by Grant Garrison | Jul 12, 2013 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Software
The key to an effective fuel price management system is total integration between all channels which gives managers the ability to set optimal prices for each region with maximum ease. To enable this premium level of command and control, retail fuels companies need to follow several strategies for productive price management. As a quick reference guide, the fuel price management experts at PriceAdvantage have compiled a list of 4 strategies for fuel price command and control.
1. Mobile Integration
Relying on outdated technology to keep track of price changes is an unsustainable practice. It’s worth making an investment in new technology considering the degree of additional control and flexibility it provides. Mobile technology, such as Smartphones or tablets, allows fuel managers to enact immediate price changes from anywhere. Mobile integration ensures that fuel managers will receive automatic alerts when surveys are overdue, price changes are late, or whenever any channel interruptions occur. By integrating their fuel pricing software with mobile technology, fuel managers can save time and stay informed of competitor price moves.
2. Tracking with Technology
Using fuel pricing software to manage and optimize fuel pricing is straightforward when managers apply professional software. Technology can provide complex, actionable outputs from records on competitor pricing history, c-store price history, historical fuel costs, and fuel volume history and targets. It’s not enough to make sure software is accessible from anywhere. The right fuel pricing tool will also provide automated tracking for the entire delivery cycle. A fuel price management system should track each and every process from collection of surveys to price changes, showing users where opportunity losses are occurring, and increasing speed-to-the-street.
3. Forecasting trends
Forecasting trends in the fuel pricing market shouldn’t be based on hunches, but on precise economic models developed by industry experts. An efficient model should apply top-notch analytics based on historical fuel prices, and make an educated evaluation of arising patterns from this past competitive landscape. Forecast modeling places control in the hands of those who understand the data best.
4. Pricing Optimization
An integration of the three strategies listed above will lead to total fuel pricing optimization. Continual automated monitoring, notifications of service interruptions, technology integration, well-crafted pricing models and daily confirmation alerts are vital for an efficient fuel price management system. However, these tools become less effective if they do not allow the analyst to obtain results based on a selected period of time. Analysis and optimization economic models must provide results based on varying historical references in order to accommodate market changes caused by seasonal demographics, and varying competitor influences. Always apply the latest technological solutions, with total report customization control, to gain the greatest advantage over the competition.
These are four indispensable strategies available to managers for maximizing fuel pricing command and control. By incorporating this type of approach into your fuel operations and continually seeking new upgrades to internal processes, you can be certain that your fuel price management system is keeping you ahead of the competition.
by John Keller | Jun 11, 2013 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Software, Industry News
In the NACS State of the Industry Summit there were several key fuel management highlights for the 2013 year.
- Gasoline consumption is up 1.3% year over year.
- Gasoline margins are up 3.6 cents per gallon for the first 12 weeks of 2013 year over year.
- Gasoline margins were at 16.6 cents per gallon for the first 12 weeks of 2013.
- The breakeven cents-per-gallon for last year improved to 9.21 cents, a 12% improvement.
From a fuel price management perspective, it is important to compare the results in your markets to these national industry standards. Perhaps individual markets are particularly competitive with margins and cannot match some of these statistical levels, but these industry standards provide a gauge and set of key performance indicators to use for measuring success.
Using these measurements as the basis to generate reports to reveal the success of your fuel organization can be time consuming if your fuel software is based on Excel. Even the most sophisticated homegrown systems can make it difficult to access reports that show relative performance of volume and margins for comparison sake. But with PriceAdvantage fuel software, heat maps and analysis views quickly allow you to slice and dice volume and margin information to see how a market of your stores is doing relative to another market, and which stores are shining stars vs. which stores are burdens bringing down overall performance.
With this information, your PriceAdvantage fuel management software allows you to adjust marketing and fuel pricing strategies to optimize performance at the store and market level, and maximize prices across the enterprise fuel system.
by John Keller | May 31, 2013 | Fuel Price Management Solutions, Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
According to the latest OPIS report, retail fuel margins saw their biggest increase in 12 weeks, with a $0.094 per gallon rise. Average retail fuel margins across the USA now stand at $0.218 per gallon, the highest margins all May.
Average year to date fuel margins were up slightly to $0.169 per gallon. Quarter to date fuel margins reversed their six week trend and increased to $0.183 per gallon. The six week average for fuel margins now stands at $0.161 per gallon.
A large part of this gain in fuel margins can be attributed to the mid-west refineries coming back online so that costs can come down, allowing fuel retailers to temporarily hold steady with retail fuel pricing and recoup their lower margins seen over the past month.
But traditionally these higher margins prove to be only temporary, as fuel retailers begin to drop their prices to gain a competitive edge and gain volumes. As always, retail fuel software is critical to win this cat and mouse game, balancing volumes and margins while remaining competitive and maximizing profits.
by John Keller | May 24, 2013 | Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Software, Retail Fuel Margins
According to the latest OPIS report, average retail fuel margins in the US were essentially unchanged this week. Retail fuel margins were up $0.001 per gallon to stand at $0.124 per gallon. Year to date retail fuel margins were down $0.002 to $0.167 per gallon. Average retail fuel margins for this quarter dropped $0.008 and now stand at $0.178 per gallon.
According to NACS, at these margins c-stores are operating at break-even levels at best, after all costs are taken into consideration. The mid-west refinery problems in the US are now clearing up, so that will provide cost reductions in the mid-west and Rocky Mountains, allowing c-stores to catch up even as they drop their retail prices. But it is this shift in cost and margins that require careful calculations to balance volumes with margins, and remain competitive while the market evolves.
Fuel software for retail fuel price management systems are the only way the fuel analyst can make the most profit in these turbulent times.
by John Keller | May 23, 2013 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Industry News
Congratulations to Greg Parker, President and CEO of The Parker Companies and PriceAdvantage customer, for being named one of Georgia’s Power Players by Georgia Trend Magazine. It has been quite a year for Mr. Parker, as he was awarded Top Tech Executive at the CSNews CIO/Tech Summit in April.
The Parker Companies have been using PriceAdvantage as their fuel software to manage all aspects of their retail fuel management solution. The Parker’s fuel management system includes price change confirmation to the VeriFone POS, pumps, Skyline electronic gas price signs, and GasBuddy OpenStore. This is all made possible by the one click technology that is unique to PriceAdvantage.
The PriceAdvantage team is proud to have Parker’s as a partner and we look forward to the days ahead, as together we progress what is possible in the future of the convenience store industry.
by John Keller | May 17, 2013 | Fuel Price Management Solutions, Industry News
According to the research company IMS Research, the number of electric vehicle charging stations may reach 4.8 million worldwide by 2015. The global number of EV charging stations now stands at 75,000 according to their research. The US Department of Energy says the number of EV charging stations in the US as of this blog entry is 5,894 (a 16% increase over six months ago).
The IMS research discusses the different possible business models for the EV charging stations:
- Monthly subscriptions that drivers pay to have access to a network of EV charging stations
- Free charges for consumers who purchase other goods or services provided at the station location
- Pay-per-use like the current fuel fill-up model at c-stores
For the third business model, the IMS research found that consumers would require a quick charge. Consumers reported they were willing to pay $15-17 for a 30 minute quick charge.
From a fuel management perspective, longer term strategy thinking for the fuels analyst needs to include whether or not to offer EV charging stations. Retailers outside the c-store space are already offering charging stations and have announced plans to expand. Will you be part of this emerging business? Can you afford not to be?