kept in the trunk of my 77 Granada) was about 12-15 bucks. Haha
 
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