by John Keller | Dec 13, 2013 | Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
The OPIS report released today announced that retail fuel margins dropped $0.019 per gallon this week, the fifth margin loss in six weeks. The average retail fuel margin across the US now stands at $0.191 per gallon. The year to date average is $0.190 per gallon and the fourth quarter average is $0.204 per gallon. The six week average is $0.188 per gallon.
The retail fuel margin for this week last year was $0.240 per gallon. The fourth quarter average across the US in 2012 was $0.230 per gallon, so with only two weeks remaining in the year, it doesn’t look like Q4 margins this year will match the Q4 margins of last year.
by John Keller | Dec 13, 2013 | Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software
The PriceAdvantage team is excited to announce the successful implementation of Telapoint SmartReplenish with PriceAdvantage, where fuel volumes are pushed from SmartReplenish to PriceAdvantage, allowing fuel analysts to quickly adjust fuel pricing strategies based on near real-time fuel sales.
With access to near real-time fuel inventories, fuel managers are using PriceAdvantage to adjust pricing strategies mid-way through the day based on how many gallons have been sold through a milestone period in the day such as the morning commute. If volume sales for the day are low at the noon hour, the fuel manager may decide to adjust fuel prices lower to be more aggressive during the evening commute and recover the lost volumes. Or if sales are robust and inventories are low, the fuel manager may decide to raise prices in order to make sure there is enough inventory to meet demand until the next fuel delivery. Instead of waiting for fuel volume sales information to be updated the day following the close of business, this integration makes the information available the same day.
This integration comes at the specific request of several mutual customers of PriceAdvantage and SmartReplenish who need to optimize fuel prices more and more rapidly in response to the ever increasing volatility and pace at which things change in fuels price management. This integration is already in production at customer sites and is available immediately for any fuels business with both PriceAdvantage and SmartReplenish.
by John Keller | Dec 6, 2013 | Fuel Pricing Strategy, Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
The OPIS report today revealed that average retail fuel margins across the US jumped $0.081 per gallon this week, nearly restoring the fuel margin losses suffered since November 15. The average retail fuel margin across the US now stands at $0.210 per gallon. The year to date average is now $0.190 per gallon and the Q4 calendar average is $0.197 per gallon.
The jump this week means average retail fuel margins are now back above the 2012 level for same day last year, when average retail fuel margins stood at $0.198 per gallon. Last year, these weeks in December saw a retail fuel margin increase to $0.24 per gallon.
National news reports say oil prices are decreasing due to a glut in the US Gulf Coast. That may result in lower wholesale costs, and more opportunities for increased retail fuel margins in the coming weeks.
by John Keller | Dec 6, 2013 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software
According to the Wall Street Journal, the private-equity owners of BJ’s Wholesale have inquired about purchasing the chain of Hess c-stores and pairing them with the BJ’s Wholesale clubs. Hess had 1361 stations at the end of last year.
BJ’s Wholesale uses PriceAdvantage as their retail fuel software solution across all their clubs. The BJ’s implementation includes price changes with their POS system and electronic price signs. Says Scott Margherio, Vice President, Manager of Fuel & Automotive Operations of BJ’s Wholesale Club, “We used to spend a good part of the morning collecting surveys, inputting data into a spreadsheet and then submitting prices to the clubs. Now we are able to make price changes in under an hour, instantly receiving a confirmation that it has been completed, correctly.”
BJ’s reports the PriceAdvantage system saves roughly 3-4 hours per day in time management as well as costly pricing errors.
by John Keller | Dec 3, 2013 | Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
The latest OPIS report reveals that retail fuel margins across the US dropped again this week. Average retail fuel margins were down $0.013 per gallon and now stand at $0.129 per gallon. That’s the fourth consecutive loss, and retail fuel margin averages are now at the lowest level since July 19 of this year.
The year to date average now stands at $0.189 per gallon, while the Q4 average is at $0.205 per gallon. The six week average is now at $0.195.
This is the second consecutive week that retail fuel margins this year are below the equivalent day of last year. In 2012, the average retail fuel margin was $0.167 per gallon. Last year average retail fuel margins rose $0.07 per gallon over the first three weeks of December, before dropping $0.11 per gallon the last week of the year.
by John Keller | Nov 26, 2013 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Industry News
According to the San Antonio Alamo City Beat, CST Brands plans to build 30 new stores in 2014. CST Brands opened 11 new stores in the past four months.
Additionally, CST Brands will ring the opening bell on Wall Street on December 3.
CST Brands has been rewarded favorably by financial analysts such as J.P. Morgan for their successful strategy of focusing on in-store margins by opening large c-stores. CST Brands has been quite successful at improving their fuel margins since being spun off from the Valero refinery parent.
CST Brands has been using PriceAdvantage as their exclusive retail fuel software since 2012.
