Mimicking a standard fuel pump, KSS will offer several "grades" of its PriceNet and RackPrice software that easily adapt to retailers' or wholesalers' business requirements in this difficult economic environment:[image-nocss]
Licensed Grade: As the company's long-standing delivery model, KSS will continue to offer its software in a premium site-licensed format that will give users complete control over the application. All software and associated systems are located at the user's headquarters and maintained by the customer's IT staff. Hosted Grade: Available for small- and medium-sized organizations, KSS will offer its solutions in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) format, letting retailers and wholesalers experience the benefits of the systems without significant upfront technology investments. Under this model, the software, database and other necessary information would reside on KSS servers and be maintained by KSS staff. Subscription Grade: Gives users a choice to "rent" KSS software on a month-by-month basis instead of purchasing a license outright. The software is installed on the user's existing system, but is charged on a "pay-as-you-go" basis covering the license, implementation and annual support costs. KSS Consulting: Offers consulting services that help retailers and wholesalers extract maximum value from their fuels pricing strategies and processes. A new division, separated from the traditional software technology business, KSS Consulting will benchmark existing pricing capabilities as the basis for improvement initiatives as well as introduce innovation and best practices into the pricing of fuel and other site-level facilities. "'Choice' is the key word with this new campaign. In these tough economic times, companies still need technology to remain efficient and increase profits. We want to have a flexible business model that will be adaptable to individual customer needs," said Bob Stein, president and CEO of KSS. "The 'Choose Your Grade' delivery model will bring that flexibility to retailers and wholesalers that want to optimize their fuel price management and increase profits."
PriceNet is a comprehensive pricing solution that supports the tasks and stakeholders involved in retail fuels pricing, from capturing field-based intelligence at the site level to the generation of price proposals, via comprehensive pricing rules or price optimization, to implementation. High levels of automation and an 'exception-based' approach ensure a rapid response to competitors and market conditions and allow pricing analysts to leverage the power of pricing analytics.
RackPrice is an end-to-end wholesale pricing solution and includes modules for price generation automation, reporting/analysis, competitive price prediction, price-volume modeling and price optimization. The system helps wholesalers meet volume targets at the maximum possible margin by improving the pricing processes and responding to market moves.
Florham Park, N.J.-based KSS is a leading provider of pricing analytics, price management, rules-based pricing and optimization technology and services to fuel retailers and wholesalers in the oil and gas, convenience store, grocery and big-box retail industries.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.