Client:The Spinx Company Location:North and South Carolina Number of Stores:81
The Spinx Company operates more than 70 convenience stores in North and South Carolina under the Spinx brand, offering gasoline and alternative fuels at Spinx locations and supplying gasoline to more than 60 area convenience stores. Family owned and operated, the company has grown to be a regional powerhouse by delighting customers with fast, convenient service.
Despite the emphasis on creating exceptional customer experiences, Spinx store managers spent several hours each day focused on administrative tasks like data entry rather than helping customers. Additionally, muddled and cumbersome processes reduced company profits. Banking on more efficient processes and technology innovations to increase profitability, The Spinx Company turned to industry innovator PriceAdvantage. The result:
Spinx now push changes to point-of-sale systems (POS), pumps, and price signs, and confirms price changes—all with one click.
Reduced time wasted on data entry a whopping 75 percent.
Provided store managers 274 more hours in front of customers per store per year, a total of 19,180 hours each year.
Simultaneously reduced errors.
“PriceAdvantage replaced our previous fuel pricing solution. It is a superior tool in that it gives us the ability to pull historical data easily, manage multiple price changes per day, and provides a user-friendly interface at the headquarters and store level.”
Stewart Spinks
Founder,The Spinx Company
Results
Increased Pricing Speed, Increased Profits
The Spinx Company estimated that store managers spent more than an hour each day entering data like volume, sales, and competitor surveys in the previous fuel pricing system, not to mention the time it took to gather or organize this information. After data was reviewed by headquarters, price changes rolled back to the store level and managers had to manually update POS, pumps, and price signs. As with most manual processes, human error led to diminished profitability. The entire process was riddled with data entry keying errors. Therefore, data couldn’t be trusted and creating a sound pricing strategy eluded the team.
The disorderly and time-consuming process was replaced with the PriceAdvantage automated system in two locations that already used Skyline electronic price signs. This testing ground allowed the company to hone their strategy before rolling out the program to all stores. It also empowered the team to comprehensively test the entire automated pricing process—from updating pricing at headquarters to informing the store and updating POS, pumps, and price signs in one easy step. The PriceAdvantage one-click system also provided closed loop confirmation that price changes were made—completing the price change lifecycle.
Rapid Rollout
The initial pilot program was implemented in May 2011 and was so successful that the company quickly expanded the program to ten more store locations within three months. Today, PriceAdvantage operates in all Spinx stores, feeding price changes to NCR Radiant and Gilbarco point-of-sale systems. Most Spinx stores have Skyline electronic price signs, providing these stores with the convenience of PriceAdvantage’s one-click technology.
Fast, Accurate Price Changes with Just One Click
“We’re extremely happy with our decision to install PriceAdvantage across our network of stores. PriceAdvantage has reduced the amount of time it takes us to respond to competitor moves as well as other market conditions,” said Stewart Spinks. “It is crucial that we are able to analyze our data, make a price decision, and implement the price change from the store to the street as quickly as possible to maximize fuel profits.”
“PriceAdvantage has saved Spinx store managers an estimated 45 minutes per day as they no longer enter volume or sales data,” commented Stewart Spinks. “Additionally, we are implementing price changes faster and more accurately than ever as PriceAdvantage changes prices from the POS to the pump and electronic signs with one click.”
Partners in Success
Finally, the relationship between The Spinx Company and PriceAdvantage has been mutually beneficial—a true partnership. As PriceAdvantage receives feedback from The Spinx Company (and other customers), the product development team considers suggestions in the development of the product. Spinx store managers appreciate that they have a voice. One such request from Spinx store managers was the need for managers to be notified when a price changes comes from the corporate headquarters. Today, PriceAdvantage sends a text message to store managers indicating that a price change has been submitted.
The Spinx Company wanted a partner, not just a fuel pricing system, and PriceAdvantage has proven to be an excellent partner and solution through and through.
Client: By-Lo Oil Company / SpeedyQ Markets Location: Michigan Number of Stores: 18
SpeedyQ Markets may have changed its name a number of times since its founding in 1962, but what has remained consistent is its fast, friendly service to the people of the “thumb” region of Michigan.
Today, the third generation of the Lawrence family operates 18 locations. To maximize its profitability in the highly competitive retail fuel market, in 2013 the ownership of SpeedyQ decided to utilize PriceAdvantage to improve its fuel- pricing process. The change removed tedious manual processes and collectively provided the SpeedyQ team nearly four hours per day to focus on other high-value tasks.
