division of Skyline Products, is announcing version 2014.2 of its software. The new version gives company- and dealer-operated convenience stores a single platform to analyze complete wholesale, dealer and competitor fuel pricing strategies, manage pricing and margins and revise pump prices and digital fuel signs in as little as five minutes.
The new software expands on capabilities to help fuel analysts make informed gas pricing decisions. Rather than relying solely on algorithms to suggest price change proposals, PriceAdvantage offers the combination of an economic model (analyzing competitive and historical fuel price statistics) with strategies based on human insight to take advantage of, or be prepared for, market changes.
Fuel analysts can build strategies with multiple business rules to account for rewards pricing in the market, historical volume performance and current or historical margins. Then analysts can view economic model prices alongside strategy prices, as well as current traffic conditions, near real-time fuel volumes and weather to take into consideration situations like local events and construction that impact fuel sales. In addition, they can now manage fuel pricing for dealer stores by viewing side-by-side comparisons of wholesale, dealer retail and competitor prices and margins, revealing a complete picture of the overall market to ensure profitability across the entire company.
"Fuel pricing has become increasingly more volatile, complex and competitive. The ability to ensure strategies are using accurate competitor pricing information--taking into account cash, credit, and reward pricing--is more challenging than ever before. Yet, having the most informed pricing strategies can make or break a store, where even a penny on every gallon of gas sold can mean a difference of $3 million per year, or more. Incorporating business rules that account for a wide range of market variables, and executing pricing based on those strategies in minutes rather than hours or days, results in the right price at every store, and optimized profits," said Chip Stadjuhar, CEO at Colorado Springs, Colo.-based PriceAdvantage.
Additional new features of PriceAdvantage 2014.2 include:
- Set pricing conditions such as number of cents above/below the current store or competitor price, enabling proposed prices within specified acceptable guard rails to be sent automatically, and those exceptions to be flagged for review.
- Set and run multiple strategies against a single commodity, in order of priority, with no limit to the number that can be set. Specific rules can include trusting a competitor price based on known reward discounts and survey frequency; instructing the system to follow one set of competitors when the market is going up and another set when prices are going down; and considering how the store is performing from a historical sales or margin standpoint.
- Intuitive maps incorporated into the software can show or hide prices on pushpins, provide real-time Google Map traffic speeds and Google street views of stores and competitors. The new weather widget in the configurable web dashboard shows forecasts from the National Weather Service so analysts can take weather into account when setting pricing strategies.
- Near real-time visibility into how well pricing strategies are working, with the ability to weigh volume sales performance throughout the day with proposed prices and make adjustments as needed.
Using patented technology licensed exclusively to Skyline Products, PriceAdvantage offers dealer and company owned convenience stores an end-to-end price change execution software solution aimed at maximizing fuel profits by getting the best price quickly to every stores. PriceAdvantage provides automation for the entire fuel pricing process from collection of competitive information, to sophisticated analysis for best price determination, to rapid speed-to-the-street price change execution and confirmation feedback. Its mobile interface enables fuel analysts to use smart phones and tablets to react quickly to market changes and manage their fuel business remotely while away from their desk.