Retail fuel margins dropped $0.03 per gallon this week to $0.161 per gallon, according to the weekly OPIS report. That is the second consecutive retail fuel margin drop in two weeks. Retail fuel margins are now at September 21 levels.
From a fuel price management perspective, two consecutive weeks of retail fuel margin drops should get the attention of any fuel manager, since there are only 11 more weeks in the year to maximize fuels volume and margin.
Retail fuel margins dropped $0.053 per gallon this week to $0.191 per gallon, according to the weekly OPIS report. That is a reversal of the trend over the past two weeks when retail fuel margins increased $0.10 since September 14. Retail fuel margins are now just under $0.05 higher than one month ago.
This is the season when retail fuel prices typically fall, allowing c-stores to make up for lost fuel margins earlier in the year. So from a fuel price management perspective, now is the time to keep a close watch on the volume and retail fuel margin trade-off to make the most of the remaining weeks of the year.
Retail fuel margins rose $0.078 per gallon this week to $0.244 per gallon, according to the weekly OPIS report. That represents the second consecutive week of retail fuel margin increases, a total of nearly $0.11 per gallon higher than two weeks ago. Retail fuel margins are now $0.100 higher than one month ago.
From a fuel price management perspective, c-stores can only hope these retail fuel margins continue for the remaining months of 2012 so they can make up for the rough summer months where retail fuel margins were in the range of $0.11 to $0.12 per gallon.
Retail fuel margins are finally recovering this season according to the most recent Lundberg Survey. From September 7 to September 21, the average retail margin on regular unleaded jumped from $0.099 to $0.172 per gallon.
The Lundberg Survey reports year to date retail fuel margins are between the levels of 2010 (when they were $0.163 per gallon according to NACS) and 2011 (when they were $0.185 per gallon according to NACS).
Fuel price management software is critical for fuel price optimization and to maximize retail fuel margins for these last three months of the year.
Casey’s announced their retail fuel margins were $0.149 per gallon in Q1 of the 2013 fiscal year. That retail fuel margin is slightly ahead of their stated company goal of $0.140 per gallon. Retail fuel margins for the same period last year were $0.172 per gallon. As a comparison, Valero reported retail fuel margins of $0.30 per gallon for the quarter ending July 31. The Pantry reported retail fuel margins of $0.146 per gallon on August 7.
Same store retail fuel volumes were down .2%, but total gallons sold for the quarter were up 3.7% to 394.1 million gallons. CEO Robert J. Myers blamed the decreased same store fuel volumes on excessively hot weather in several of their areas of business.
With a store count of 1699, the monthly gallons per store average was 77,300 gallons. NACS reports the average c-store sells 124,000 gallons of fuel per store per month.
Casey’s has 18 new stores under construction and 27 new stores under written agreement to purchase. Casey’s has an annual goal of increasing their total number of stores by 4-6%. That would equate to between 68 and 100 new stores for the year. The same day Casey’s announced their quarterly earnings, they also announced they are acquiring 22 stores from Kum & Go.
Congratulations to Sheetz as they open their 426th store. Sheetz has been using PriceAdvantage as a key part of their gasoline pricing strategy for over three years and has credited PriceAdvantage with an estimated annual savings of $141,000. PriceAdvantage has reduced onsite service calls by 49% with its ability to remotely reset fuel prices. PriceAdvantage has also increased customer face-time by up to 50 hours per store manager per year.
PriceAdvantage allows Sheetz to instantly react to competitive market changes, and thereby maximize retail fuel margins.
“Our overriding team goal is to ensure that store managers can maximize their time with our customers,” says Mark Wilson, Director of Store Support. “This is a key corporate initiative and competitive advantage for Sheetz. To achieve that, I look for the smartest, most efficient technology in our devices that will allow for low maintenance and high productivity. PriceAdvantage gives us that for our electronic price signs, directly impacting our top line revenue.”