Managers have more time to develop store employees’ sales and marketing skills to serve more customers in less time, raise the average transaction, and improve customer satisfaction.
Using the PriceAdvantage mobile app allows Kyle Lawrence, president, to visit more stores, interact with more staff and customers, and instantly monitor and adjust fuel prices while traveling on business.
Lawrence can quickly validate pricing decisions with the economic modeling module.
“The greatest benefits have been improving area managers’ communications with our stores and optimizing our employee’s potential to market and sell more products and services.”
Kyle Lawrence
President,SpeedyQ
Results
More Time to Manage Growth
SpeedyQ had relied on a manual fuel-pricing system for many years. The company’s two area managers sent a survey email to each of the 18 locations. Surveys would be returned to Lawrence, who then had to read numerous emails and absorb the information to make pricing decisions and then relay prices back to the stores. Lawrence estimates that to manage multiple daily price changes it required at least 1.5 hours of each area manager’s time and 1 hour of his.
With the PriceAdvantage solution, Lawrence can now manage by exception and only review those stores that are not meeting the predefined pricing rules. This dramatically reduces the amount of time required to establish and communicate new prices, freeing up nearly 4 team hours each day for his team to focus on improving employee performance and customer satisfaction while maximizing store profitability.
In Charge and on the Move
Another benefit that made it easy for SpeedyQ to choose PriceAdvantage over the competition was the PriceAdvantage mobile app that allows Lawrence to make pricing decisions from anywhere using a smart phone or tablet. Now he can be more visible to his employees and customers and enhance the area managers’ training of store personnel. He is able to attend trade shows, visit suppliers, and be on the move throughout the day and still quickly check that the current fuel-pricing strategy is generating the expected results.
Fast Track Integration
PDl/Enterprise and VeriFone Ruby Sapphire are also integral components of SpeedyQ’s business operations. It was vitally important to Lawrence that any computerized and automated fuel-pricing system the company added to the mix could be easily integrated. “One of the primary reasons we chose PriceAdvantage was its quick and smooth integration with our other systems.” Lawrence now has much easier access to fuel reports and doesn’t have to request data from his accounting staff. From his smartphone, he is able to know in near real-time how prices are trending, receive alerts, and obtain accurate store revenue data. With PriceAdvantage software fully integrated with SpeedyQ’s entire business strategy, Lawrence can take a holistic approach to managing and maximizing the company’s performance and success.
Store-Specific Strategies
Lawrence likes how the PriceAdvantage system allows him to interpret data from each location and initiate 18 separate strategies, easily and quickly. One store may have no nearby competitors, or the competitors could be other local convenience stores or global oil company chain locations. One store could be at a freeway exit ramp while another is in a rural community. Whatever the local parameters, he can set store-specific strategies to be a premium leader in one location or a follower in another.
Employee Endorsement
After the initial 5-store trial of the PriceAdvantage system, employees’ positive comments prompted the employees at the 13 other stores to ask for it too. When he asked his operations team what they thought of the trial, they knew that they could not go back to the old way. His appreciation of PriceAdvantage only increased when he saw how easily and quickly new employees understood and used the system, considering the high turnover at convenience stores. The 5-store trial required just a few weeks for complete integration and minimal training and only a few hours was needed at each subsequent store to install PriceAdvantage.
Smart Teams and Smart Systems Save Sheetz $141,000
Client:Sheetz Location: Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, and North Carolina Number of Stores:435
When Sheetz wanted to reduce expenses at 360 convenience stores in Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, and North Carolina, Mark Wilson, Director of Store Support, turned to PriceAdvantage™ software to streamline and automate processes. The decision resulted in:
Estimated $141,000 annual savings in maintenance service costs.
Additional $460,000 annual savings is expected from pending software integrations.
Onsite service calls dropped 49% because of the ability to remotely reset price signs.
Providing store managers about 50 hours per year more in customer face time—helping Sheetz provide its trademark friendly, fast, quality customer care.
“We estimate PriceAdvantage will drive $141,000 in annual cost savings, and give store managers up to 50 extra hours annually per store to spend with our customers.”
– Mark Wilson, Director of Store Support
Results
Reducing Service Calls, Errors, Delays and Manual Processes
When the executive team sat down to really look at revenue numbers, they realized that an increase in profits by just half a penny per gallon would significantly impact the bottom line. However, in this highly competitive consumer market, the team knew they couldn’t simply raise prices. So CEFCO reviewed their processes, unafraid to challenge the status quo, and discovered redundant efforts, unreliable data, manual processes, technology limitations, and incomplete information from which to make long term business decisions. Simply put, CEFCO needed to modernize operations to stay competitive, and they knew that the right technology solution would significantly improve operations.
