by Ian Thompson, Executive VP, Global Solutions Consultancy
Automated pricing processes can feel like a risk. How will you know if your prices are optimized? Can you really depend on a software solution to boost profit? And how will you feel giving up some control over pricing tactics?
By Ethan Walker, Solutions Consultant
Utter the word "automation" in a room full of people with diverse careers and histories. Some will shudder. Some will ignore. Some will start to get excited at the possibilities. Utter it in a room full of best-in-class fuel pricing analysts, and they're liable to start clapping. While automation is sometimes perceived as threatening, scary or "too difficult," it is absolutely essential from an overall efficiency standpoint. And at the end of the day, it equates to increased revenue, which analysts and executives alike happen to enjoy.
Our high-performance race car is almost complete. We have pulled together a powerful turbo engine, great telemetry, winning powertrain, fantastic crew and the right spoilers and wings. In relation to our convenience store, we are set up for success with great facilities, the right data and analysis of the competition, excellent operations, the right merchandise and world-class pricing.
In Part 1, I introduced the analogy of the convenience retailer as a finely tuned performance car in a challenging race for volume. We explored pricing as the turbo charger, best used in short bursts for growing margin and exploiting daily opportunities, but not the best way to maintain or grow market share. We also looked at how dropping prices across the board to increase volume often results in price wars and minimal volume growth at reduced margins.
You don't always have control over your promotional items, and that means you don't always have a plan to understand their effects on sitewide sales. Your gut instinct on what works and what doesn't is a good start, but is it giving you all the strategic support you need? Access to critical, integrated data can raise your game to the next level.
Last summer, we zipped into summer lovin' with our Grease-themed review of summer fuel prices. This year, we're sticking with the theme. And this time around, prices are like greased lightning: full speed ahead. Check out the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Short-Term Energy and Summer Fuels Outlook for more, and read on for our analysis.
So far in our series on the Top 5 Questions Convenience Retailers have about Retail Network Planning, we've covered the best practices for implementing a network planning tool and how you can pinpoint the best locations for new builds, as well as how you can identify target sites or networks for acquisition. Now, we'll dig into part 4 and learn about your current retail network's volume potential.
Convenience isn't a one-size fits all business. Best-practice retailers know that their offering needs to be adapted to their demographic and current site and retail network strategy. The trends emerging as the convenience concept evolves are as important to consider as the role you play in this evolution.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) - it's the technological focus of today and the science fiction focus of the past several decades, and has become key to the way many businesses now operate. With the rise of machine learning and a greater understanding of how it relates to AI, deep learning, too, has become more and more prevalent. In this post, we'll explore the differences between deep learning and machine learning — and the applications of each to retail fuel pricing.
So far in our series on the Top 5 Questions Convenience Retailers have about Retail Network Planning, we've covered the best practices for implementing a network planning tool and how you can identify the best locations for new builds. Now, in Part 3, you'll read about the best way to identify target sites or retail networks for a different growth type: acquisition.
To confidently move into a new market, it's important to make sure your investment of time, resources and funds will be met with success and a strong return on investment in the future. Doing so requires careful planning, evaluating and forecasting into several key indicators to accurately assess the market. In this post, we've listed out a few important metrics to keep a close eye on when analyzing how your proposed site will fit into a potential new market.
Which came first, was it the chicken or the egg? Like this riddle, there are many business relationships where it can be difficult to pinpoint which factor is the first influence on the growth of another. In the fuel retail market, is it fuel driving convenience store sales or is it the convenience store offering that is increasing your fuel sales? Or do they both impact each other? How can you take advantage of this relationship to increase total site profitability?
Bill Tome (President, Mark Oil Company) has been successfully navigating the market in Charlotte, NC since the early 1990s. However, his company has been in the area for over a hundred years. His stable growth and success in a market that has changed significantly and continues to fluctuate and diverge into different trends has been determined by his consistency in a few best practices.
This time last year, I asked the question: Is Europe falling out of love with the diesel fuel — the fuel that promised so much in terms of its eco-credentials? One year later, I ask a new question: Has anything about Europe's relationship with diesel changed? Or are we on the road to a definitive break-up?
