by John Keller | Mar 13, 2014 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Software
It’s interesting to mine retail fuel information from financial results of publicly held c-store companies. For example, take a look at the numbers achieved by CST Brands and compare them to Susser for the 2013 fiscal year.
Go beyond the store count, and the fact that CST Brands is managing nearly twice as many stores. Zero in on the specifics of gallons per store and gross margin in cents per gallon. Then extrapolate the average fuel profit per store in 2013. The results are displayed in the table below.
| |
Stores |
Gallons Sold |
Gallons/Store |
Gross Margin (CPG) |
Average Profit Per Store in 2013 |
| CST Brands |
1,036 |
1,889,565,580 |
1,823,905 |
$0.140 |
$255,347 |
| Susser |
561 |
936,232,000 |
1,668,863 |
$0.114 |
$190,250 |
| |
|
|
|
Difference
|
$65,096 |
Not only is CST Brands out performing on fuel volumes, but on fuel margins as well.
These results lead to the question, what is CST Brands doing so right? Certainly one answer has to be that CST Brands has been using PriceAdvantage as their retail fuels software for over one year now, and achieving great results.
As one PriceAdvantage customer put it “It helps when you have PriceAdvantage to manage stores!”
by John Keller | Mar 13, 2014 | Customer News, Fuel Software
The PriceAdvantage team would like to extend a warm family welcome to Speedy Q Markets, our latest partner and customer. Speedy Q Markets is the convenience store business under the umbrella of By-Lo Oil Company.
Speedy Q Markets successfully implemented a pilot program using PDI as their back-office software, and VeriFone Sapphire as their POS. This PriceAdvantage implementation is yet another one in the cloud. It is interesting to note that PriceAdvantage implementations in the cloud now outnumber implementations on-premise behind corporate firewalls.
Speedy Q Markets needed a solution that would allow them to remain competitive in markets where prices are changing multiple times a day. According to Kyle Lawrence, President of Speedy Q Markets, “We were quite impressed with how easy the PriceAdvantage software and the Skyline team was to work with. They got us exactly what we needed”.
Speedy Q Markets compete across the thumb region of Michigan. Their parent, the By-Lo Oil Company, has been family owned and operated since 1962.
Welcome Speedy Q Markets – we look forward to our mutual ongoing success together!
by John Keller | Mar 7, 2014 | Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
Today’s OPIS report shows the average retail fuel margin across the US rose $0.023 per gallon this week to $0.157 per gallon. That’s the second consecutive margin increase, returning average fuel prices to levels last seen one month ago.
The year to date average is $0.160 per gallon and the six week average is $0.154 per gallon.
It was a year ago this week that retail fuel margins jumped nearly $0.10 per gallon, where they reached a high for the 2013 year to date of $0.261 per gallon. That means current retail fuel margin levels are now nearly $0.11 per gallon below last year.
Last year at this time we saw two consecutive margin decreases, and then a particularly difficult spring, where out of ten consecutive weeks from March into May, there were only two weeks showing margin increases. We can only hope that prices have already reached seasonal highs, giving retail fuel margins a chance to catch up and perhaps even gain some ground.
by John Keller | Mar 5, 2014 | Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software
When you are managing the volatile and highly competitive retail fuel business of today, you need the best near-real-time information you can get in order to gain a competitive advantage. But at many levels within the organization, the data is simply not readily available in near-real-time. And if this data is available, it is not presented in a meaningful way for managers of retail fuel to quickly see answers to their questions. For example, we have found that accounting reports at the end of the week, month and quarter fall far short of providing retail fuel managers what they need.
PriceAdvantage provides 26 industry-specific reports and SNAP analytics designed specifically with the fuel manager in mind, equipping him with the insight needed to make the strategic decisions that rise above the competition. Our integrations with back office partners like PDI, Pinnacle, and TelaPoint make data retrieval and data presentation a core competency of PriceAdvantage.
For example, the PriceAdvantage Volume Correlation report allows the fuel manager to see the correlation of in-store sales with fuel sales. View market trends graphically and in heat maps so you can quickly identify any strategy changes happening in the market landscape. Use scorecard reports to see the store execution of fuel pricing responsibilities, allowing the fuel pricing team to make pricing decisions hour to hour, and equipping executives with the insight they need to make strategic market decisions.
When you manage your retail fuel business with the PriceAdvantage solution, you are working with a partner who can make you successful with the largest and most price-sensitive product category: FUEL.
by John Keller | Mar 5, 2014 | Customer News, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software
PriceAdvantage, a division of Skyline Products, announced today that J & H Oil has chosen PriceAdvantage SMART Fuel Pricing as their fuel price management solution.
J & H Oil is running PriceAdvantage in the cloud, eliminating the need for their IT resources to maintain their system.
“We have been searching for ways to improve our overall pricing process, including speeding up survey collections, and eliminating price change errors. After a thorough comparison and evaluation process, including a successful pilot, we are excited to select PriceAdvantage as our retail fuels software. We elected to include PriceAdvantage because we believe it will allow us to understand market and store performance, adjust our strategies as needed, and give us the competitive edge,” said Craig Hoppen, President of J & H Oil.
“We are glad to have J & H as a cloud customer and to know that PriceAdvantage is already improving their retail fuels business,” said Chip Stadjuhar, CEO of Skyline Products. “PriceAdvantage is ideal for automating the retail fuels pricing process, and ensuring that the right price is at the right store, all the time”, Stadjuhar added.
by John Keller | Feb 24, 2014 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Pricing Software
PriceAdvantage, a division of Skyline Products, announced today that Pic-n-Pac Convenience Stores has licensed PriceAdvantage SMART™ Fuel Pricing, a fuel price management solution, for their 15 stores in Texas. Pic-n-Pac will use PriceAdvantage on a subscription basis for a fully integrated fuel price management offering.
“Pic-n-Pac competes with some of the largest retailers in the country and we needed help to level the playing field. We feel that PriceAdvantage is the perfect solution as it will help us become more efficient in our daily operations by streamlining and automating our process for determining and implementing new fuel prices,” said Phil Wuest, Director of Operations of Pic-n-Pac.
“We welcome Pic-n-Pac to our family of customers and are eager to help them improve their fuel pricing processes,” said Chip Stadjuhar, CEO of Skyline Products. “PriceAdvantage SMART Fuel Pricing will help them evaluate pricing from headquarters, giving them the data to make informed pricing decisions rapidly.”
Stadjuhar adds, “PriceAdvantage SMART Fuel Pricing, a fully scalable solution, is as effective for a small growing chain of 15 stores as it is for a national chain with thousands of locations.”
Pic-n-Pac Convenience Stores is a privately held, family owned and operated business. Headquartered in McQueeney, TX, Pic-n-Pac is approaching its 50th year anniversary. The first convenience store was opened in 1964 and was the vision of our company’s founder, Harvey Edward Wuest. Today, the company has grown to 15 locations serving customers in Guadalupe, Comal and Caldwell counties.
