YORK, Pa. -- Skyline Electronic Pricing Solutions has installed its newest product, PriceAdvantage Central Control Fuel Pricing Software, at Rutter's Farm Stores.
The patent-pending software allows petroleum marketers to simultaneously update fuel pricing at their Skyline Products Electronic Price Display, point-of-sale (POS) system and pumps from the central headquarters.
Using PriceAdvantage, our customers can optimize and remotely execute their fuel pricing strategy, said Greg Stadjuhar, Skyline vice president [image-nocss] of sales and marketing.
For mobile individuals like Scott Hartmanformer chairman of the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) and Petroleum Convenience Alliance for Technology Standards (PCATS), and president and CEO of Rutter's Farm Storesinstant notification of competitive price changes within his markets is critical. In days past, many companies only performed competitive price surveys one to two times per week. Today, companies like Rutter's Farm Stores are piloting Skyline's PriceAdvantage solution to provide up-to-the-minute knowledge of the competitive landscape for select stores.
Rutter's store managers use an in-store touchscreen device to input new competitive price updates that are instantly delivered to the corporate office. These updates then act as triggers to generate new price proposals based on Rutter's business rules, which once approved can be rolled out at each store's POS system, pumps and Skyline LED gasoline price signs.
What good is a pricing strategy if it takes two hours to implement? Companies cannot afford to use the telephone and a spreadsheet anymore. With the increased rate of adoption of the PCATS standards, this kind of fully integrated technology will become the norm in the near future. The razor-thin margins of fuel demand that operators become more aggressive in their implementation and automation of their fuel pricing strategies, said Stadjuhar.
We have purchased electronic price signs for all our stores in anticipation of piloting the PriceAdvantage software. We expect to work with Skyline to enhance the software to help us manage our retail price management strategies in these volatile markets of today, said Hartman. Skyline has proven to be a valuable partner in developing this end solution.
Based in Manchester Township, York County, Pa., the family-owned Rutter's companies include Rutter's Farm Stores, which operates 51 convenience stores in York, Adams, Cumberland, Franklin and Lancaster counties; Rutter's Dairy, which serves Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey; and M&G Realty, a real estate holding company.
Skyline Products, Colorado Springs, Colo., is a developer, manufacturer and provider of electronic pricing solutions, allowing petroleum marketers to fully automate their fuel pricing strategy from collection of competitive pricing, to analysis, to the final rollout to the pumps, the POS and the Skyline electronic price signs. Clients have included Conoco, Kroger, Murphy Oil, QuikTrip, Sheetz, Texaco, Royal Farms and Rally Stores.
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