Wisdom from dynamic retail price experts applies to retail fuels pricing

Wisdom from dynamic retail price experts applies to retail fuels pricing

• Oct 10, 2013
• John Keller
• 0

In a recent ZDNet article titled “The future of retail is dynamic pricing. So why can’t we get it right?”, a panel of ‘dynamic pricing’ experts representing companies including Best Buy and Ace Hardware provide lessons learned that can be applied to retail fuels pricing. Here are the highlights, and some thoughts on how they’re directly applicable to retail fuels pricing.

1. It has become very easy for customers to research prices. For retail fuels pricing, this customer research has extended beyond the physical sign to the virtual price sign, as in GasBuddy, and all the OPIS-fed sites like MapQuest, Garmin, and AAA. How can you be sure these virtual price signs are always accurate? With PriceAdvantage, use the OPIS and GasBuddy exports as part of the fuel price change confirmation, and rest easy that every time a price change is complete, all these online sites are brought up to date.
2. Retailers now have access to mainstream technology that allows them to quickly respond to market changes and make price changes at a moment’s notice, thereby insuring that their prices are always relevant. But this “change management” can be complex to execute effectively. In the retail fuels arena, this speaks to the difference between responding to a market change with a proclamation of a price change to your stores, and responding to a market change with a well executed automatic price change that includes confirmation and an audit trail upon completion. The PriceAdvantage SMART Fuel Pricing patented technology works with your Gilbarco, NCR, VeriFone, and AutoGas POS, along with your electronic price signs, to insure that every price change is executed within the compliance of the weights and measures regulations.
3. The key to success is the right foundational data with the best information you can get, so you can have the best execution of your strategy, aligning pricing with the brand, and with your position in the market. In retail fuels management, that means carefully monitoring cost and competitor information from multiple sources including agents in the field and OPIS. And it means routinely reporting on historical pricing to make sure your pricing is where you want it to be relative to the competition, whether that is low price leader, middle of the pack, or premium experience. This strategy needs to be monitored not only on a store by store basis, but on a zone by zone basis, according to differences from market to market and convenience of location. In some areas pricing will need to be more aggressive, without giving fuel away across the entire enterprise.

These retail giants have a lot of wisdom to share, and it is all relevant to the retail fuels industry. PriceAdvantage allows you to apply the wisdom of these giants, without having to invest millions in the technology they use.

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