Using Saved Item Criteria
Fuel Sales to Department Sales Ratio
Tip: Tracking your ratio of fuel sales to store sales
to see how much one influences the other.
It is important that operators understand the relationship between their fuel
sales and department sales, instead of managing them as two separate entities. When fuel sales are up, do
department sales rise? Is the
opposite true? What happens to in-store traffic when fuel prices are raised? Is
the relationship between department and fuel sales somehow seasonal?
CDBWin can provide concrete feedback, by site, of how fuel prices and volumes
affect store traffic and volume. Armed with an understanding of this relationship,
you can feel confident in making business decisions such as raising or
lowering fuel prices or adjusting margins for in-store items by department.
The Daily Book Report shows clearly shows this relationship. Here is an
example of the month-to-date version of this report (on the Reports menu, click
Reports > MTD Reports > Daily Book Report:
Œ
The Ratio$/1000 Fuel Vol--Actual column provides a breakdown of each department,
showing how many department dollars are sold for each 1,000
units of fuel. Total fuel volume is listed at the top of the report ().
If you have undertaken a thorough business analysis of historical sales per
department, you can use a target sales amount per 1,000 units of fuel sold (Ž)
for comparison to the actual department sales figures. Department target ratios are typed into the Department/Account Maintenance window
(on the Setup menu, click Department/Account > the
"Departments" tab), as shown below:
In addition to a monthly version, the Daily Book Report also reports on the
fuel to department sales ratio by shift (on the Daily Work menu, click
Shift Reports > Daily Book Report) and historically (on the Report
menu, click Daily Book > Daily Book Report (Historical). Because
of its ability to extend one's look back into the past, the historical report is
useful to determine a baseline of fuel sales to department sales so you can set
a reasonable target dollar amount for department sales.
Note: The concept of fuel to department sales ratio is covered in
some detail in the "10 Minutes With" interview column titled, "The Fuel-Store Link,"
an article that appears in the June 2009
issue of NACS magazine. Registered subscribers may access that issue from
this starting point. | 
