John Eichberger is the NACS Motor Fuels Director and always a great advocate of the fuel retailer.
In this video clip from CNBC, John explains how despite the highest retail fuel prices we’ve seen in years, the 2014 retail fuel margin has taken a 20% hit over the past three weeks.
Home CNG filling stations have been available for years, but at an up-front cost of $6000 and a four year payback, unit sales have been tiny and the technology has not caught on across mainstream America.
But GE, Whirlpool and Eaton are working on new home filling units that could cut the cost down to $500. And that has the attention of Honda, the auto company currently offering one of the only CNG powered passenger cars in the US.
CNG is now priced at $1.40 per gallon, and CNG powered passenger cars have a driving range of 200 miles, far better than most electric vehicles currently on the market.
While there are over 120,000 gasoline stations across the US, there are currently only 605 CNG stations open to the public in the US. But if in the next few years these affordable home CNG filling stations become mainstream, and more CNG powered vehicle offerings become available, there will be an increased CNG market available for fuel retailers to tap in to as more drivers away from home will be looking for a CNG fill-up.
As I wrote last year, GE announced at the 2012 NACS show a “CNG in a box” offering for fuel retailers, providing an opportunity for margins even higher than in the store. On the east coast of the US, there is a coming CNG highway planned to extend from Pennsylvania to West Virginia. Retail stations providing CNG are growing in number in Georgia.
Fuel retailers need to keep a close watch as this CNG infrastructure grows in size across the US, and decide when it makes sense to add CNG to their product portfolio, and take advantage of the fuel margins the opportunity offers.
Mobile technology hasn’t just increased the ease with which we travel, check the news, and plan our day. Mobile technology has revolutionized fuel pricing software. In fact, it’s safe to say that fuel pricing software makes for a highly compelling case for why to use mobile technology at all. Mobile fuel pricing software accelerates the communication of key information necessary to gain insight into the latest, most accurate market data, allowing fuels managers to quickly enact changes anywhere and anytime, and thereby optimize profits.
Cloud computing and mobile technology give retail fuels managers greater control over their fuels pricing by consolidating resources and making information more readily accessible. Mobile fuels pricing integrates data from disparate systems into one simple yet comprehensive display, giving managers all the information they need to make strategic pricing decisions, and then act on them. The PriceAdvantage mobile capability allows managers to view this information in an easy to use interface from the Smartphone, iPad, or other mobile device. Managers have this information at their fingertips 24/7, increasing the speed at which they can make informed decisions. PriceAdvantage gives managers complete control of the fuel pricing process through mobile technology, day or night.
Aside from reducing communication headaches by streamlining the price change process, the PriceAdvantage mobile fuel pricing software gives fuels managers a comprehensive picture of what the competition is doing. It returns competitor price changes and surveys as soon as they are reported, keeping managers up-to-date with market shifts. PriceAdvantage also offers advanced analysis views which allow the fuels manager to slice and dice the market data in a meaningful way and answer key questions.
The advanced PriceAdvantage mobile solution provides a superior way to manage the enterprise proactively rather than simply conforming to trends. PriceAdvantage users can set the standard in their region with increased speed-to-the-street. By giving managers the tools to understand the pricing environment, the PriceAdvantage mobile application removes all the waste, delays, and mis-communication from the process. This up-to-date information helps fuels managers anticipate the next move of the competition based on past competitor behavior and current margins, so all pricing decisions are strategic. This mobile capability allows managers to stay connected and respond to market changes at home, in transit, or even while in the stands at a child’s soccer game.
Another way mobile technology increases the level of control is by sending automatic alerts with every price change confirmation or delay. Fuel managers can set alerts within the system to inform them whenever surveys are overdue or price changes are late. That makes it easy to see when and where any problems occurred, and quickly react to correct the delay at its source. Rather than forcing managers to sift through data to find the issue, PriceAdvantage mobile technology identifies the location of the pain point to make it easy to determine how to correct it.
Fuel pricing software is a key component of the modern retail fuels marketplace, and combining it with mobile solutions technology allows any fuels manager to stay ahead of the curve and ahead of the competition.
According to the latest OPIS report, retail fuel margins have dropped for the third consecutive week. Retail fuel margins across the country now average $.084 per gallon, which is $0.028 per gallon lower than last week.
The average retail fuel margin so far in 2013 dipped slightly from last week to $0.132 per gallon.
As a comparison, according to NACS, the overall fuel margin for 2012 was $0.184 per gallon, and the average fuel margin for the past five years was $0.169 per gallon.
The US Energy Information Administration provides a chart showing an annual consistent price increase from this time of year through May. From a fuel price management and fuel pricing strategy perspective, we can expect margins to remain difficult as we face the annual steady increase in retail fuel prices through the spring, and we see margins struggle to maintain pace with those price increases.
According to the latest OPIS report, retail fuel margins reversed their three week trend and lost ground this week. Fuel margins dropped $0.076 to an average margin of $0.292 per gallon. This single week drop erases all fuel margin gains over the past two weeks.
MasterCard reported in their SpendingPulse data that US gasoline demand is 3.8% lower year over year.
For the two weeks ending October 26, 2012, fuel volumes were down 1.6%. The four week average over the 28 days ending October 26 was down 2.4%. The Midwest region of the country had the most significant drop in fuel demand, while the Rocky Mountain states had the smallest drop.
From a fuel price management perspective, this reinforces the fact that the fuel volume pie continues to shrink. Fuel analysts must take into consideration the shrinking demand as they review volume performance, and as they set retail fuel volume targets for next year.