4 Year-End Trends in Retail Fueling

It would be easy to say electric-vehicle charging dominated the past year in the fuel segment, but news and trends in the retail fuel segment were hardly one dimensional. Indeed, gasoline prices, discounting, retail margins and more stood out this past year.

Here’s a look at top news stories and trends …

Volatility in gasoline prices is nothing new, but in 2023, the issue became dealing with year-over-year prices and revenue following the record-high costs of 2022. A full year after gasoline prices topped $5 per gallon, many retailers found themselves struggling for financial growth in year-over-year comparisons.

The anomaly of 2022—driven by the pandemic, the war in Europe and several other factors—had retailers bemoaning 37-cent-per-gallon margins, which looked lackluster in the shadow of the previous year’s 54 CPG intake, for example.

The good news is the industry has mostly cycled through the year-later comparison and, with gas prices steady or falling, should see a return to typical year-on-year revenue in 2024.

Gasoline has long been a primary draw of traffic to convenience stores with fuel pumps, and retailers in 2023 found cutting prices beyond loyalty discounts a productive way to bring in customers, drive volume and catch the attention of local media. Some examples:

• GetGo Café + Market took $1 off per gallon on all grades of gasoline on Black Friday, Nov. 24.
• Independent retailer Fuelco/Foodsmart turned gasoline prices back to $1.99 per gallon on Nov. 21 for its inaugural “Thanks to Veterans” event, which it purposely placed between Veterans Day and Thanksgiving Day.
• Circle K Gulf Coast hosted its first Circle K Fuel Day, a “pop up” promotion that saved customers 30 cents per gallon for three hours on Nov. 16.

But truly, Sheetz led the way in gasoline discounts with at least five discount periods that encouraged customers to lineup in their cars outside the stores. Sheetz’s promotions included Unleaded 88 gasoline sold for $1.999 per gallon over Thanksgiving week and during March Madness, E85 sold for $1.85 in April, and, most notably, all grades available for $1.776 on Independence Day (pictured).

The ubiquity and 24-hour nature of convenience stores put the channel in the midst of an elevated period of violent crime that led several retailers to close stores in urban markets, whether they included fuel pumps or not.

Most recently in November, Stewart’s Shops closed a store in Albany, New York, following a surge in theft, robberies and threats of violence that created an unsafe environment for customers and employees, according to the convenience-store chain.

Similarly, 7-Eleven, Kum & Go, Sheetz, Wawa and other retailers have shuttered stores in the face of repeated robberies and acts of violence.

Curiously, a majority of these stores did not have fuel pumps. And yet in a preventative move, Hammond, Indiana, enacted an ordinance that forced all gasoline retailers in the city to close during the hours of midnight to 5 a.m. beginning in November. Exceptions would be allowed on a case-by-case basis, and dozens of the 37 fuel retailers in the city requested those exceptions.

And yes, EV chargers held strong in 2023, with new investments or grants announced by numerous convenience retailers, including Maverik, Pilot Co., Plaid Pantry, Shell, Buc-ee’s, Sheetz, RaceTrac, bp and others.

Want to learn more about the tobacco category? Check out the CSP event Convenience Retailing University (CRU) in Nashville Feb. 28-March 1, 2024. Sponsors can gain 15 one-to-one meetings with qualified retailers.