by John Keller | Jul 23, 2013 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management Solutions
The PriceAdvantage team would like to offer our congratulations to Rutter’s for opening their newest location. The newest store is the largest in the Rutter’s chain, and brings the Rutter’s total store count to 58.
Rutter’s has been a long time PriceAdvantage customer, using the patented fuel pricing technology from Skyline to manage retail fuel price changes from Rutter’s headquarters to the NCR (Radiant) POS, pump, and Skyline electronic price sign. Rutter’s was an early adapter of the PriceAdvantage integration to GasBuddy OpenStore in 2011.
Scott Hartman, CEO and President of Rutter’s was inducted into the PCATS Hall of Fame in March of this year in recognition of his industry thought leadership. We look forward to our ongoing partnership with Rutter’s, and the mutual success and growth it continues to bring.
by John Keller | Jul 22, 2013 | Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Retail Fuel Margins
We’re seeing news stories all over the country, both nationally and on a local level, bracing US consumers for rising retail fuel prices in the coming weeks. The reasons given include unrest in Egypt, increased demand due to the summer season, and production disruptions in the US.
The source of the stories is consistently the American Automobile Association (AAA), which receives its pricing information from OPIS. The PriceAdvantage integration with OPIS allows PriceAdvantage customers to provide their latest pricing information to OPIS, and thus display the current gas prices on websites that receive pricing information from OPIS, including MSN Autos, Garmin, AAA, and MapQuest.
From a fuel management perspective, these news stories mean two things.
- If OPIS is correct, and wholesale prices continue to rise, fuel retailers are looking at more weeks with continued slim retail fuel margins. It will be a time period of holding on, waiting for the crest and fall of wholesale prices when retail prices can catch up, and retail margins can be restored.
- Consumers may not be happy with increased retail fuel prices, but at least they won’t be caught off guard. That means there will be opportunities for fuel retailers to adjust retail fuel margins and make up lost ground when wholesale fuel prices drop again.
In order to navigate these times of fluctuating retail fuel margins, analysts in the fuel management area need to maximize their investment and use of their fuel software to optimize fuel profits. Only the most sophisticated fuel software can provide the optimized balance between fuel margins and fuel volumes in times like these.
by John Keller | Jul 19, 2013 | Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Strategy
The ability to make one-click price changes at all retail fuels locations is critical when optimizing fuel prices because it reduces the potential for human keying errors, streamlines the overall fuel pricing process, and ensures maximum fuel profitability. Retail fuel managers frequently face the frustration of not being able to react quickly enough to changing market conditions. Interference, be it from technology or the environment, can hold back price changes, and prevent the optimized prices from reaching the street. By the time the prices do change, it may be too late, as the competition has already leapfrogged to a new price based on newer market fluctuations.
A centralized process for managing fuel price changes to all locations removes the store manager from the loop and increases speed-to-the-street. Tracking and analyzing fuel prices can now be done by a fuel analyst at headquarters giving store managers more face time to interact with customers. By leveraging technology and improving traditional company processes, these overburdened store managers can be freed up to oversee tasks within the store, more effectively handle store operations, and provide better customer service.
The ability to automate fuel price changes at the POS, fuel pumps, and electronic price displays is one key differentiator between the patented PriceAdvantage SMART fuel pricing software solution and other solutions in the industry. The ability to immediately execute price changes within a region, location, or market means you have the right strategy prices in place at the right time to offset your competition. Traditional fuel pricing models relay fuel price changes gradually from one channel to another, allowing for interruptions, miscommunication, human error, and delay after delay. Removing store managers from the critical path eliminates these delays by creating a direct channel from pricing to implementation.
The patented PriceAdvantage SMART fuel price management solution provides analysis of the competitive landscape and a complete picture of the optimal prices in each market. Then fuel managers can use PriceAdvantage to automate the entire fuel price change execution process, including price change confirmation at the POS, sign and pumps, to maximize overall fuel profitability. PriceAdvantage provides a complete picture of the playing field, allowing fuel managers to attain true fuels price optimization day in and day out.
by John Keller | Jul 19, 2013 | Fuel Price Optimization, Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
According to the latest OPIS report, the average retail fuel margins across the USA took a nosedive this week, dropping another $0.07 per gallon to the lowest levels since February of this year.
Current average US retail fuel margins now stand at $0.100 per gallon, which is $0.20 cents lower than just two weeks ago. Retail fuel margins haven’t been this low since February 22. Year to date averages are now at $0.177 per gallon while the average so far in Q2 stands at $0.136 per gallon. The six week average is $0.200 per gallon.
This is the margin drop we anticipated – when wholesale prices increase quickly, retail prices simply cannot keep up due to consumer behavior, and fuel margins decrease. Retailers will have to make the most of their fuel software to carefully balance their volumes and margins to optimize profits as wholesale prices will inevitably stabilize and then dip lower, providing the opportunity for fuel retailers to make up for lost margins in the coming months.
by John Keller | Jul 16, 2013 | Customer News
Skyline Products is proud to congratulate Stan Sheetz, president and CEO of long-time PriceAdvantage customer Sheetz Inc. for being inducted into the CS News Hall of Fame. The CS News Hall of Fame has been recognizing convenience store innovators and pioneers like Stan Sheetz since 1987. Sheetz operates over 450 stores and is included in the Fortune 100 list of private companies. Sheetz has also been named one of the best places to work in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and North Carolina.
Sheetz has been a PriceAdvantage customer since 2009. PriceAdvantage allows Sheetz to save over $140,000 each year and give their store managers an extra 50 hours of customer face time annually.
Stan Sheetz joins fellow PriceAdvantage customer Stewart Spinks of the Spinx Company in the CS News Hall of Fame.
by John Keller | Jul 13, 2013 | Fuel Price Optimization, Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
OPIS reported this week that average retail fuel margins across the USA have fallen dramatically. The latest numbers reflect an average retail fuel margin of $0.171 per gallon which is a 40% drop since last week. The $0.131 per gallon decrease in average retail fuel margins is the largest drop in 52 weeks.
The year to date average retail fuel margin remains steady from last week at $0.180 per gallon and the six week average retail fuel margin dipped slightly to $0.219.
Current predictions are that retail fuel prices are going to increase in the coming weeks. That will put additional pressure on retail fuel margins, so I don’t expect the OPIS report next week to bring any good news for fuel retailers.
