by John Keller | Jun 21, 2013 | Fuel Price Optimization, Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
OPIS reported today that retail fuel margins across the USA had a slight rebound this week. The average retail fuel margin across the country now stands at $0.199 per gallon, up $0.047 from last week. The increase this week returned the year to date margin to the level of two weeks ago, now at $0.171 per gallon.
The average fuel margins for Q2 also inched up slightly to $0.184 per gallon. The six week average fuel margin is now at $0.172 per gallon, up $0.009 per gallon from last week.
With one week remaining in the quarter, it appears that average fuel margins across the USA for Q2 will be $0.025 higher than the average fuel margins for Q1. That is welcome relief for the retail fuel industry, which needs to operate at approximately $0.15 margins to be at the break-even point.
by John Keller | Jun 14, 2013 | Fuel Price Optimization, Retail Fuel Margins
According to OPIS, the average national US retail fuel margin dropped $0.064 per gallon this week. The drop this week brought the overall retail fuel margin average to $0.152 per gallon, the lowest in three weeks.
The year to date average retail fuel margin is holding steady at $0.170 per gallon. The quarter to date average retail fuel margin is down slightly at $0.183 per gallon. The six week average retail fuel margin is down $.002 per gallon to $0.163 per gallon.
Over the past nine weeks, there have only been two weeks of increases, with the remainder being decreases from the previous week.
There are only two weeks remaining in the quarter, and without drastic increases, average margins will not achieve the level seen at the end of Q1, where average margins were at $0.220 per gallon.
by John Keller | Jun 11, 2013 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Software, Industry News
In the NACS State of the Industry Summit there were several key fuel management highlights for the 2013 year.
- Gasoline consumption is up 1.3% year over year.
- Gasoline margins are up 3.6 cents per gallon for the first 12 weeks of 2013 year over year.
- Gasoline margins were at 16.6 cents per gallon for the first 12 weeks of 2013.
- The breakeven cents-per-gallon for last year improved to 9.21 cents, a 12% improvement.
From a fuel price management perspective, it is important to compare the results in your markets to these national industry standards. Perhaps individual markets are particularly competitive with margins and cannot match some of these statistical levels, but these industry standards provide a gauge and set of key performance indicators to use for measuring success.
Using these measurements as the basis to generate reports to reveal the success of your fuel organization can be time consuming if your fuel software is based on Excel. Even the most sophisticated homegrown systems can make it difficult to access reports that show relative performance of volume and margins for comparison sake. But with PriceAdvantage fuel software, heat maps and analysis views quickly allow you to slice and dice volume and margin information to see how a market of your stores is doing relative to another market, and which stores are shining stars vs. which stores are burdens bringing down overall performance.
With this information, your PriceAdvantage fuel management software allows you to adjust marketing and fuel pricing strategies to optimize performance at the store and market level, and maximize prices across the enterprise fuel system.
by John Keller | Jun 7, 2013 | Fuel Price Optimization, Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
OPIS reported today that retail fuel margins held steady this week dipping only $0.002 per gallon across the USA. Average retail fuel margins now stand at $0.216 per gallon. The year to date average is up slightly to $0.171 per gallon, and the Q2 average is up slightly to $0.186 per gallon. The six week average is also up slightly to $0.165 per gallon.
This is good news for fuel retailers who are in great need to recoup the low margins of early and mid May.
From a fuel software perspective, these conditions continue to drive toward the need to keep a watchful eye, to make sure competitors are held in check, and to balance the fine line between fuel volume gains and maintaining fuel margins as long as possible.
by John Keller | May 31, 2013 | Fuel Price Management Solutions, Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
According to the latest OPIS report, retail fuel margins saw their biggest increase in 12 weeks, with a $0.094 per gallon rise. Average retail fuel margins across the USA now stand at $0.218 per gallon, the highest margins all May.
Average year to date fuel margins were up slightly to $0.169 per gallon. Quarter to date fuel margins reversed their six week trend and increased to $0.183 per gallon. The six week average for fuel margins now stands at $0.161 per gallon.
A large part of this gain in fuel margins can be attributed to the mid-west refineries coming back online so that costs can come down, allowing fuel retailers to temporarily hold steady with retail fuel pricing and recoup their lower margins seen over the past month.
But traditionally these higher margins prove to be only temporary, as fuel retailers begin to drop their prices to gain a competitive edge and gain volumes. As always, retail fuel software is critical to win this cat and mouse game, balancing volumes and margins while remaining competitive and maximizing profits.
by John Keller | May 24, 2013 | Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Software, Retail Fuel Margins
According to the latest OPIS report, average retail fuel margins in the US were essentially unchanged this week. Retail fuel margins were up $0.001 per gallon to stand at $0.124 per gallon. Year to date retail fuel margins were down $0.002 to $0.167 per gallon. Average retail fuel margins for this quarter dropped $0.008 and now stand at $0.178 per gallon.
According to NACS, at these margins c-stores are operating at break-even levels at best, after all costs are taken into consideration. The mid-west refinery problems in the US are now clearing up, so that will provide cost reductions in the mid-west and Rocky Mountains, allowing c-stores to catch up even as they drop their retail prices. But it is this shift in cost and margins that require careful calculations to balance volumes with margins, and remain competitive while the market evolves.
