Times Oil to Implement Complete, Full-Loop Fuel Pricing

LINCOLNTON, N.C. — Times Oil Corp. selected PriceAdvantage software and Skyline Products price signs to help optimize fuel prices and automate the fuel pricing process at its locations throughout North Carolina and South Carolina.

The use of PriceAdvantage's fuel price management and price execution software will enable Times Oil to reduce the time required to determine optimized prices, eliminate manual processes at the store and automatically post new prices directly to the store point of sale, fuel pumps and price signs. The full-loop pricing process will be completed when PriceAdvantage then sends Times Oil pricing analysts a notification confirming that the new price was posted correctly.

"The unique technology between our industry-leading fuel price management software and price signs closes the gap between headquarters and the store," shared Chip Stadjuhar, president and CEO of Skyline Products. "Times Oil is just one of many fuel retailers who recognizes how critical complete price change execution is to successful retail fuel sales. Using this powerful combination of fully-integrated software and signs will help them automate and streamline the fuel pricing process — giving them a competitive advantage."

The software will aggregate critical data such as competitor prices, replacement costs and historical information. Users can push new prices directly to the store point of sale, pumps and price signs, removing delays and errors that occur at the store level. Skyline price signs will then send the company automatic confirmation through PriceAdvantage that the price was changed accurately along with advanced diagnostic data about the health of the sign.

"Everyone knows that relying upon store personnel to update fuel prices is problematic," said Lanny Ford, director of IT for Times Oil. "A cashier is not going to walk away from a long line of customers to change prices — so it could be hours before he or she has a chance to make those price changes. By using both PriceAdvantage and Skyline signs, we can automate the entire price change process — giving our central office the control and confidence that the correct price was change accurately and on-time."

Founded in 1959, Lincolnton-based Times Oil distributes light oil products in Mecklenburg, Gaston, Lincoln, York, Cabarrus and Iredell counties. Its retail division operates 19 c-stores under the Marathon, BP, CITGO and Times brands.