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- 01 Oct
Incorporating weather conditions and forecasts into fuel pricing strategies
The October issue of NACS Magazine has a great article “Weathering the Storm” discussing how weather impacts both fuel and in-store sales. Perhaps the best quote in the article is this: “As a stand-alone discipline, focusing on weather impact seems perhaps overstated, but as part of an overall retailing strategy it is essential, especially when it comes to reinforcing your brand’s value.”
The importance of incorporating weather into your fuel pricing strategy is a concept we at PriceAdvantage have embraced for a long time. It is in this vein that PriceAdvantage offers a free weather widget that not only shows current weather conditions at the store location, but a six day forecast, and a three day weather history as well. Ice storm in the forecast for Dallas? Prepare for virtually no traffic on that day. Nor’easter predicted to hit Boston this weekend? Plan on increased traffic exiting the city for home ahead of it, and increased skier traffic to the mountains after it.
Weather is a critical aspect of retail fuel pricing that makes optimization economic models on their own simply not good enough. Economic models are based on all things being equal. Introduce a random major weather event, and suddenly all things are not equal. Successful retail fuel pricing strategies must incorporate the wisdom and insight that only the fuel analyst and field intelligence can provide. That’s what we mean when we describe the “art and science” of fuel pricing.
NACS board member Chris Gheysens says in the article “It’s time to see weather as an opportunity … Understand what it does to you and solve for it going forward, coming up with different strategies.”
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