by John Keller | Apr 30, 2014 | Customer News, Industry News, PriceAdvantage
Convenience Store Decisions reported today that Gabe Olives, Director of Fuels for PriceAdvantage customer Rutter’s Farm Stores, has been named vice chair of Conexxus, the rebranded name of PCATS (Petroleum Convenience Alliance for Technology Standards).
Conexxus is a non-profit organization member-driven technology organization dedicated to the development and implementation of standards, technologies innovation and advocacy for the convenience store and motor fuels market. Its mission is to addresses technology standards to improve business processes, reduce costs and increase productivity for the convenience and fuel retailing industry. Read more about Conexxus here.
Rutter’s was an early adapter of PriceAdvantage back in 2007, integrating their PriceAdvantage fuels software with Skyline electronic price signs, Radiant POS, and PDI back office software for a complete closed loop solution. In 2011 Rutter’s extended their fuels solution to GasBuddy OpenStore.
Besides being vice chair of Conexxus, Gabe Olives is also a member of the PriceAdvantage Customer Advisory Board, representing Rutter’s.
by John Keller | Apr 23, 2014 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, PriceAdvantage
PriceAdvantage customer in the news: Sheetz President and CEO Joe Sheetz has been named the vice chairman of the National Association of Convenience Stores’ (NACS) Research Committee. This announcement was reported by Convenience Store Decisions here.
This NACS committee directs the NACS research and development initiatives and programs to promote the ongoing competitive viability of the channel.
“I am honored to be entrusted with the leadership of my family’s company,” said Joe Sheetz. “The vision of my uncles Bob and Steve fueled Sheetz for more than 60 years, not only to stay in business, but to help move the entire industry forward. Add to that the drive and focus Stan brought to this position and I suddenly find myself with quite a legacy to preserve.”
Sheetz Inc. operates more than 460 locations throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina, and is regarded as one of the industry’s best c-store companies.
Sheetz has been a PriceAdvantage customer since 2009, when they estimated PriceAdvantage would save them $141,000 each year, as well as add 50 hours of customer face time per year for each store manager. The combined solution of PriceAdvantage with Skyline electronic price signs has been a tremendous success for both Sheetz and PriceAdvantage over the years.
The PriceAdvantage team is proud of our partnership with Sheetz, and we look forward to our continued joint success as we lead the c-store industry together.
by John Keller | Apr 17, 2014 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Industry News, PriceAdvantage
In the news today, Convenience Store Decisions reported that PriceAdvantage customer Parker’s has created the CTO position at their company and named Stephen Hines as CTO.
“In his new position, Hines will be responsible for overseeing and managing all current technologies for Parker’s. He will ensure that all technology related decisions are aligned with the company’s business goals, build the internal IT department to support the company’s growth, and maintain all processes, procedures, and documentation for internal IT systems,” according to Convenience Store Decisions.
Parker’s has been a PriceAdvantage customer for over one year, integrating PriceAdvantage with their VeriFone POS system, PDI back office, and GasBuddy OpenStore, as well as their Skyline electronic price signs.
by John Keller | Apr 15, 2014 | Customer News, Industry News, PriceAdvantage
Lately there has been a lot of press about the Heartbleed virus, discussing what sites and applications have been affected. The biggest names in the software industry have been impacted, so there’s no wonder the Heartbleed security problem has been in the news. If you’d like more information about how pervasive this problem is, check out the article here.
The PriceAdvantage team takes security very seriously. We can say with the utmost certainty that our PriceAdvantage customers can be rest assured that the Heartbleed security problem has no affect on their PriceAdvantage system in any way.
Here’s why:
OpenSSL is not built into PriceAdvantage anywhere. Because PriceAdvantage servers/software are IIS/Windows based, there is nothing to worry about with regard to Heartbleed because IIS/Windows uses its own SSL software. That is the only place where PriceAdvantage uses SSL.
If you’d like to dig deeper into this answer, please feel free to contact the PriceAdvantage Support team.
by John Keller | Apr 11, 2014 | PriceAdvantage, Retail Fuel Margins
The OPIS report today showed average retail fuel margins across the US lost ground again this week. The average US retail fuel margin now stands at $0.127 per gallon, a $0.027 decline from last week. That’s the second consecutive decrease and the fourth drop in five weeks.
The year to date average dipped slightly to $0.156 per gallon, as did the six week average to $0.149 per gallon. The Q2 average is now $0.141 per gallon.
The current retail fuel margin is substantially lower than last year at this time, when it was $0.268 per gallon. The April 2013 average retail fuel margin finished the month at $0.219 per gallon last year. Half way into April, it’s not likely we’ll catch up to that monthly average this year.
by John Keller | Apr 10, 2014 | Fuel Price Management, Industry News, PriceAdvantage, Retail Fuel Margins
In the US EIA “Short-term and Summer Fuels Outlook” released today, we see these predictions for the summer of 2014 (April – September).
- US consumption of gasoline will be slightly higher (10,000 gallons) than the same period in 2013
- Brent crude oil prices will be $2 per barrel lower than the same period in 2013
- The US regular unleaded retail gas price will average $3.57, one cent lower than the same period in 2013, with these regional averages:
- East Coast $3.53 (same as 2013)
- Midwest $3.55 ($0.05 lower than 2013)
- Gulf Coast $3.37 (same as 2013)
- Rocky Mountain $3.52 ($0.09 lower than 2013)
- West Coast $3.85 ($0.02 lower than 2013)
- The US diesel retail gas price will average $$3.87, two cents lower than the same period in 2013
From a fuel price management perspective, what does it mean if these predictions come true?
- Fuel volumes would essentially be unchanged across the entire US market, unlike in the summer of 2013 when the overall US fuel market increased by 90,000 gallons.
- Wholesale costs to fuel retailers would be slightly less than last year, possibly as much as $0.048 per gallon less.
- Depending on the region, fuel retailers may be able to see an increase of fuel margins where the fuel price holds relatively steady but wholesale costs are less.
- Overall fuel sales as measured in dollars would be less for regions such as the Midwest, Rocky Mountain, and West Coast. Publicly held companies who have their sites in these regions may report lower overall fuel revenues if volumes are essentially the same and street prices are lower. That’s why financial analysts shouldn’t pay too much attention to this metric that is outside the control of the retailer. But with careful attention played to margins, fuel profits may remain strong, and that’s worthy of attention.
Obviously there is lots of uncertainty related to the future cost of crude, since a quick series of unexpected events could cause these predictions to be way off. That’s why the report shows a 95% confidence level of crude prices to be anywhere in the range of $60 to $130 per barrel. But for modeling purposes, this report does show one reference point that is useful for planning purposes.
