C-store directors of supply have long been using rudimentary approaches for their fuel-demand calculations. These are simple processes that perhaps involve reliance on rolling weekly or yearly averages, and tracking daily sales data. Many times, inventory strategies are established within a few months of opening or acquiring a store.

But these methods have some pretty glaring weaknesses:

It’s difficult to forecast inventory for several different tanks across hundreds of stores. Predicting events (e.g. Thanksgiving, Christmas) driving demand can be a challenge. You don’t get the level of insight you need to estimate fuel demand with precision – even down to the hour – to operate more efficiently and yield more revenue.

The better you understand your demand, the better supply and transportation decisions you’ll make and the more profitable you’ll be.

So, what can a sophisticated demand-forecasting solution do for large c-store companies to ease these struggles and give them an edge over competitors?

Gain a detailed, customized view of short-term and long-term demand at each of your retail locations.

If your company has hundreds of retail locations, you understand that each store has a different profile. Because of regional variables impacting supply and demand, each store requires a specialized supply approach—there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy that can reasonably apply. And there really hasn’t been a realistic means for individuals to keep up with the nuances of each store and then interpret and leverage this information in a timely fashion.

But with the right tools, what if you could efficiently manage a high volume of demand data from each of your hundreds of locations—gaining a 12-month picture down to a granular hourly picture? You’d be able to:

Make better determinations about general markets and specific stores alike

Scale wisely at each store Maximize margins across your chain

Better understand—and plan for—dips or spikes in demand throughout the year, and establish regular trends.

As you know, demand isn’t static. It decreases and increases at various points throughout the year, usually with seasonal changes and around holidays and special events spurring travel and greater fuel use. If you’re able to track these trends year after year, you can recognize patterns and be prepared. This reduces risk exposure and helps to avoid interruptions in profits.

Reduce runouts and select optimal retain dates.

Because you’ll have more certainty about your demand even down to the hourly level, customers won’t drive up to your store only to find tanks empty and then you lose out on those sales. Nor will trucks show up with product and have no place to put the load, as you incur more unnecessary logistics costs. Instead, you’ll have greater visibility into tank volumes and know exactly when those trucks should deliver.

Implement more dynamic inventory strategies.

Of course, you want to keep an optimal amount of fuel in your tanks. You don’t want to have too little supply and run out, nor do you want too much supply that exposes you to greater capital requirements and price risks associated with market shifts. If you have a reliable demand forecast and know the length of time needed to re-supply, you can formulate a more dynamic strategy that sets accurate inventory targets and enables you to operate smarter and more nimbly.

Engage in better supply planning.

Are you simply looking at whatever you did last year when executing supply agreements? With highly accurate demand forecasting—knowing how much product you need, and when—you can negotiate from a confident, informed place and ultimately make more advantageous deals with refiners and wholesalers.

Improve transportation planning.

If you understand your demand, you have more insight into your shifting transportation needs, such as how many trucks are needed and when. You can also optimize routes to identify the most cost-effective ways to move product.

How exactly does a company gain these advantages?

Big results like this call for a revolutionary product.

Built specifically for the c-store business model, Gravitate Best Buy and Dispatch is an integrated supply-optimization and dispatch software that helps you accomplish everything described above—and more. It integrates seamlessly into tank monitors to obtain readings as frequently as every few minutes. Using this large, near-constant stream of data, machine learning soon takes over, inferring demand, recognizing patterns, and creating extremely precise forecasts at the store level. It’s basically your blueprint for making smarter, more cost-effective supply and transportation decisions in less time and with fewer human resources—and, as a result, maximizing your margins across your chain.

Interested in learning more? Contact us to schedule a demo or chat with one of our Gravitate experts at in