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Shell acquires EV charger network
company Volta Inc.

As reported in CStoreDecisions here, Shell has acquired Volta Inc. The transaction is for $169 million in cash.

In a Convenience Store News article about this transaction found here, Volta’s assets include an existing public EV charging network of more than 3,000 charge points at destination sites — such as shopping centers, grocery stores and pharmacies — across 31 U.S. states and territories, as well as a development pipeline of more than 3,400 additional charge points and capabilities to continue developing, operating and monetizing EV charging infrastructure. Beyond providing a charging service, Volta also specializes in generating advertising revenues from screens embedded into the charge point.

On Volta’s website is a press release from June 2022 where Volta announced a collaboration with The Kroger Co. to bring a mix of DC Fast and Level 2 Volta charging stations to Kroger customers nationwide. According to their website “Volta’s vision is to build EV charging networks that capitalize on and catalyze the shift from combustion-powered miles to electric miles by placing stations where consumers live, work, shop, and play. By leveraging a data-driven understanding of driver behavior to deliver EV charging solutions that fit seamlessly into people’s daily routines, Volta’s goal is to benefit consumers, brands, and real-estate locations while helping to build the infrastructure of the future.”

 

Sheetz cuts price of diesel by $.50
through January 31

According to CSP Daily News, Sheetz is cutting the price of diesel by $.50 starting January 10, 2023. The promotion ends at the end of the month. This offer will include both auto diesel fuel and truck diesel fuel options.

This promotional offer follows a similar retail fuel pricing strategy Sheetz implemented in November 2022, when they reduced the price of unleaded 88 gasoline to $1.99 a gallon for one week.

Sheetz has been a PriceAdvantage and Skyline sign customer since 2009.

Congratulations to Chris Hartman
on his promotion to Rutter’s VP

Congratulations to Chris Hartman of Rutter’s on being promoted to VP of fuels, advertising, and development. Chris is part of the 11th generation of Rutter’s ownership and son of Scott Hartman, Rutter’s president and CEO.

This news was first reported by CSNews.

Cover story in IGM magazine about
Minuteman Food Mart

PriceAdvantage customer Minuteman Food Mart made the front cover of the November/December issue of IGM magazine, the publication of SIGMA.

The article is a profile story of Campbell Oil Company and its chain of 60 stores across North and South Carolina.

Minuteman became a PriceAdvantage customer in September 2021 across the 44 stores they had at the time, and when they acquired 16 more stores in June 2022, they rapidly expanded their use of PriceAdvantage to include those stores as well.

CS News names Sheetz
2022 Technology Leader of the Year

Convenience Store News selects Sheetz as its 2022 Technology Leader of the Year for its forward-thinking take on retail technology. The announcement can be seen here.

Sheetz CEO Travis Sheetz said “Technology is a great enabler to all those businesses we are in and the customers that we serve,” he said. “We are very literal about not using technology for technology’s sake, but using it for what it can do to make our business better.”

On the operations side of the convenience channel, technology helps retailers with efficiencies and labor redistribution to focus employees on the more value-added parts of the business.

Additionally, technology helps with information. “The world is all about data,” Travis Sheetz said. “Not only who has the most data, but who uses it the most effectively. There are very few things today where technology can’t help you be better.”

 

 

Casey’s beats earnings estimates

Casey’s reported their financial results for their second quarter today.

  • Diluted EPS of $3.67, up 42% from the same period a year ago. The Q2 consensus estimate was $3.16, so Casey’s handily beat the analyst estimates.
  • Same-store fuel gallons were up 0.3% compared to prior year with a fuel margin of 40.5 cents per gallon. Total fuel gross profit increased 22.7% to $284.4 million compared to the prior year.

“The fuel gross profit dollars remained strong as our fuel team executed at a high level again and struck the right balance between sales volume and gross profit margin”, said Darren Rebelez, President and CEO.

Casey’s began implementing PriceAdvantage towards the end of Q4, 2018 and was fully implemented in the first half of 2019.