The University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Welcome

We are researchers at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business studying pricing practices in the retail fuel industry. We created this page to share findings from our research that we believe may be useful to your business.

Our study draws on industry data provided by PDI Technologies, a leading technology provider for convenience retail and fuel marketing. PDI provided this data to support independent academic research aimed at helping station operators improve their business outcomes.

Based on our analysis, we have developed a simple recommendation that stations like yours may find valuable.

We would be happy to discuss this further or answer any questions you may have.
You can reach us at research@chicagobooth.edu

Gas Station Survey

Log in with your station ID to begin.

Before we get started

A couple of quick preferences so we can tailor the results to you.

How do you prefer to see changes in sales?

How do you prefer to think about gas profit per gallon?

How do you prefer to think about in-store revenue changes?

🌏

Which competitors influence your pricing?

On the next screen you will see a map showing your station and all nearby competitors.

We'd like you to click on every station whose price changes make you more likely to adjust your own prices.

Think about it this way: if one of these stations dropped their price tomorrow, would you feel pressure to respond?

How to use the map:
Red = your station
Blue = other stations — click to select
Green = selected (click again to deselect)

Select as many or as few stations as you like. There are no wrong answers—we are interested in your perspective.

Which stations affect your pricing?

Click on every station whose price changes make you more likely to adjust your own prices.
0 selected
Red = your station  ·  Green = selected  ·  Blue = other
📈

Now the other direction: who reacts to you?

On the next screen you will see the same map again, but this time the question is different.

We'd like you to click on every station that you think would adjust their prices if you changed yours.

In other words: if you dropped your price tomorrow, which competitors do you think would notice and respond?

The answers may overlap with the previous question, or they may be completely different—both are fine.

Who reacts to YOUR pricing?

Click on every station you think would adjust their prices if you changed yours.
0 selected
Red = your station  ·  Green = selected  ·  Blue = other

Competition Results

How your perceptions compare with actual customer co-visitation data.

High co-occurrence (≥30%) Medium (15–29%) Low (<15%)
Station Affects your pricing? Reacts to yours? Actual co-occurrence

Cash Discount Impact Survey

What do you think the impact of a cash discount would be on your station's sales? Enter the expected percentage change for each category.

5¢ per gallon cash discount

10¢ per gallon cash discount

Cash Discount Effects: Your Guess vs. Our Estimates

Here's how your expectations compared with the effects we estimated from the data.

Metric Your Guess Estimated Actual Accuracy

Profit Explorer

Adjust the parameters below and slide the cash discount to see how it affects your monthly profit.

20¢/gal
2.5%
35%
15¢
0¢
Cash
Discount
Cash discount: 0¢/gallon
Gas profit change
$0
In-store profit change
$0
Total monthly profit change
$0

Price Change Impact

If you were to change your gas price, what do you think would happen to your own sales? (Don't worry about competitor reactions here.)

If you lower gas price by 1¢/gallon

If you lower gas price by 10¢/gallon

Price Change Impact: The Real Numbers

Here's what our data shows actually happens when stations change their gas prices.

Effect of a 10¢/gallon price reduction

Your guess vs. what actually happens

Gas Gallons
You
Actual
— —
In-Store Rev.
You
Actual
— —
Total Profit
You
Actual
— —
Your guess    Actual
Scenario Your Guess Actual Accuracy
Key Takeaway
—
✓

Thank You!

We hope you find these results helpful for your business decisions. The data and tools on this site are based on our ongoing research into retail fuel pricing and competition.

If you have any additional questions or would like to discuss these findings further, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.

research@chicagobooth.edu