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.
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?
by Ian Thompson
When you focus day in and day out on fuel pricing, it's easy to see pricing as the panacea to every convenience store and fuel ill. After all, when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. But Total Site Profitability is more than the sum of its parts, and so, pricing — or any other element — cannot stand alone.
by Scott Barrett, VP Client Success, Americas
Millennials are driving less than previous generations. For them, owning a car is considered a hassle, and young people will even delay getting their licenses, in favor of other means of transportation. Meanwhile, government regulations continue to push higher vehicle fuel efficiency. Tesla has announced a 315-mile range electric battery. All of these signs point to a prolonged period of fuel demand decline for many countries around the world — and certain countries are adjusting quickly to the erosion by breaking into newer technologies.
