Our client had recently moved into the retail fuels market. Due to the volatility and price-sensitivity of the sector it was essential to be able to react faster and more accurately to changing market conditions to avoid being out of the market. This had created a situation where site operators were suggesting their own prices.

We proposed a new method of operation, whereby customers’ invoice prices would be based on a suggested retail price as recommended by a centralised pricing team, which would in turn be based on local competitor prices. This proposal was implemented by deploying the following:

• a process for collecting competitor prices via phone, Internet, and existing point-of-sale links
• a process to automatically update suggested retail prices based on new information received in the above collection process
• a link to sites to immediately communicate price changes by phone, internet, SMS and even direct to the pole sign within a few seconds
• advanced reporting to enable “dashboarding” of key performance indicators: data reliability; market changes and trends; volumes and margins analysis; top/bottom etc.