After a thorough and honest analysis of operations and extensive industry research on best practices and best-in-class tools that could support their revenue goals, CEFCO crafted a retail pricing strategy and partnered with PriceAdvantage to help CEFCO achieve its goals.
ROI of $141,000 plus 18,000 Hours
These two improvements yield an annual savings of $141,000 in service maintenance and increase the availability of the store managers up to 50 hours annually per store. With 360 stores in the mid-Atlantic region, the company could realize an additional 18,000 hours of customer service and selling time each year. “The software gave us all of that in a usable, understandable, teachable and trainable package,” Wilson says.
“The smarter the systems are that we place in the stores, the better information we have at headquarters. That’s what we look for in technology today.”
In addition, PriceAdvantage fueled: • a 49% reduction in on-site service calls by remotely resetting price signs; • the ability to instantly react to competitive market changes, thereby maximizing revenue opportunities; • the ability to proactively head off potential problems with remote monitoring and dynamic notification of pricing errors; • lower total service costs; and • a reduction in system downtime, inaccurate price changes, and amount of time to make a price change.
Unexpected Qualitative Improvements
Employees, especially store managers, were happier and more productive as store managers had more time to do what they do best, manage their stores and spend time with customers.
“Our overriding team goal is to ensure that store managers can maximize their time with our customers,” Wilson says. “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…directly impacting our top line revenue.”
PriceAdvantage Integrations Can Cut Expenses an Additional $460,000
What started as a test has become a foundational shift in Sheetz store operations. Integrations between the Radiant Systems POS, the pump, and the Skyline Electronic Price Display allow headquarters staff to remotely update fuel prices in the field. Best of all, the prices can be updated not only from a desktop or laptop, but on mobile devices as well. Partnering with Radiant Systems, Skyline’s PriceAdvantage is expected to free up another $460,000 annually to re-allocate to additional systems and resources.
Client:Quick Fuel Location:Midwest and Southern United States Number of Stores:52
Quick Fuel is a 4th-generation family-owned business operating 52 automated commercial fueling stations and 200 mobile fueling trucks. Like most card-lock locations, 80-90% of Quick Fuel’s business was conducted between 5am-6pm through fleet card transactions and anchor accounts. By installing Skyline retail price signs and using PriceAdvantage to optimize retail fuel prices, Quick Fuel was able to increase fuel sales by 186% per month at just one location alone – and projects as much as 30% additional growth.
“Success is all about controlling driver behavior to control volume. By pricing our fuel faster and more accurately and by adding bold, distinct price signs to our card-lock locations, we’ve substantially increased business,” says Josh Tippin, Director – Automated Facilities at Quick Fuel. “The combination of PriceAdvantage fuel pricing software and Skyline price signs provided remarkable fuel sales increases and ROI.”
Benefits of the PriceAdvantage / Skyline combination:
Remove manual process and spreadsheets to save time and reduce errors.
Utilize pricing strategies to monitor replacement costs, gather competitive prices, and establish appropriate retail prices.
Leverage patented technology to conduct full-loop price changes and confirmation between PriceAdvantage, JD Edwards, and Skyline price signs.
Attract new business with bold, legible price signs – both retail and new anchor customers.
“The combination of PriceAdvantage and Skyline price signs provided remarkable FUEL SALES INCREASES and ROI.”
Josh Tippin
Director of Automated Facilities,Quick Fuel
Results
Faster Price Changes = Increased Fuel Sales
Quick Fuel’s previous manual fuel pricing process required four people to touch pricing every day, sometimes as much as 1-2 hours per person, for just one daily price change. This six-eight hour, five-step process (aka giant spreadsheet) included pulling OPIS and retail prices, calculating price vs. cost, and entering new prices in JD Edwards. It was often plagued by human error.
Using PriceAdvantage to execute pricing strategies, Quick Fuel surpassed their net income budgets in 2014 and 2015 by 45%. Additionally, PriceAdvantage eliminated tedious manual processes by automating and synchronizing key data sources – essentially reducing man hours by one full-time equivalent. Quick Fuel then leveraged those savings to invest in a full-time pricing analyst to help maximize both fuel sales and margins and increase competitiveness.
