by John Keller | Jun 27, 2013 | Customer News, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Software, Industry News, PriceAdvantage
More and more we’re seeing PriceAdvantage customers adapt GasBuddy OpenStore as their digital marketing solution. First it was Rutter’s, then it was Parker’s, followed by Family Express. CST Brands, formerly Valero, is the fourth PriceAdvantage customer to use both PriceAdvantage as their fuel software system for managing retail fuel prices, and GasBuddy OpenStore for digital marketing.
The synergy between the two solutions is powerful. When the fuel analyst pushes the optimized prices to the street, and the fuel price changes are completed at the POS, pumps and electronic price signs, the confirmation message is returned back to PriceAdvantage with a time and date stamp audit trail showing the exact time of completion.
Once the price changes are complete, PriceAdvantage through its integration automatically publishes the newest gas prices to GasBuddy OpenStore. From there the prices can be distributed to the various GasBuddy sites, making sure the latest and most accurate prices are on the GasBuddy map. This process also helps make sure every store appears on the GasBuddy map and doesn’t drop off due to a lack of price report updates.
PriceAdvantage offers a similar integration with OPIS, where upon completion and confirmation of the fuel price changes, PriceAdvantage publishes the latest price information to OPIS, from which the prices are distributed to the entire OPIS network including MapQuest, Garmin, and AAA.
Gas price signs have already moved from the old fashioned manual suction cup, to the electronic gas price sign, and are now adding the digital virtual sign seen on the Web. With PriceAdvantage and the integrations to GasBuddy OpenStore and OPIS, the price signs are current across every type, maximizing all marketing and branding efforts.
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 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 17, 2013 | Fuel Software, Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
Today’s OPIS report showed retail fuel margins dropped yet again this week. That extends the losing streak to five weeks. Retail fuel margins across the US now stand at $0.123 per gallon, down $0.021 per gallon from last week. Average retail fuel margins have lost a total of $0.145 per gallon since the streak began.
Retail fuel margins are at February levels for the second week in a row. Average retail margins year to date are now at $0.169 per gallon. Quarter to date average retail margins are at $0.186 per gallon.
These are tough times for the c-store fuel managers, especially when they are managing the balance between volumes and margins without fuel software to manage their fuel price management strategies. Every penny, every hour, matters at this point, and investing in a fuel management system is the only way to make the most of the difficult times.
by Grant Garrison | May 16, 2013 | Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Software, Industry News
Managers who want to know the secret to fuel pricing at its best should be aware that the answer has always been right in front of them. Advancements in corporate technology and software, now more affordable than ever before, have made fuel price tracking and implementation a much simpler process. Most market leaders have already begun implementing fuel price management and media marketing solutions. In order to achieve a new level of efficiency, managers must stay ahead of their competitors through advanced fuel pricing technology.
Be it fuel pumps, mobile apps, GasBuddy integration or electronic price signs, fuel pricing technology is what’s driving the industry into the future. In just a few years the game has changed completely. Development and manufacture of electronic pricing solutions has taken off, expanding the products available to retail fuel locations. The potential boost for the c-tore industry is huge, as these tools greatly increase speed-to-the-street and allow fuel managers to make changes through mobile technology from any location. If they happen to hear of a coming shift in demand while out on the road, they can immediately make the change thanks to advances in technology.
The ability to monitor fuel price tracking and centralization of pricing changes has proven invaluable for retail fuel companies. According to Scott Hartman, CEO of Rutter’s Farm stores, new fuel pricing technology has enabled them to make “critical retail fuel pricing decisions while greatly enhancing customers’ access to our fuel prices. Rutter’s can now initiate real-time price synchronization from headquarters to the street and the web in a matter of minutes.” Obtaining fuel pricing in mere moments is now a reality where it had once been a dream.
Pricing software tools give a much better picture of regional fuel prices history than relying on outdated tracking methods. The technology is now designed to increase the effectiveness of the entire fuel pricing process. An efficient fuel pricing solution is the real key! PriceAdvantage software provides this through automation of all processes from collection of competitive surveys, to sophisticated analysis for best price determination, and rapid speed-to-the-street price change execution. This comprehensive digital solution enables synchronized fuel pricing from any location through a branded mobile application, providing two-way communication between owners and their customers using web technologies.
If you’re still holding back on a technology upgrade, for fear of the initial cost, consider this. Retail fuel stations which apply superior pricing technology continually stay ahead of competitors and the industry. By publishing prices to Gasbuddy through PriceAdvantage, c-store owners gain greater specialization while increasing synchronization. The changes are immediate, cost-effective, and a boon to repeat business.
For more examples of how technology improves fuel pricing, review our blog post on Practical “Closed Loop” Fuel Price Management.
