by John Keller | Feb 7, 2014 | Fuel Pricing Software, Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
OPIS reported this week that the average retail fuels margin remained steady since last week. Retail fuel margins across the US averaged $0.178 per gallon, compared to $0.179 last week. The year to date average ticked up $0.001 per gallon to $0.173 and the six week average jumped $.007 per gallon to $0.173 per gallon.
Our industry is in much better shape retail fuels margin-wise this year than last year. Consider that the average retail fuels margin is now $0.089 per gallon higher than the $0.084 national average across the US in 2013. That means retail fuel margins in the US are now double what they were this week last year.
According to the 2013 NACS Fuels Report, the industry switch over process from winter blend fuels to summer blend fuels begins in February, beginning with scheduled refinery shutdowns for maintenance. And that means an increase in wholesale cost to the fuels retailer, a cost increase that is not easily welcomed by the consumer. And that puts the squeeze on margins this time of year. Add all that up, and we can anticipate an increasingly competitive market for the rest of Q1, with difficult fuel margins, possibly in the negative range.
In 2013 we saw this trend where average retail fuel margins dropped one cent from February 1 to February 22, ending the month at $0.102 per gallon. That’s negative margin territory for many fuel retailers. Luckily this year our higher margin levels should keep us in positive territory, though that doesn’t mean we can rest easy in these coming weeks.
by John Keller | Feb 3, 2014 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Software, Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
According to the OPIS US retail fuel margins data, January 2014 was much stronger than January 2013. And for many retailers, that may mean the difference between making money and losing money on fuels.
The average retail fuel margins for January this year were $0.172 per gallon compared to $0.148 per gallon last year, a difference of $.024 per gallon.
That may not seem like a big difference, but according to the 2014 NACS Fuels Report, on average, it costs a retailer about 12 to 16 cents to sell a gallon of gasoline. That means the difference between retail fuel margin averages in January this year and last year is the difference between profit and loss. Such is the life of the retail fuels manager: always dancing on that fuels margin razor’s edge between making money and losing money on the largest product category in the c-store industry.
The retail fuels business truly is a game of pennies, or even fractions of a penny. But in order to stay in business, it’s not just a game, it’s a war game, requiring the best possible toolsets and processes to squeeze every fraction of a cent out of every gallon, every day, at every store.
Don’t just take our word for it – listen to what NACS has to say: “Over the course of a year, retail profits (or even losses) on fuels can vary wildly. In some cases, a few great weeks can make up for an otherwise dreadful year — or vice versa.”
Does your retail fuels software allow you to quickly compare store and market performance to these national benchmarks? Does your retail fuels software allow you to quickly make adjustments to execute the optimized price at every store, at every location, every hour of every day? If it doesn’t, that’s OK, it simply means you’re not using PriceAdvantage. And if you’re not using PriceAdvantage, you’re not equipping yourself with the best technology available on the market. And that means you’re simply operating at a competitive disadvantage in this game of war.
by John Keller | Jan 31, 2014 | Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
According to today’s OPIS report, the average retail fuels margin across the US dropped just over a penny this week to $0.179 per gallon. That reflects a margin drop of $0.013 per gallon from last week, and more than offsets the gains the c-store industry saw a week ago.
The year to date retail fuels margin average across the US remains at $0.172 per gallon, while the six week average dropped to $0.166 per gallon. The same day last year retail fuel margins were $0.112 gallon.
In 2013, we saw a three week consecutive margin drop at this time, bottoming out at $0.084 per gallon on February 7, 2013. Let’s hope we don’t repeat that trend this year.
by John Keller | Jan 24, 2014 | Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
OPIS reported the average retail fuel margin across the United States increased $0.01 per gallon this week to $0.192 per gallon. The one cent gain erased the loss of last week. Average year to date retail fuel margins continued to rise, hitting a mark of $0.170 per gallon. The six week retail fuel margin average held steady at $0.173 per gallon.
Last year on the equivalent of this date, average retail fuel margins were $0.02 cents per gallon lower, at $0.15 per gallon.
Hopefully 2014 won’t see the dramatic retail fuel margin drops we saw in 2013, when the average retail fuel margin dropped to $0.102 per gallon over the course of the equivalent next four weeks.
by John Keller | Jan 20, 2014 | Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
The latest OPIS report shows the average retail fuel margin across the US dipped slightly this week to $0.182 per gallon, down $0.011 from last week. The average retail fuel margin across the US is still the highest since 12/20/2013.
So far this quarter the average retail fuel margin has been $0.162 per gallon. The six week average is $0.173 per gallon.
Average retail fuel margin levels remain slightly higher than this time last year, when the average retail fuel margin across the US was $0.171 per gallon. This time in 2013 retail fuel margins dropped significantly to the $0.08 – $ $0.12 range until March, when average retail fuel margins jumped to the $0.20 – $0.26 range.
by John Keller | Jan 14, 2014 | Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
The OPIS report for January 10, 2014 shows a $0.081 average retail fuel margin increase from the previous week, the largest weekly increase since December 6, 2013. Retail fuel margins across the US now stand at $0.193 per gallon.
Average retail fuel margins year to date and quarter to date now stand at $0.153. The six week average is $0.178.
The current retail fuel margin is nearly $0.05 per gallon higher than this time last year, when the average retail fuel margin was $0.146 per gallon. In 2013 the Q1 retail fuel margin average finished at $0.159 per gallon.