Fuel software for retail fuel price management systems are the only way the fuel analyst can make the most profit in these turbulent times.
by John Keller | May 23, 2013 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Industry News
Congratulations to Greg Parker, President and CEO of The Parker Companies and PriceAdvantage customer, for being named one of Georgia’s Power Players by Georgia Trend Magazine. It has been quite a year for Mr. Parker, as he was awarded Top Tech Executive at the CSNews CIO/Tech Summit in April.
The Parker Companies have been using PriceAdvantage as their fuel software to manage all aspects of their retail fuel management solution. The Parker’s fuel management system includes price change confirmation to the VeriFone POS, pumps, Skyline electronic gas price signs, and GasBuddy OpenStore. This is all made possible by the one click technology that is unique to PriceAdvantage.
The PriceAdvantage team is proud to have Parker’s as a partner and we look forward to the days ahead, as together we progress what is possible in the future of the convenience store industry.
by John Keller | May 17, 2013 | Fuel Price Management Solutions, Industry News
According to the research company IMS Research, the number of electric vehicle charging stations may reach 4.8 million worldwide by 2015. The global number of EV charging stations now stands at 75,000 according to their research. The US Department of Energy says the number of EV charging stations in the US as of this blog entry is 5,894 (a 16% increase over six months ago).
The IMS research discusses the different possible business models for the EV charging stations:
- Monthly subscriptions that drivers pay to have access to a network of EV charging stations
- Free charges for consumers who purchase other goods or services provided at the station location
- Pay-per-use like the current fuel fill-up model at c-stores
For the third business model, the IMS research found that consumers would require a quick charge. Consumers reported they were willing to pay $15-17 for a 30 minute quick charge.
From a fuel management perspective, longer term strategy thinking for the fuels analyst needs to include whether or not to offer EV charging stations. Retailers outside the c-store space are already offering charging stations and have announced plans to expand. Will you be part of this emerging business? Can you afford not to be?
by John Keller | May 17, 2013 | Fuel Software, Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
Today’s OPIS report showed retail fuel margins dropped yet again this week. That extends the losing streak to five weeks. Retail fuel margins across the US now stand at $0.123 per gallon, down $0.021 per gallon from last week. Average retail fuel margins have lost a total of $0.145 per gallon since the streak began.
Retail fuel margins are at February levels for the second week in a row. Average retail margins year to date are now at $0.169 per gallon. Quarter to date average retail margins are at $0.186 per gallon.
These are tough times for the c-store fuel managers, especially when they are managing the balance between volumes and margins without fuel software to manage their fuel price management strategies. Every penny, every hour, matters at this point, and investing in a fuel management system is the only way to make the most of the difficult times.
by Grant Garrison | May 16, 2013 | Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Software, Industry News
Managers who want to know the secret to fuel pricing at its best should be aware that the answer has always been right in front of them. Advancements in corporate technology and software, now more affordable than ever before, have made fuel price tracking and implementation a much simpler process. Most market leaders have already begun implementing fuel price management and media marketing solutions. In order to achieve a new level of efficiency, managers must stay ahead of their competitors through advanced fuel pricing technology.
Be it fuel pumps, mobile apps, GasBuddy integration or electronic price signs, fuel pricing technology is what’s driving the industry into the future. In just a few years the game has changed completely. Development and manufacture of electronic pricing solutions has taken off, expanding the products available to retail fuel locations. The potential boost for the c-tore industry is huge, as these tools greatly increase speed-to-the-street and allow fuel managers to make changes through mobile technology from any location. If they happen to hear of a coming shift in demand while out on the road, they can immediately make the change thanks to advances in technology.
The ability to monitor fuel price tracking and centralization of pricing changes has proven invaluable for retail fuel companies. According to Scott Hartman, CEO of Rutter’s Farm stores, new fuel pricing technology has enabled them to make “critical retail fuel pricing decisions while greatly enhancing customers’ access to our fuel prices. Rutter’s can now initiate real-time price synchronization from headquarters to the street and the web in a matter of minutes.” Obtaining fuel pricing in mere moments is now a reality where it had once been a dream.
Pricing software tools give a much better picture of regional fuel prices history than relying on outdated tracking methods. The technology is now designed to increase the effectiveness of the entire fuel pricing process. An efficient fuel pricing solution is the real key! PriceAdvantage software provides this through automation of all processes from collection of competitive surveys, to sophisticated analysis for best price determination, and rapid speed-to-the-street price change execution. This comprehensive digital solution enables synchronized fuel pricing from any location through a branded mobile application, providing two-way communication between owners and their customers using web technologies.
If you’re still holding back on a technology upgrade, for fear of the initial cost, consider this. Retail fuel stations which apply superior pricing technology continually stay ahead of competitors and the industry. By publishing prices to Gasbuddy through PriceAdvantage, c-store owners gain greater specialization while increasing synchronization. The changes are immediate, cost-effective, and a boon to repeat business.
For more examples of how technology improves fuel pricing, review our blog post on Practical “Closed Loop” Fuel Price Management.
