by John Keller | Sep 25, 2012 | Fuel Pricing Software, PriceAdvantage
As we build each screen for our PriceAdvantage fuel pricing software, we view it through the eyes of the people who will be interacting with that screen, and focus on what they are trying to accomplish using the information presented to them. As we do this, we apply a concise set of words to describe each user interface we build.
In the broadest categories, PriceAdvantage is made up of the Headquarters interface and the Store interface.
The primary user of the Headquarters interface is the fuel pricing manager. The set of words we use for the overall set of Headquarters screens are these:
- centralized information
- rich analysis
- fast pricing
The primary user of the Store software is the store manager. The set of words we use for the overall set of Store screens are these:
- drop-dead simple
- generate trust
The recurring feedback we receive from our customers and prospects is that PriceAdvantage is very easy to understand and easy to use. As we build new versions of PriceAdvantage, we will continue to build more robust capabilities, but we will apply these best practices to make sure we never allow the user interface to grow confusingly complex.
by John Keller | Sep 25, 2012 | Fuel Pricing Technology, Industry News
There is general consensus from NACS and fuel management analysts that for the next 20 years, liquid petroleum fuels will continue to be the predominant energy source for how consumers power their vehicles. And though electric vehicles have yet to put a big dent in the number of vehicles sold, the electric vehicle company Tesla today made an announcement that could have a significant impact on how quickly electric vehicles are embraced in California and the rest of the US.
Today Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that Tesla is building Supercharging stations that charge twice as fast as any chargers now in use. Mr. Musk announced that these Supercharging stations will be installed at highway rest stops. Six are already installed in California, allowing drivers to make it from Los Angeles to San Francisco and from Los Angeles to Sacramento. Tesla plans to have over 100 of these stations throughout the US over the next three years.
The new Supercharging stations are intended to allow drivers to fill up their battery while they take a bathroom break and have a fast meal, similar to the standard practice of taking a road trip pit stop today.
Will demand for these Supercharging stations be overwhelming for travelers and make it inconvenient because people need to wait in line to use one? Perhaps, but certainly that is a problem Tesla would love to have, since it means there must be enough electric cars on the road to cause such demand.
One thing we can count on: the trend of decreasing gasoline consumption is going to continue, as gasoline and diesel fuel vehicles become increasingly fuel efficient, and the electric vehicle market share continues to grow. From a fuel price management perspective, that means a more competitive marketplace, where c-stores are competing for an ever-shrinking part of the liquid fuel pie, and only the most savvy c-store chains running robust fuel pricing software will survive.
by John Keller | Sep 20, 2012 | Industry News, PriceAdvantage
Both Valero and Susser have decided to go through a spinoff of part of their business, each with the same goal in mind.
Sam Susser, the CEO of Susser Holdings Corp. said in an earnings call last month that the value of the wholesale division has not been fully recognized, and the intention was to spin it off as a separate division.
Valero in their September 2012 investor presentation said their board had authorized management to pursue a separation of their retail business because investors and analysts have ignored the higher potential value of their retail segment, and to unlock value to their shareholders. This was the same earnings announcement when Valero’s retail segment achieved their highest quarter operating income on record. On a side note, Valero is using PriceAdvantage as their fuel price management solution at all of their company stores.
On September 20, Susser took their spun off wholesale division public at $20 per share, trading as SUSP on the New York Stock Exchange, and as of September 24, the stock is holding steady at $23/share. That successful IPO generated $195 million for the company.
That’s an interesting benchmark to use as we watch Valero’s move to increase their shareholder value as well. Reuters sources reported the retail business spinoff could generate $3.5 billion to Valero.
by John Keller | Sep 10, 2012 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Pricing Strategy
When we build a new feature into our PriceAdvantage fuel pricing software, we always have a use case in mind. The use case includes two aspects: the persona, that is the primary business person who will take advantage of the feature; and the story, which is the way the business user will use the feature and the business problem solved. For each new feature, we write a user story as per the Scrum software development way, and we write it in this format: “As a [persona], I would like to [interact with the software in a specific way] in order to [solve this business problem]”. For example, “As a fuel manager, I would like to see each of my store locations plotted as colored push pins on a map, with color representing how well the store is performing volume compared to target”. This is a real world example of a feature we included in PriceAdvantage 3.8.
