by John Keller | Apr 17, 2014 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Industry News, PriceAdvantage
In the news today, Convenience Store Decisions reported that PriceAdvantage customer Parker’s has created the CTO position at their company and named Stephen Hines as CTO.
“In his new position, Hines will be responsible for overseeing and managing all current technologies for Parker’s. He will ensure that all technology related decisions are aligned with the company’s business goals, build the internal IT department to support the company’s growth, and maintain all processes, procedures, and documentation for internal IT systems,” according to Convenience Store Decisions.
Parker’s has been a PriceAdvantage customer for over one year, integrating PriceAdvantage with their VeriFone POS system, PDI back office, and GasBuddy OpenStore, as well as their Skyline electronic price signs.
by John Keller | Apr 15, 2014 | Customer News, Industry News
According to CSPNet.com, CST Brands has retained the realty and financial advisory services of NRC Realty & Capital Advisors LLC to sell 100 convenience stores. The story appears on CSPNet.com here.
Convenience stores with gas will be offered with the option for sale with fuel supply, which will be provided by CST Brands.
The states where these stores are located are as follows: 61 locations in Texas, 22 in Colorado, 14 in Arizona, seven in California, four in both Arkansas and Louisiana, three in New Mexico, one in Utah and one in Wyoming.
UPDATE: each location sells on average over 3,000 gallons of fuel per day. According to a CST Brands statement, that makes these stores ideal locations for CST’s wholesale business.
This is the first time CST Brands has publicly mentioned a wholesale business as a strategic direction.
CST Brands uses PriceAdvantage across all their US stores to monitor fuel volume and margin performance. It is through PriceAdvantage then, that CST can quickly identify the stores that are most logical to put up for sale.
NRC Realty & Capital Advisors provides “cradle to grave” real estate and financial advisory services to their clients, resulting in the sale of over 10,000 properties throughout North America. The c-store industry is one of their key areas of expertise, so recent clients include well-known names such as 7-11, Cumberland Farms, and Getty Realty.
The bid deadline for the CST locations is just two months away, June 17, 2014.
by John Keller | Apr 15, 2014 | Customer News, Industry News, PriceAdvantage
Lately there has been a lot of press about the Heartbleed virus, discussing what sites and applications have been affected. The biggest names in the software industry have been impacted, so there’s no wonder the Heartbleed security problem has been in the news. If you’d like more information about how pervasive this problem is, check out the article here.
The PriceAdvantage team takes security very seriously. We can say with the utmost certainty that our PriceAdvantage customers can be rest assured that the Heartbleed security problem has no affect on their PriceAdvantage system in any way.
Here’s why:
OpenSSL is not built into PriceAdvantage anywhere. Because PriceAdvantage servers/software are IIS/Windows based, there is nothing to worry about with regard to Heartbleed because IIS/Windows uses its own SSL software. That is the only place where PriceAdvantage uses SSL.
If you’d like to dig deeper into this answer, please feel free to contact the PriceAdvantage Support team.
by John Keller | Apr 10, 2014 | Fuel Price Management, Industry News, PriceAdvantage, Retail Fuel Margins
In the US EIA “Short-term and Summer Fuels Outlook” released today, we see these predictions for the summer of 2014 (April – September).
- US consumption of gasoline will be slightly higher (10,000 gallons) than the same period in 2013
- Brent crude oil prices will be $2 per barrel lower than the same period in 2013
- The US regular unleaded retail gas price will average $3.57, one cent lower than the same period in 2013, with these regional averages:
- East Coast $3.53 (same as 2013)
- Midwest $3.55 ($0.05 lower than 2013)
- Gulf Coast $3.37 (same as 2013)
- Rocky Mountain $3.52 ($0.09 lower than 2013)
- West Coast $3.85 ($0.02 lower than 2013)
- The US diesel retail gas price will average $$3.87, two cents lower than the same period in 2013
From a fuel price management perspective, what does it mean if these predictions come true?
- Fuel volumes would essentially be unchanged across the entire US market, unlike in the summer of 2013 when the overall US fuel market increased by 90,000 gallons.
- Wholesale costs to fuel retailers would be slightly less than last year, possibly as much as $0.048 per gallon less.
- Depending on the region, fuel retailers may be able to see an increase of fuel margins where the fuel price holds relatively steady but wholesale costs are less.
- Overall fuel sales as measured in dollars would be less for regions such as the Midwest, Rocky Mountain, and West Coast. Publicly held companies who have their sites in these regions may report lower overall fuel revenues if volumes are essentially the same and street prices are lower. That’s why financial analysts shouldn’t pay too much attention to this metric that is outside the control of the retailer. But with careful attention played to margins, fuel profits may remain strong, and that’s worthy of attention.
Obviously there is lots of uncertainty related to the future cost of crude, since a quick series of unexpected events could cause these predictions to be way off. That’s why the report shows a 95% confidence level of crude prices to be anywhere in the range of $60 to $130 per barrel. But for modeling purposes, this report does show one reference point that is useful for planning purposes.
by John Keller | Apr 7, 2014 | Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Software, Industry News
Today there’s a good article on NACS Online that includes several key statistics.
- Gasoline demand increased 1.1% in 2013, the largest annual increase since 2006 according to the US EIA.
- 5% of those surveyed say gas prices are too high at $3.30 per gallon.
- 65% of those surveyed say gas prices are too high at $3.50 per gallon.
- 91% of those surveyed say gas prices are too high at $4.00 per gallon.
- 53% of those surveyed say they are changing driving habits now, compared to 68% in the spring of last year.
What are the key takeaways from a fuel price management perspective?
- While regional fuel volumes may vary, on a national level across the US it’s worth noting that fuel volumes were higher last year. As you manage your fuel volumes and review the numbers from last year, it’s good to keep in mind this key benchmark for comparison sake.
- As you fine tune your fuel pricing strategy, bullets 2, 3 and 4 above point to specific gas price thresholds that you may want to stay clear of, opting instead for a price of $3.49 for example if margins support it.
- The numbers for fuel volumes aren’t yet in for this year, but bullet 5 above is an indicator that overall demand may hold steady this year or perhaps even increase a bit as the US economy continues to rebound. Perhaps in your specific markets there may be more fuel volumes available to grab.
The original article may be found here.
by John Keller | Apr 7, 2014 | Customer News, Industry News, PriceAdvantage
The New York Times published an interesting interview with Kim Bowers, CEO of CST Brands. The interview may be found here.
CST Brands became a PriceAdvantage customer in 2011 when they were under the Valero umbrella, completing their rollout to all stores in 2012. CST Brands has been using PriceAdvantage with great success, as the financial results show.
CST Brands has a representative on the PriceAdvantage Customer Advisory Board.
