by John Keller | Jan 20, 2023 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, Industry News, Price Advantage, PriceAdvantage
As reported in CStoreDecisions here, Shell has acquired Volta Inc. The transaction is for $169 million in cash.
In a Convenience Store News article about this transaction found here, Volta’s assets include an existing public EV charging network of more than 3,000 charge points at destination sites — such as shopping centers, grocery stores and pharmacies — across 31 U.S. states and territories, as well as a development pipeline of more than 3,400 additional charge points and capabilities to continue developing, operating and monetizing EV charging infrastructure. Beyond providing a charging service, Volta also specializes in generating advertising revenues from screens embedded into the charge point.
On Volta’s website is a press release from June 2022 where Volta announced a collaboration with The Kroger Co. to bring a mix of DC Fast and Level 2 Volta charging stations to Kroger customers nationwide. According to their website “Volta’s vision is to build EV charging networks that capitalize on and catalyze the shift from combustion-powered miles to electric miles by placing stations where consumers live, work, shop, and play. By leveraging a data-driven understanding of driver behavior to deliver EV charging solutions that fit seamlessly into people’s daily routines, Volta’s goal is to benefit consumers, brands, and real-estate locations while helping to build the infrastructure of the future.”
by John Keller | Jan 17, 2023 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, Industry News, Price Advantage
NACS today reported on an article published in the Wall Street Journal saying 10% of global 2022 car sales were EVs. The NACS article can be found here.
EV sales in the U.S. still only make up a small fraction of vehicle sales at 5.8%, but in China and Europe, EVs were 19% and 11% of total car sales, respectively. When adding in plug-in hybrid vehicles, the share of electric vehicles sold in Europe rose to 20.3% of the total last year.
Even though the U.S. saw a smaller share of EV sales than Europe and China, sales were up by two-thirds over 2021, with 807,180 fully electric vehicles sold in the U.S. last year.
by John Keller | Jan 11, 2023 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, Industry News, Price Advantage
According to InsideEVs, US hydrogen fuel cell sales decreased in 2022.
Only a total of nearly 15,000 hydrogen-powered cars were sold in the past 11 years. The Toyota Marai accounts for 11,000 of that number.
Inhibitors to growth of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle market include
- price of the car
- overall energy efficiency
- lack of refueling infrastructure
- limited number of models
- limited geographical availability – basically only California
There are just two models of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles available in California, the Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo.
According to their website, InsideEVs was created not only to publish the breaking news of the day about electric vehicles, but to dissect it, promote it, and, most importantly, examine the how, what, and why of electric vehicles.
by John Keller | Jan 11, 2023 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, Industry News, Price Advantage, PriceAdvantage, Retail Fuel Margins
According to CSP Daily News, Sheetz is cutting the price of diesel by $.50 starting January 10, 2023. The promotion ends at the end of the month. This offer will include both auto diesel fuel and truck diesel fuel options.
This promotional offer follows a similar retail fuel pricing strategy Sheetz implemented in November 2022, when they reduced the price of unleaded 88 gasoline to $1.99 a gallon for one week.
Sheetz has been a PriceAdvantage and Skyline sign customer since 2009.
by John Keller | Jan 6, 2023 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, Industry News, Price Advantage, PriceAdvantage
Congratulations to Chris Hartman of Rutter’s on being promoted to VP of fuels, advertising, and development. Chris is part of the 11th generation of Rutter’s ownership and son of Scott Hartman, Rutter’s president and CEO.
This news was first reported by CSNews.
by John Keller | Dec 29, 2022 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, Industry News, Price Advantage, PriceAdvantage, Retail Fuel Margins
PriceAdvantage customer Minuteman Food Mart made the front cover of the November/December issue of IGM magazine, the publication of SIGMA.
The article is a profile story of Campbell Oil Company and its chain of 60 stores across North and South Carolina.
Minuteman became a PriceAdvantage customer in September 2021 across the 44 stores they had at the time, and when they acquired 16 more stores in June 2022, they rapidly expanded their use of PriceAdvantage to include those stores as well.
by John Keller | Dec 15, 2022 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, Industry News, Price Advantage, PriceAdvantage, Retail Fuel Margins
Convenience Store News selects Sheetz as its 2022 Technology Leader of the Year for its forward-thinking take on retail technology. The announcement can be seen here.
Sheetz CEO Travis Sheetz said “Technology is a great enabler to all those businesses we are in and the customers that we serve,” he said. “We are very literal about not using technology for technology’s sake, but using it for what it can do to make our business better.”
On the operations side of the convenience channel, technology helps retailers with efficiencies and labor redistribution to focus employees on the more value-added parts of the business.
Additionally, technology helps with information. “The world is all about data,” Travis Sheetz said. “Not only who has the most data, but who uses it the most effectively. There are very few things today where technology can’t help you be better.”
by John Keller | Dec 6, 2022 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, Industry News, Price Advantage, PriceAdvantage, Retail Fuel Margins
Casey’s reported their financial results for their second quarter today.
- Diluted EPS of $3.67, up 42% from the same period a year ago. The Q2 consensus estimate was $3.16, so Casey’s handily beat the analyst estimates.
- Same-store fuel gallons were up 0.3% compared to prior year with a fuel margin of 40.5 cents per gallon. Total fuel gross profit increased 22.7% to $284.4 million compared to the prior year.
“The fuel gross profit dollars remained strong as our fuel team executed at a high level again and struck the right balance between sales volume and gross profit margin”, said Darren Rebelez, President and CEO.
Casey’s began implementing PriceAdvantage towards the end of Q4, 2018 and was fully implemented in the first half of 2019.
by John Keller | Dec 1, 2022 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, Industry News
According to CStoreDecisions, Sheetz is expanding into Michigan. It has been two decades since Sheetz has entered a new state, and they will open locations in the Detroit area starting in 2025.
“We are thrilled to continue our growth into Michigan and bring the ultimate one-stop-shop to people across the state,” said Travis Sheetz, president and CEO of Sheetz. “Sheetz is dedicated to being a great employer and neighbor and we cannot wait to put those values into action as we expand into our first new state in two decades.”
Sheetz owns and operates 670 store locations across Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and Maryland. Sheetz has been a PriceAdvantage and Skyline sign customer since 2009. Integrations between the Radiant Systems POS, the pump, and the Skyline Electronic Price Display allow headquarters staff to use PriceAdvantage to update fuel prices in the field remotely. Best of all, the prices can be updated not only from a desktop or laptop but also on mobile devices.
by John Keller | Nov 28, 2022 | Customer News, Fuel Price Management, Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Strategy, Fuel Pricing Technology, Fuel Software, Industry News
According to the CStore Decisions article here, long-time Skyline sign and PriceAdvantage customer Royal Farms is expanding into North Carolina. Royal Farms will begin their expansion in Grandy, and follow with stores opening in New Bern, Greenville, Lumberton, Kinston and Jacksonville.
Royal Farms owns and operates over 260 locations throughout the mid-Atlantic. Royal Farms has been a Skyline sign and PriceAdvantage customer since 2006.
