by John Keller | Jan 27, 2012 | Fuel Pricing Strategy, Industry News
The annual OPIS Retail Year in Review & 2012 Profit Outlook report reveals key fuel price management information about the US market.
Chevron achieved the largest premium of all brands with at least 0.5% market share, garnering a 3.42 cents per gallon premium to typical competition. That’s a 10% increase from 2010.
Shell maintained the lead in overall market share, with BP ranking second. Both brands saw a drop in their market share in 2011.
Regular Unleaded grade gas had the highest percentage ever of fuel sold among the two or three street grades. The price of Premium widened from Unleaded with a spread of $0.27 per gallon over Unleaded by the end of 2011. Exxon had the largest spread for Premium with $0.286 spread over Unleaded.
by John Keller | Jan 25, 2012 | Industry News
For the year ended December 31, 2011, Hess Corporation saw their average fuels volume per retail store fall 2% compared to the previous year. According to their estimated 2011 financial results for the fourth quarter released today, average fuels volume per retail store was 195,000 gallons per month for the year, compared to 199,000 gallons per month for 2010.
The report also showed company operated Hess convenience store revenues were down 2% from the previous year.
According to NACS, the average US c-store sells 121,000 gallons of fuel per month annually. That means Hess company-owned stores sold about 61% more than the US national monthly average. Clearly, with Hess being a refining company, their fuel price management strategy is to focus on high volumes of fuel.
Mastercard is reporting overall fuel demand in the US is down 1.6%, so Hess volumes dropped slightly faster than the overall market, meaning Hess company stores lost retail fuels market share in 2011.
by John Keller | Jan 10, 2012 | Customer News, Industry News
Fikes Wholesale, Inc., long time PriceAdvantage customer, has added 63 more stores to their CEFCO chain, bringing their total store count to 257 stores in seven states. When Fikes first rolled out PriceAdvantage it was to all the 123 stores in their chain. The Fikes fuel price management team quickly saw the benefits of PriceAdvantage as they were able to optimize fuel prices more quickly, reviewing and sending prices to all stores in less than one hour where it once took most of the morning.
Since rolling out PriceAdvantage, Fikes has grown their store count significantly, acquiring 69 stores from the Food Fast chain, two stores from another chain, and then 63 Taylor Food Mart stores.
The PriceAdvantage team is proud to support Fikes in their success.
by John Keller | Jan 9, 2012 | Fuel Pricing Strategy, Industry News
It’s a good time to be buying fuel in the Rocky Mountains these days. According to the US Energy Information Administration report today, fuel prices increased nationally $.08 per gallon on average, and as much as $.10 per gallon in the Central and Lower Atlantic regions. The only region where fuel prices declined was the Rocky Mountains, where fuel prices were $.02 lower than the previous week. The Rockies now have the lowest priced fuel in the nation, with an average fuel price for regular unleaded of $3.01 per gallon. The next lowest average fuel price is in the Gulf Coast region, where an average price for unleaded is $3.20. California has the highest average fuel price for unleaded at $3.70.
by John Keller | Dec 19, 2011 | Fuel Price Management, Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
According to the US Energy Information Administration “Today’s Gasoline Prices” report, unleaded fuel prices took a big dip for the week.
Average fuel prices across the US for regular unleaded dropped six cents for the week, from $3.286 to $3.229. The previous week saw a one cent drop.
Regionally the biggest price drop for unleaded fuel was in the Rocky Mountains where the average price fell from $3.238 to $3.142. The Midwest region fared nearly as well with an eight cent drop this week from $3.227 to $3.147. The West Coast region had a five cent drop from $3.548 to $3.490, the highest average cost in the country.
by John Keller | Dec 9, 2011 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Industry News
GM announced their goal of selling 10,000 Chevy Volts this year is now a sales goal that is out of reach. With one month remaining in 2011, GM has sold only 6,100 Volts.
UPDATE: GM officially announces they’ll miss their 10,000 target by 38%.
From a fuels price management perspective, it’s more clear than ever that electric cars are not on a near-term path to have a significant impact on overall fuels volumes. Petroleum is clearly the on-going primary source of fuels volumes sold.