A few weeks ago in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Gravitate team attended the SIGMA 2023 Spring Conference.

Each year, SIGMA, the national trade association for the fuel marketing industry, hosts two conferences in the fall and spring. At SIGMA, top-level decision-makers in the fuel marketing space come together with fuel buyers, transportation companies, chain retailers, and business partners to learn, discuss trends, share ideas, and build relationships. These conferences are distinctive for their exclusivity and high-quality networking and educational opportunities.

During our most recent participation at SIGMA, here are the main takeaways that stood out as important to our peers and customers in the fuel marketing industry.

1. Cautious optimism reigns.

Every industry has good years and bad years.

In the fuel business, we’re not only coming off one record year, or even two; but many companies just reported their 3rd or 4th consecutive record year in a row record year but we’ve had three to four record years in a row.

The overall market snapshot:

  • Strong demand remains for petroleum products.
  • Margins have remained high for most players.
  • Profitability is prioritized over volume, largely due to anti-petroleum sentiment in the government.
  • To boost profitability, there’s a lot of enthusiasm for investment. Despite higher interest rates, growth and acquisitions have not slowed but, instead, have increased rapidly in the rush before the economy shifts. For example, two of the largest chains in the industry hit the incredible milestone of opening their 1,000th store in the first quarter of 2023. Many others are upping their store counts and acquiring more land for future growth.
  • However, supply chain constraints remain. People have to get creative about sourcing products such as fuel tanks and dispensers, for example. There’s a mad push to add more sites, but the materials needed to build those sites are in limited supply.

  • The big question is: when will the market shift? Naturally, this many great consecutive years can lead to anxiety about when conditions will normalize.

2. Artificial intelligence (AI) is top of mind.

AI has been a big topic of conversation for awhile now, especially with the rising prominence of software such as ChatGPT. At SIGMA, everyone was talking about AI and inquiring about its incorporation into specific technology solutions.

Indeed, whether it’s improving the speed and quality of customer service or optimizing the field supply chain, there are many exciting opportunities for AI in the fuel marketing space.

As a result, many of our conversations with customers about Gravitate revolve around the two underlying AI engines driving this technology platform:

  • Supply optimization: Connecting all of a company’s supply options with their constraints to meet the demand at each individual site.

  • Logistics optimization: Automatically assigning orders to trucks and being able to adapt and remain dynamic when faced with changes.

3. There’s a big appetite for modernizing the industry’s approach to data sharing and transacting.

Among industry players, there’s a huge amount of interest in gathering thought leaders to rethink how we do business—including day-to-day activities such as sharing data, reporting data, or sending invoices, to ease customer frustration, lower costs, and enhance efficiencies.

At Gravitate, we agree that a transformation is needed and we are excited to assist as a partner in finding a better way.

After all, the fuel space is a profitable, highly dynamic industry—why are so many companies using processes of the past that no longer serve them well?

4. People want greater visibility into load deliveries.

Compare the current state of fuel logistics to something as simple as ordering a pizza. Within an app, customers can easily track their $8 pizza each step of the way from order to oven, driver, and door.

So, many companies wonder why, in our industry, they can’t track a $20,000 load of fuel from order to loading, routing, and delivery? People want to know in real time where their loads are, especially given product shortages.

5. The amazing energy of SIGMA spilled over into New Orleans. Or, was it the other way around?

SIGMA was hosted by The Roosevelt in New Orleans, home to The Sazerac Bar. This famous location is named for the world’s first mixed drink that was created right there and prized for its classic New Orleans atmosphere. Many evenings, lively conversations from SIGMA continued in The Sazerac Bar—and were often challenging to hear over the din of other patrons and the fun vibe!