by John Keller | Aug 14, 2012 | Fuel Pricing Strategy, Retail Fuel Margins
Valero Corner Store extends gasoline pricing strategy to GasBuddy.
Valero Corner Stores is the second PriceAdvantage customer to extend their gasoline pricing strategy to the web via GasBuddy OpenStore. Rutter’s Farm Stores is also using GasBuddy OpenStore to publish their gasoline pricing to the Web. Corner Store and Rutter’s locations now appear on their GasBuddy browser map with their gasoline prices, easy for consumers to find.
Valero and Rutter’s recognizes that a key part of the fuel price optimization strategy is to not only push prices to the store POS, pumps and gas price signs, but to push it to the web as well. With the advent of smart phones and the plethora of gas price smart phone apps, travelers can now easily check the price of gasoline while on the go, and that means the fuel price optimization strategy must include marketing gasoline prices via virtual gas price signs on these apps.
by John Keller | Aug 13, 2012 | Fuel Pricing Strategy, Industry News
US EIA reports a $0.076 fuel price increase from last week.
In today’s Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update, the US EIA reported regular unleaded retail fuel prices across the US increased for the 6th consecutive week, this time by $0.076 per gallon to $3.72. Fuel prices are now at levels last seen May 21, 2012. Unleaded regular fuel prices are now $0.117 per gallon higher than one year ago.
Retail gasoline prices increased everywhere tracked by the US EIA except the state of Ohio which saw a $0.126 per gallon drop, and the cities of Chicago and Cleveland which saw a $0.020 and a $0.102 per gallon drop, respectively.
The biggest fuel price increase was found in California at $0.228 per gallon, with a $0.28 increase in San Francisco and a $0.219 in Los Angeles.
From the fuel price management perspective, the Fuel Manager should use this data in their fuel price optimization software to optimize the gasoline pricing strategy in each of their markets.
by John Keller | Aug 13, 2012 | Fuel Pricing Strategy, Industry News
US EIA reports gasoline fuel consumption increases in April and May over 2011.
In the US Energy Information Administration report “Today in Energy” dated August 13, 2012, the US EIA reported gasoline consumption was up slightly in April and May this year compared to last. Bucking the trend going on for years, April 2012 showed a one month consumption increase of 55 thousand bbl/d compared to 2011. May 2012 showed a consumption increase of 200 thousand bbl/d compared to the same month previous year.
U.S. gasoline consumption peaked in 2007 at 9.3 million bbl/d and fell by an average of 3.2% (300 thousand bbl/d) in 2008 due to the recession and high gasoline prices, which topped $4 per gallon in June and July 2008. Gasoline consumption remained flat the next two years, increasing by just 0.1% in 2009 and falling slightly in 2010. In 2011 gasoline consumption fell by 2.9% (260 thousand bbl/d) from the year before.
The first three months of this year, gasoline consumption averaged 124 thousand bbl/d lower compared to last year.
From a Fuel Price Management perspective, this data is critical for comparing overall market size fluctuations vs. differences year over year, and manipulating the gasoline pricing strategy for various markets.
by John Keller | Aug 9, 2012 | Retail Fuel Margins
Susser announces retail fuel margins of $0.324 in Q2.
Susser announced in their 2012 Q2 report retail fuel margins of $0.324 per gallon, slightly above the retail fuel margins of $$0.312 in the same quarter last year. For the first six months of 2012, retail fuel margins are at $0.23, essentially unchanged from the same period last year.
Retail fuel volumes per store reached 30,800 per week, up from 28,600 from the same period last year. Susser operates approximately 545 convenience stores across Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico under the Stripes name.
by John Keller | Aug 9, 2012 | Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
Delek US Holdings reports retail fuel margins of $0.182 for Q2.
In their Q2 report for 2012, Delek US Holdings reported retail fuel margins of $0.182 per gallon, compared to $0.186 per gallon in 2011. For the first six months of 2012, retail fuel margins stand at $0.153 per gallon compared to $0.157 per gallon in 2011.
Retail fuel volumes per store for the quarter were up roughly 7% from 86,505 gallons to 92,662 gallons. Average retail fuel gallons per store for the period was 278,000 gallons, up from 260,000 gallons for the same period last year. That equates to approximately 92,660 gallons per store per month for the quarter across their 372 stores.
Delek US Holdings operates 372 MAPCO Express c-stores throughout the southeastern United States.
From a fuel price optimization strategy perspective, it’s interesting to compare these results with the results from The Pantry. Both chains operate c-stores in overlapping states, one can assume with similar market pressures. Yet The Pantry shows struggling results with decreased retail fuel margins and gallons sold, while Delek US Holdings shows retail fuel margins holding steady with increased fuel volumes.
