by John Keller | Dec 20, 2013 | Fuel Price Management, PriceAdvantage, Retail Fuel Margins
OPIS reported that the average retail fuel margin across the US improved $0.03 per gallon this week. The national US average retail fuel margin now stands at $0.221 per gallon, the highest margin since November 15. The year to date average retail fuel margin is at $0.191 per gallon, the Q4 average is $0.205 per gallon, and the six week average is $0.186 per gallon.
The average retail fuel margin this week is slightly less than this time last year, when the average was $0.247. Last year the average retail fuel margin dropped $0.115 per gallon the week of December 28. Unless some unforeseen circumstances should occur, it’s unlikely we’ll see a drop like that again this year.
by John Keller | Dec 13, 2013 | Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software
The PriceAdvantage team is excited to announce the successful implementation of Telapoint SmartReplenish with PriceAdvantage, where fuel volumes are pushed from SmartReplenish to PriceAdvantage, allowing fuel analysts to quickly adjust fuel pricing strategies based on near real-time fuel sales.
With access to near real-time fuel inventories, fuel managers are using PriceAdvantage to adjust pricing strategies mid-way through the day based on how many gallons have been sold through a milestone period in the day such as the morning commute. If volume sales for the day are low at the noon hour, the fuel manager may decide to adjust fuel prices lower to be more aggressive during the evening commute and recover the lost volumes. Or if sales are robust and inventories are low, the fuel manager may decide to raise prices in order to make sure there is enough inventory to meet demand until the next fuel delivery. Instead of waiting for fuel volume sales information to be updated the day following the close of business, this integration makes the information available the same day.
This integration comes at the specific request of several mutual customers of PriceAdvantage and SmartReplenish who need to optimize fuel prices more and more rapidly in response to the ever increasing volatility and pace at which things change in fuels price management. This integration is already in production at customer sites and is available immediately for any fuels business with both PriceAdvantage and SmartReplenish.
by John Keller | Dec 6, 2013 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software
According to the Wall Street Journal, the private-equity owners of BJ’s Wholesale have inquired about purchasing the chain of Hess c-stores and pairing them with the BJ’s Wholesale clubs. Hess had 1361 stations at the end of last year.
BJ’s Wholesale uses PriceAdvantage as their retail fuel software solution across all their clubs. The BJ’s implementation includes price changes with their POS system and electronic price signs. Says Scott Margherio, Vice President, Manager of Fuel & Automotive Operations of BJ’s Wholesale Club, “We used to spend a good part of the morning collecting surveys, inputting data into a spreadsheet and then submitting prices to the clubs. Now we are able to make price changes in under an hour, instantly receiving a confirmation that it has been completed, correctly.”
BJ’s reports the PriceAdvantage system saves roughly 3-4 hours per day in time management as well as costly pricing errors.
by John Keller | Nov 26, 2013 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Industry News
According to the San Antonio Alamo City Beat, CST Brands plans to build 30 new stores in 2014. CST Brands opened 11 new stores in the past four months.
Additionally, CST Brands will ring the opening bell on Wall Street on December 3.
CST Brands has been rewarded favorably by financial analysts such as J.P. Morgan for their successful strategy of focusing on in-store margins by opening large c-stores. CST Brands has been quite successful at improving their fuel margins since being spun off from the Valero refinery parent.
CST Brands has been using PriceAdvantage as their exclusive retail fuel software since 2012.
by John Keller | Nov 21, 2013 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Pricing Technology, Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
Today Ford announced that the first 2014 model F-150 that can run on either CNG or LPG is now rolling off the assembly line. With the combined gasoline and CNG, the range of the F-150 will be up to 750 miles, with an estimated mileage rating of 23 mpg highway and 19 mpg city. Ford is now the first manufacturer to offer a CNG / LPG capable half-ton pickup.
Natural gas upfits can range from $6000 to $9500 depending on tank capacity. At the time of this posting, the national average for unleaded fuel is $3.29 while the average for CNG is $2.10. Nearly 20 states in the US offer tax incentives or rebates for CNG converted vehicles. These vehicles are being targeted toward the business and fleet buyer. For example, in Florida, the fleet buyer can take advantage of $25,000 in rebates starting next year.
Ford also announced that by summer of 2014, they will be offering eight commercial vehicles with a natural gas prep option, more than any other full-line manufacturer.
Besides the advantage of a lower cost per gallon, natural gas also burns more cleanly and 85% of natural gas is produced in the US.
Add this all up for the convenience store fuel retailer, and it’s yet another indicator that natural gas is gaining momentum as an alternative fuel option. Is it time to consider adding it to your fuels portfolio?
by John Keller | Nov 19, 2013 | Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, PriceAdvantage
Rafe VanDenBerg is the editor-in-chief at MindBrew and contributor to PricingBrew, the online community for pricing professionals. He just wrote an article titled “Are pricing people too isolated to innovate?”. While this article was addressed to B2B pricing professionals, the questions discussed are directly applicable to fuel pricing strategies in the c-store business.
The article is based on results from a recent research study, and there are two critical statistics that apply to c-store fuel pricing:
- 70% of the respondents have worked for fewer than three companies in their career.
- Most people reported that their go-to source for pricing information and education is people within their own company.
First of all, in the c-store industry, it has been my experience that people stay in the business of c-stores often for their entire careers, and frequently work for only one company the whole time. That is certainly true for family run businesses, and even when the family is not involved, moving from company to company is somewhat rare and only happens several times through a person’s career. So there’s no doubt that the first point in this study is true for our industry.
Second, it has also been my experience that fuel analysts without fuel pricing software commonly price their fuels “the way it’s always been done.” That way is typically based on what others before them did, like the father or grandfather of the business. And if there is no fuel software to provide insight and analysis into what is really happening in the market, can you blame them?
The article raises the question that if fuel analysts follow in the footsteps of others before them, how can these people tell if there is a better way, to innovate, and to gain competitive advantage?
PriceAdvantage fuel software has proven that with its analysis views, reports, and optimization, the fuel analyst can evaluate whether or not they are using the optimized pricing strategies, and where there may be places to increase margins or volumes. Data and information is pulled from disparate sources and presented in a consolidated location, in a user friendly way, so that trends can be evaluated and what-if scenarios can be explored. And that is the enabler for fuel analysts to innovate and break out of the way it has always been done, to bring out profits never seen before.