What is interesting about releasing a new feature like this, is that despite all the market research we do to come up with the feature definition, once customers see it, they see additional benefit beyond what we expected. When we showed this color coded push pin map feature to a fuel manager customer, the first thing she said was “not only will this feature be great for me when managing fuel pricing strategies, but this will be great for our team who decides where to build new store locations, because it clearly shows the stores who are performing well and where they are located, as well as which stores are struggling.” She came up with a whole other persona and use case we hadn’t even considered. It is this customer insight that allows our software to continue to extend into solving more and more business problems in the fuel price management c-store business.
by John Keller | Sep 10, 2012 | Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
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.
by John Keller | Aug 27, 2012 | Fuel Pricing Strategy, Industry News
BP has temporarily stopped distributing Premium and Midgrade gasoline to the Chicago area in order to further test the fuel from the Milwaukee terminal. Regular unleaded gasoline has already passed these quality tests and is in distribution to Northwest Indiana, Chicago, and Milwaukee.
BP reported to CBS news that 10,000 consumers have contacted BP to report issues caused by the bad fuel.
From a fuel price management perspective, BP dealers need to continue to recognize the bad public relations this mistake has caused, and use their fuel price optimization software to annotate this event in their records for future reference. Dealers selling a fuel brand other than BP may be able to adjust their fuel price optimization strategy to increase their retail fuel margins during this time when BP has such PR issues, and BP premium and midgrade is scarce.
by John Keller | Aug 27, 2012 | Industry News, Retail Fuel Margins
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.”
by John Keller | Aug 24, 2012 | Uncategorized
According to the AAA/IHS Global Insight 2012 Labor Day Holiday Travel Forecast, there will be 2.9% more people traveling 50 miles or more from home during the Labor Day weekend this year than last year. The Labor Day holiday is defined as Thursday, August 30 to Monday, September 3. This is a new post-recession high number of travelers, according to AAA.
From a fuel price optimization strategy perspective, it is important to make note of this prediction and possibly project more fuel volumes this next holiday weekend compared to previous years.
by John Keller | Aug 22, 2012 | PriceAdvantage
Congratulations to Parker’s for being recognized as one of the country’s Fastest Growing Companies according to Inc. Magazine. Earlier this year the Parker’s President and CEO Greg Parker was named “C-Store Innovator of the Year” by The Griffin Report.
Parker’s uses PriceAdvantage at each of their 27 stores to automate and streamline the process of changing fuel prices at their stores.
Greg Parker was quoted in an earlier press release this year as saying “We are always looking for innovative solutions to increase our efficiencies in the store, allowing our store employees to focus on customers and enhancing their shopping experience,” says Greg Parker, President and CEO of The Parker Companies. “PriceAdvantage Enterprise does exactly that by giving us control over fuel pricing from headquarters, or from the field, streamlining our overall fuel pricing process, helping to maximize profits and grow our business.”
The PriceAdvantage team is proud to partner with Parker’s and to contribute to their continued success.
by John Keller | Aug 21, 2012 | Fuel Pricing Strategy, Industry News
A number of articles in the press are proclaiming that experts predict retail gasoline prices will drop after Labor Day. For example, in the Houston Chronicle, Tom Kloza, the chief oil analyst at OPIS is quoted as saying “I suspect the last 100 days of the year will see a strong trend toward lower retail gas prices. That may be the case even if crude drifts a bit higher.”
The most common reasons given for the predicted lower gasoline pricing is the decreased demand after the summer months, and the seasonal shift to less expensive winter blends. Of course those in the industry know this is the standard pattern for retail gasoline prices every year.
From a fuel price management perspective, the fuel manager’s gasoline pricing strategy should include the expectation of a downward trend in retail fuel prices. That’s what the consumer is now expecting.
