Gas/Fuel Stations
Back with another newsletter that I am here today on retail or the whole business on retail and I am here to talk about gas stations and how they have changed over the years and to begin this article I am going to talk about what they were like during my lifetime since I remember them having not only fuel pumps which customers can use to buy gas but they also had some service stations where customers can get their cars repaired as well. Those were pretty much the days as to when fuel stations were actually fuel stations then.
But now as I have seen it, the business model has somewhat changed since there are more stations with food services where most customers are buying their meals and also buying other items such as energy bars, drinks and other items. Service stations are no longer available since I am thinking that maybe most customers weren't frequenting them and that has probably slowed down business for the owners of these gas stations. More customers are buying food like pizzas, burgers and other hot items which has been selling for them.
What I am seeing more of for most gas stations is that I am seeing more fuel pumps selling diesel and more of them providing car washes where most customers can wash their cars. Like most Shell stations have car washes and some vacuum cleaners too. Although there are some Shells that have no vacuum cleaners and car washes for customers. But most Exxon and Petro Canada have car washes and vacuum cleaners for customers to use to clean their cars. It seems that innovation has changed regarding fuel stations.
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Finally in the years to come we are going to see more gas stations provide electrical stations for customers that have electrical vehicles since from what I have seen in some fuel stations they have charging stations for customers to charge their EVs and hybrid cars. It will be interesting to see if most energy companies get rid of their gasoline pumps in order to keep the EVs stations but I think that they will compliment one another since most customers would like to keep their gasoline powered cars due to EVs still being in low demand right now.
Those are my thoughts on fuel/gas stations.
Author of "Turning Convenience Stores Into Cash Generating Monsters" &"Retail is Detail", and "Artificial Intelligence an action that appears human" ? Public Speaker ?
6 个月Thank you, Kofi. You brought up some good points. I don't know enough about electric cars to much of an opinion on how convenience stores will be helped or harmed by EV's. I have deduced the greatest issues most convenience stores will face over the next decade is not electric cars, not automation, not simply retaining good employes... it's the COSTS OF INVENTORY. Most convenience stores concentrate on the GROSS PROFIT made in a transaction as an indicator of success in a particular area. For those who are may not know the difference between GROSS PROFIT and NET PROFIT, usually GROSS PROFIT is the SALE of an item, minus what your supplier charged you for the item. NET PROFIT rarely is attributed to an item of inventory and represents the GROSS PROFIT earned by the store, (sometimes down to the department level) minus all the other COST that can be attributed to a sales organization. The amount used to compute your income taxes. I forecast the future of small retailers is their ability to identify not just the GROSS PROFIT of indivual items, but making their decisions based on the NET PROFIT of indivual items. To learn more, I invite you to follow me for deeper explanations.
Owner at Lena's Shoe Gallery
6 个月Interesting! Thanks for sharing ????