by John Keller | Jun 9, 2016 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, Retail Fuel Margins
Convenience Store Decisions published the results of a study from Market Force that identifies the key factors that drive customers to select their favorite fuel retailers. Over 10,000 consumers were surveyed. Approximately 73% were women and 27% were men.
The results were split into two categories: Convenience Stores and Big Box (including grocery stores). When asked where did they last visit for their most recent trip to refuel, 71% visited a c-store, and 28% visited a big-box retailer.
The key determining factors for selecting a fuel retailer were
- Price
- Payment Options
- Fuel Quality
- Ease of Entering and Exiting
“The brands are tightly clustered in nearly every category, which shows just how fiercely competitive this industry is,” said Cheryl Flink, chief strategy officer for Market Force Information. “With drivers having so many options to choose from, gas stations and convenience stores must excel in areas beyond price, such as offering multiple payment options or specialty foods to attract loyal, repeat customers.”
What does this mean from a fuel price management perspective? When determining fuel pricing strategies, the strategy of gaining volumes simply by offering low prices may not be the best way to optimize overall store profits. Take into account the competitive strengths and weaknesses of each location in terms of the consumer determining factors listed above, and see if the market will bear higher margins based on what the store has to offer. Use fuel pricing software like PriceAdvantage to experiment with different strategies. Execute the fuel pricing strategies so you can be sure every store is always priced where you want it to be all the time. And monitor store results with fuel volume and margin analysis, the correlation between forecourt and in-store transactions, and competitor behavior such as which competitor is first to lead and which typically follows.
PriceAdvantage allows you to deliver retail fuel excellence, and develop loyal customers who are delighted to recommend your stores to others.
by John Keller | May 7, 2016 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software
In the May 6, 2016 financial report, PriceAdvantage customer CST Brands reported that Gross Profit on fuel sales improved to $75 million from $63 million in the same quarter 2015.
Kim Lubel, Chairman and CEO of CST Brands said: “We showed continued strength in fuel gross profits in the U.S., as a result of a favorable fuel margin environment and our continued fuel pricing optimization initiatives.”
We at PriceAdvantage are proud to be a key part of how CST Brands executes on those fuel pricing optimization initiatives. CST Brands has been using PriceAdvantage for pricing all U.S. stores since 2012.
by John Keller | Feb 29, 2016 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, PriceAdvantage
The PriceAdvantage team would like to welcome BellStores as our newest customer and partner. BellStores operates 55 convenience stores throughout Ohio.
BellStores selected PriceAdvantage so that BellStores fuel analysts can directly drive fuel price changes based on intimate knowledge of the market and BellStores corporate strategies. By establishing pre-defined store-specific strategies, BellStores can streamline and automate price changes to their VeriFone POS systems, pumps, and electronic gas price signs – allowing the fuel retailer to execute faster, more informed price changes.
Like most PriceAdvantage customers, BellStores selected the SaaS offering in the cloud for the low upfront cost, ease of implementation, and the maintenance and infrastructure cost benefits.
Doug Combs, Vice President at BellStores said “To remain competitive, we needed to replace the time-consuming manual processes of collecting competitive data and communicating new prices. PriceAdvantage will help us streamline and automate competitive surveys and posting new prices. And the fact that I can do this from my phone or tablet is really exciting.”
Welcome BellStores – we look forward to our ongoing partnership!
by John Keller | Feb 23, 2016 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, Industry News, PriceAdvantage, Retail Fuel Margins
Here we are heading into the end of February and everyone in the retail fuels business knows the season of rising gas prices is just around the corner. It happens every year: refinery prices increase, wholesale costs go up, and eventually the retail fuel marketer must respond.
We’re already seeing signs of this season being upon us. According to the Lundberg Survey, the average unbranded rack price for Regular Unleaded across the US has risen over seven cents since February 10. In the Midwest, the regional unbranded rack price average has shot up almost $0.23 per gallon in ten days. Yet refiner margins are still low, and pressure to increase margins continues to build .
Demand is higher year to date than 2015. That makes sense because in 2015, total US miles traveled broke a new record at 3.1 trillion miles. That record has stood since 2007, before the recession started. This number reflects miles traveled by passenger vehicle, bus, and truck. All indications are that 2016 will continue with similar numbers.
What does this mean to the Retail Fuel Manager? I recently spoke with one of our customers who manage a large number of locations across a number of dramatically different markets. He said that as he sees big increases in wholesale cost like what has happened recently in the Midwest, he’s faced with playing a game of chicken. Retailers are looking at each other to see who is going to move first. In order to be most effective in this retail fuel pricing game, you must go beyond simply responding to replacement cost and competitor price changes. You must have access to retail fuel pricing software that quickly shows you historical fuels volume performance for a store and market, compared to budget targets. You must be able to quickly see actual fuels margins store by store and across a region. You must be able to track past history of your prices vs. competitor prices, to get a sense of typically who moves first. And of course, the best retail fuel pricing strategy is a well executed fuel pricing strategy: once you determine the proper price for each grade at each location, you must be able to execute those prices out to the street across all locations.
One could say that recently it was relatively easy to make money in retail fuels because of falling wholesales prices and healthy margins. But as we head into the spring, this is when times get tougher and it takes more insight and faster response times to maximize retail fuel and overall store profits.
by John Keller | Jul 20, 2015 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, PriceAdvantage
The PriceAdvantage team would like to welcome our newest customer and partner, Star Fuels, to the PriceAdvantage family.
Star Fuels operates 65 convenience stores throughout Texas, and they elected the PriceAdvantage SaaS offering in the cloud for the low upfront cost, ease of implementation, and the maintenance and infrastructure cost benefits. The Star Fuels implementation includes the Gilbarco and VeriFone POS systems.
Bob Kastetter, COO of Star Fuels, says PriceAdvantage will allow them to be much more responsive to market changes, and free up staff time to manage other business critical duties.
Welcome Star Fuels – we look forward to our ongoing partnership!
by John Keller | Jul 10, 2015 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, Industry News
Longtime PriceAdvantage and Skyline sign customer Parker’s announced the release of their new mobile app built by Zingon LLC. Among other things, the mobile app displays fuel prices at each of their locations. The Parker’s implementation of this mobile app includes an automated fuel price feed from PriceAdvantage to make sure gas prices are always accurate. Convenience Store Decisions reported the story here.
“Our customers told us they wanted an easy-to-use app that would enable them to access gas prices and Parker’s information at their convenience,” said Greg Parker, Parker’s president and CEO. “This new app represents our fast, fresh and friendly culture. It makes it easier than ever for Parker’s customers to see the best deals on gas prices and our specials on other products.”
Zingon mobile apps are available on both Android and iOS. The apps are designed to be easy to use and to eliminate carrying all the individual elements for store chains: Credit Card, Loyalty Card, Clipped Coupons and a phone to look up store locations and gas prices. Read more about Zingon here.
