by John Keller | May 2, 2014 | Fuel Software, Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
According to the latest OPIS report, the average retail fuel margin across the US rose $0.01 per gallon this week to $0.155 per gallon. That’s the second consecutive margin increase returning the average back to levels last seen one month ago.
The year to date average is $0.153 and the quarter to date average is $0.140 per gallon. The six week average is $0.145.
The current average retail margin is now $0.007 less than this week last year. The weekly fuel margin in 2014 has been below 2013 every week since February 28. The gap between this year’s and last year’s margins is now the smallest since that week.
We look forward to the margin trend line of 2014 crossing above the 2013 trend line next week.
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 28, 2014 | Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
The latest OPIS report shows the average weekly retail fuel margin across the US increased $0.024 per gallon, reversing a three week trend of decreases that started April 4. The average retail fuel margin across the US now stands at $0.145 per gallon, with the year to date average at $0.153 per gallon, and the quarter to date average at $0.137 per gallon. The six week average is now $0.143 per gallon, unchanged from last week.
The average retail fuel margin is now $0.052 below this week last year. But then through May 24 of last year, the average retail fuel margin dropped $0.073 per gallon to $0.124 per gallon. Hopefully this year the seasonal drops in average retail margins are behind us and we can start to see a healthy trend.
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 18, 2014 | Customer News, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Software, Industry News
PriceAdvantage customer Rutter’s has won many accolades for a range of North American awards. Now Rutter’s is a nominee for convenience retailer of the year, one of only two nominees from the United States among a list of 14 nominees representing countries throughout Europe and South America.
The NACS Insight Convenience Retailer of the Year award recognizes excellence in convenience and forecourt retailing on an international stage by celebrating the best convenience retail formats from around the world.
People, technology, rewards and food are the key elements in Rutter’s strategy of delivering a world-class convenience store. The PriceAdvantage team has worked closely with Rutter’s for seven years, and we can speak from first hand experience that their use of technology is second to none.
Check out the Rutter’s entry here. We think their entry is so compelling, you won’t be able to resist casting your vote for Rutter’s.
by John Keller | Apr 18, 2014 | Customer News, Industry News
Convenience Store News announced they have selected PriceAdvantage customer Rutter’s CEO and President Scott Hartman as an inductee into the CSNews Hall of Fame.
The CSNews Hall of Fame recognizes convenience store industry pioneers and innovators from retailer and supplier companies of all sizes.
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.
Rutter’s is also a member of the PriceAdvantage Customer Advisory Board, with Gabe Olives, Director of Fuels, representing Rutter’s.
The PriceAdvantage team is grateful to have such a forward thinking partner as Rutter’s, and we are happy to offer Scott Hartman a hearty congratulations. Well deserved, Scott!
by John Keller | Apr 18, 2014 | Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
The OPIS fuel margin report this week revealed that the average retail fuel margin across the US dipped $0.006 per gallon to $0.121 per gallon. That’s the third consecutive decline. The average retail fuel margin has now declined $0.047 per gallon since the beginning of this quarter.
The year to date average continues its drop since the high point on February 7, when the average retail fuel margin was $0.178. The year to date average is now $0.154 per gallon. The six week average is $0.143, the lowest since March 21, and the second lowest of the year.
This same Friday in 2013, we had the retail fuel margin average at $0.234 per gallon, $.113 per gallon higher than today. However, it was this time last year when retail fuel margins took a dive over the course of four weeks, dropping to $0.123, which turned out to be the lowest of the quarter. We’ll see if this year we can fend off any repeat of that margin trend.
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
According to CSPNet.com, CST Brands has retained the realty and financial advisory services of NRC Realty & Capital Advisors LLC to sell 100 convenience stores. The story appears on CSPNet.com here.
Convenience stores with gas will be offered with the option for sale with fuel supply, which will be provided by CST Brands.
The states where these stores are located are as follows: 61 locations in Texas, 22 in Colorado, 14 in Arizona, seven in California, four in both Arkansas and Louisiana, three in New Mexico, one in Utah and one in Wyoming.
UPDATE: each location sells on average over 3,000 gallons of fuel per day. According to a CST Brands statement, that makes these stores ideal locations for CST’s wholesale business.
This is the first time CST Brands has publicly mentioned a wholesale business as a strategic direction.
CST Brands uses PriceAdvantage across all their US stores to monitor fuel volume and margin performance. It is through PriceAdvantage then, that CST can quickly identify the stores that are most logical to put up for sale.
NRC Realty & Capital Advisors provides “cradle to grave” real estate and financial advisory services to their clients, resulting in the sale of over 10,000 properties throughout North America. The c-store industry is one of their key areas of expertise, so recent clients include well-known names such as 7-11, Cumberland Farms, and Getty Realty.
The bid deadline for the CST locations is just two months away, June 17, 2014.
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.