A Sign of Success
Quick Fuel sells two things: fuel and time. At most retail locations, it can take as long as 24 minutes to fill a normal delivery truck. But thanks to advanced technology and high-volume pumps, Quick Fuel can fill a truck in as little as seven minutes. The Quick Fuel team knew that by adding a retail price sign – they would attract new retail and commercial customers who would appreciate competitive fuel prices and rapid service.
Josh selected Skyline price signs for a number of reasons. First, only Skyline signs boast a proprietary, patented technology that supports full loop automation – communicating that requested price changes were indeed made. Next, the quality of the Skyline signs – including legibility, LED longevity, automated brightness control, and advanced diagnostics – justified the investment. Josh shared, “I know that investing in great technology gives us a competitive advantage. I may have paid slightly more for Skyline signs – but it was worth it due to the quality, integrations, and superior customer service.”
149% ROI in Just 7.9 Months
Quick Fuel installed its first Skyline price sign at its Lamar Road facility in Memphis, TN during December 2015. Initially, Quick Fuel calculated that the ROI on their Skyline sign investment would require 16 months – it actually only took 7.9 months. Fuel volume increased 49.7% from December to March 2016. Even more significant was the 186% YTD increase in fuel volume for March 2016 as well as a 36% increase in total gross margin. A Skyline sign was installed at a second, high volume Quick Fuel site during December 2015. That site generated a 15% year-over-year increase – nearly maximizing that site’s output capacity!
Planning for Additional Growth
The combination of PriceAdvantage and Skyline price signs has proved itself as a catalyst for growth. Quick Fuel will install Skyline signs to 12 additional sites in 2016 AND added a pricing analyst to their team. This pricing analyst will utilize PriceAdvantage to delve deeper into analytics, ensure they are where they need to be in the market, help drive business, and continue growth – freeing Josh and the other team members to focus on other business initiatives.
Client: Maverik Location: Western United States Number of Stores:400 and growing
Maverik is known for fueling customer adventures at more than 400 locations across 10 Western states, making it the largest independent fuel marketer in the Intermountain West. As a rapidly expanding fuel retailer, Maverik’s fuel pricing operation is key to their growth and success. In 2015, they replaced their internally developed fuel pricing software with the only third party solution that was powerful enough to fit their growing business needs, yet nimble enough to expand and adapt.
The fuel pricing team had used a home-grown system for a number of years but realized that it was struggling to keep up with their growing company. After completing a thorough business analysis, Maverik determined that licensing a third-party solution, rather than redesigning their current system, was a sound business decision for both financial and strategic reasons.
“I cannot emphasize the importance of our business relationship enough. We feel deeply valued as a customer and the PriceAdvantage team shows genuine concern on how the product performs for our company.”
Carter Shaw
Petroleum Pricing Manager,Maverik
Results
SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
Maverik’s list of fuel pricing software requirements were much like those of other fuel retailers: it had to be easy-to-use; quickly allow the addition of new stores and competitors; integrate with existing point-of-sale software; and provide robust analytics and reporting.
PARTNERS IN SUCCESS
Carter Shaw, Maverik’s Petroleum Pricing Manager, spearheaded the software selection process. After reviewing the available software options, he found a unique differentiator with PriceAdvantage. “The PriceAdvantage team expressed a genuine desire to be a partner with our fuel marketing efforts. I cannot emphasize the importance of our business relationship enough – we feel deeply valued as a customer and the PriceAdvantage team shows genuine concern on how the product performs for our company.”
PRICING CONFIDENCE
Rather than rely solely upon stores submitting competitor surveys just once per day, Carter can now import Engage3 and OPIS Radius reports throughout the day and reference all of the pricing data points to make more accurate pricing decisions. “I now have a lot more visibility into the competitive data and have more confidence in my pricing decisions,” shared Carter.
SPEED
One of Maverik’s primary goals was to be able to quickly bring on news stores, build their strategies and establish competitors. Not only did they accomplish this, but they can now price all of their stores more quickly – allowing them to easily expand without adding additional staff to their pricing team.
CHANGE PRICES ANYWHERE, ANYTIME
“A huge benefit of using PriceAdvantage is my ability to price fuel from anywhere using my phone,” explained Carter. “Before, I had to be at my desktop to make price changes. Now, I can just simply pull out my phone and push new prices in just seconds.” This give Maverik the ability to respond to the volatile market at any time of day and on the weekends – protecting margins and gross profit.
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