by John Keller | Jun 29, 2015 | Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, Industry News
The next PriceAdvantage version adds the Fiscal TravStar1 POS to its list of supported POS systems. With this integration, PriceAdvantage can provide complete closed loop retail fuel pricing at locations with both consumer and truck stop islands. This integration came about because PriceAdvantage customers with locations selling large volumes of fuel at their truck stop islands needed the full benefits of PriceAdvantage at those large volume sites.
PriceAdvantage now supports seven POS systems, including VeriFone, NCR Radiant, Gilbarco Passport, Wayne Nucleus, PetroZone, Fiscal, and AutoGas. Mixed POS systems can be used across the company sites, and multiple POS systems can be used at a single site. In this way PriceAdvantage allows you to leverage your existing investments and work with the heterogeneous environments created by the world of acquisitions we live in.
Learn more about the Fiscal TravStar1 POS by viewing a YouTube video provided by Fiscal here.
by John Keller | Jun 18, 2015 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Pricing Technology, Industry News
Family Express is the latest PriceAdvantage customer to win the distinguished Convenience Store Decisions Convenience Store Chain of the Year award. The award recognizes innovation, outstanding operations, superior leadership and an ongoing commitment to convenience retailing.
“Words can’t express how honored we are for Family Express being recognized,” said Gus Olympidis, founder, president and CEO of Family Express. “Our focus has always been on customers, employees, and community, and not on ourselves. We will cherish this moment in gratitude for our supplier partners and the relationships of a lifetime that this great industry has afforded us.”
Family Express has been a PriceAdvantage customer since 2013. Tom Navarre, Vice President of Petroleum Marketing and Logistics of the 63 store chain, and member of the PriceAdvantage Customer Advisory Board, says that PriceAdvantage helps Family Express be more efficient in their daily operations by automating their process for implementing new fuel prices. The efficiency gains allow the chain to remain competitive on an hourly basis, and give store associates more time to devote to outstanding, friendly customer service.
Previous PriceAdvantage customers who have won this prestigious award include Sheetz, Mapco, Valero (now CST Brands), and Rutter’s.
by John Keller | Jun 15, 2015 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software
CrossAmerica Partners announced today the acquisition of One Stop, a chain of 41 company owned c-stores based in West Virginia. Read more about the announcement published in Convenience Store News here.
In December 2014, the partnership of CrossAmerica Partners and CST Brands announced the acquisition of the 22 store chain Landmark Stores operating in San Antonio and Austin, as well as the 64 store chain Erickson Oil Products, Inc. operating in Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and South Dakota. In November of last year, the partnership of CST Brands and CrossAmerica Partners closed the acquisition of Nice N Easy, a 77 store chain in central New York state.
The announcement today marks the fourth chain of c-stores acquired by CrossAmerica Partners, now a wholly owned subsidiary of CST Brands.
CST Brands selected PriceAdvantage for their fuel pricing system in 2011, back when they were under the Valero umbrella. The field Operations folks at CST Brands have found the PriceAdvantage mobile component to be one of their most helpful applications.
by John Keller | Jun 5, 2015 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, PriceAdvantage
Earlier this week we had the pleasure of hosting one of our customers to our corporate headquarters. If this were a standard sales and management update it would not stand out as being anything particularly special. But this meeting was different because we took the time to introduce our customer visitors to the PriceAdvantage development team.
We have never believed it makes sense to take our software development offshore, no matter how much it may seem to be cost effective when you run the numbers. Software development agility that can quickly respond to the changing demands of the market and customer base can only be achieved when the folks building the software are co-located with the product management, sales and marketing groups.
And this week we could see the benefits in person when one of our customer fuel managers who uses PriceAdvantage every day shook the hand of each of our developers, looked each one in the eye, and said thank you. Our development team could hear directly from one of our customers that what they build matters and is appreciated. That meeting will make a lasting impact because when our development team builds new features, they will be able to think back and see in their mind’s eye the person for whom they’re writing code. And when our customer upgrades to the latest PriceAdvantage version, they’ll be able to remember that our development team is not far away, taking to heart their ongoing product needs.
My mantra has always been that customer collaboration creates lifelong customers by creating partnerships. This week we saw this partner relationship in person.
by John Keller | May 26, 2015 | Customer News, 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
Kocolene, an operator of 22 Fast Max stores throughout Indiana and Kentucky, experienced a 3% increase in 2014 fuel volume sales after just one year of using PriceAdvantage fuel pricing software – exceeding the national average increase by 2%. At the same time, the fuel retailer was able maximize fuel margins to create a substantial increase with overall gross fuel profits. The 2014 performance improvements are featured in a recent case study alongside other organizational benefits derived from using PriceAdvantage mobile fuel pricing technology. The case study may be found here.
In early 2013, Fast Max executives realized their manual, tedious processes for obtaining market data and setting fuel price changes needed updating. By adopting PriceAdvantage mobile fuel pricing technology, Fast Max was able to replace manual phone and paper processes for collecting competitive fuel prices, gained immediate access to accurate competitive information and market data, and automated price changes from headquarters to the store POS system and fuel price signs.
Within the first year of using PriceAdvantage, Fast Max increased its fuel sales and productivity. PriceAdvantage allowed Fast Max to quickly and easily catch developing trends in the market, signaling when an adjustment in their pricing strategy was needed to capture fuel sales. “Using PriceAdvantage, we have seen a 3% gain in fuel volumes over the previous year while maximizing margins and experiencing significant growth in gross profits. On top of that, we have a relationship with PriceAdvantage that feels more like a partnership.” Lance Gentry, Vice President of Operations.
By using PriceAdvantage mobile fuel pricing software, Fast Max corporate management reviews data, receives alerts and makes price changes on their smart phones, as well as perform many functions without having to call each store and interrupt a team member or manager who may be assisting customers. PriceAdvantage streamlined the entire pricing process and provided store managers and team members more time to service and sell to customers, as well as perform other tasks.
Fast Max chose the PriceAdvantage subscription pricing model that provided rapid software implementation with minimal upfront costs or hardware investments. This flexible model allowed Fast Max to license specific software components, enabling them to create an affordable solution to meet their specific needs. With the demonstrated increase in sales, PriceAdvantage easily delivered a measureable ROI.
by John Keller | May 22, 2015 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Pricing Technology, Industry News, PriceAdvantage
Today was the kickoff meeting for another PriceAdvantage Customer Advisory Board. The purpose of the PriceAdvantage Customer Advisory Board meetings are to provide industry updates, as well as product feedback and direction to the PriceAdvantage team. The PriceAdvantage CAB helps to be the eyes and ears of what’s going on at the front lines of the c-store industry. On this advisory board we have the wisdom of these industry leaders:
- Varish Goyal, President, Vintners Distributors
- Kyle Lawrence, President, By-Lo Oil (Speedy Q)
- Tom DiMercurio, CFO, Flyers
- Karen Meyer, Fuel Pricing Manager, J&H Oil
- Ben Stealy, Fuel Pricing Manager, Mapco
- Tom Navarre, VP Petroleum Marketing & Logistics, Family Express
In our meeting today, each member provided an overview of their business and the strategies they use to compete. Then we discussed future product versions and specific features of PriceAdvantage as a team so everyone could weigh in on what’s important.
Customer collaboration is an integral part of how we do business here at PriceAdvantage. I look forward to our ongoing meetings with this group, and learning from their collective wisdom.
