Titan Cloud has released its 2025 Downstream Fuel Report in partnership with the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Research. The in-depth survey explored the roles and responsibilities of leaders in the convenience and fuel industry, garnering input from an expansive cross-section of enterprise-level operators and smaller retailers.
Their feedback combined to uncover predominant trends and dynamics that will serve as key drivers of future growth in 2025 and beyond.
From responses gathered, Titan Cloud highlighted five main priorities that seem to be shaping the strategic direction of organizations in the fuel management industry. To download the full report, including participant responses and in-depth data analysis, click here.
- Enhancing the Customer Fueling Experience
Across the board, organizations in the fuel management industry seem to be aligning their strategies to enhance the customer experience as a competitive differentiator. A large portion of the survey respondents acknowledged that delivering a seamless customer experience is a challenge, with 26.9% naming it as their top priority going forward.
This aligns with additional industry insights naming the 360-degree customer experience as a trend that will continue to evolve this year. From the moment a customer arrives at their site, retail operators are increasingly aiming to welcome them with extras like fresh produce, bites made to order and food samples served by a staff concierge.
Customer service is a top priority on the forecourt, too. When asked about what fuel-related challenges are impacting their organization’s bottom line the most, a significant number of those surveyed cited inefficient fuel asset management as their biggest concern. Not surprising, given that costly maintenance issues and poorly managed infrastructure can lead to equipment downtime, runouts, slow flow and fuel gauge inaccuracy — all of which negatively impact customer experience.
“Slow flow is a particularly prevalent pump frustration, and we know flow rate decreases over time without proper filter maintenance,” said Titan Cloud Senior Solutions Consultant Brent Puzak. “Real-time monitoring provides data to identify precisely when the flow rate starts to drop off. It gives you the visibility to know which filters are trending down and what exactly to tell your tech if you bring one out. All of this resolves the problem faster, keeping flow rate optimal for customers.”
While the data shows customers and fueling experience to be a high priority, it also reveals what it will take to achieve that goal. Implementing automated fuel supply chain technology to optimize assets and operations will provide the smooth, positive experience customers want, leading to brand loyalty, higher in-store purchases and an opportunity for differentiation in a competitive market.
- Increasing Profitability and Market Share
Following closely behind customer fueling experience, increasing profitability and market share stood out as a high priority among survey respondents, 25.8% of whom named it their top concern.
Specific goals to address it, however, varied across the group. A solid majority of retailers (58% of mid-market and 67.4% of enterprise) said they plan to drive moderate growth through cost control and operational efficiencies, while 63.3% of enterprise retailers see robust growth potential through innovation.
Noticeably fewer midmarket retailers — 45.7% of those participating in the survey — highlighted innovation as a strategic goal, demonstrating a differing outlook for increased profitability as compared to their enterprise counterparts. This represents a tremendous opportunity for the smaller organizations to shift from a position of vulnerability to instead build upon their inherent agility. Enterprise level technology is within reach; midmarket operators who make the investment will ultimately join their larger counterparts in leveraging cost efficiency and customer-driven strategies.
Headwinds from rising operational costs and market volatility are making profitability tougher for fuel operators across the industry. But with careful planning and investment in operational resilience, companies of all sizes are better positioned to balance short-term cost controls with long-term investments in innovation, securing sustainable profitability.
3. Adapting to the Changing Fuel Landscape
Faced with evolving industry trends and regulations, nearly half of survey respondents mentioned agility among their key priorities. For innovative enterprise retailers, this can mean investing in technology to gain remote visibility across sites, up-to-the-minute fuel analytics, actionable insights and the seamless communication needed to respond to unplanned changes quickly.
Comparatively, mid-market operators may lean on software solutions more for discrepancy tracking, enabling them to implement preventive measures quickly and with more hands-on access than larger organizations. While this is beneficial, the opportunities integrated technology offers smaller retailers extend far beyond discrepancy resolution. Titan Cloud customer Parker’s Kitchen, a prominent operator of over 90 fuel and convenience locations across Georgia and South Carolina, demonstrates the value of fuel analytics in proactively preparing for business growth.
“We have the tools we need to make data-driven decisions, enhance supply chain efficiency, maintain compliance and reduce costs,” said Ricky John, vice president of fuel at Parker’s Kitchen. “As we expand our footprint, we’re setting ourselves up for long-term success and ensuring that we can meet the demands of our growing network.”
In addition to agility, retailers across the board find that few factors rival the impact of fuel price variation. Here, too, approaches differ. While 46.8% of enterprise respondents said they rely on software to monitor local competitors and adjust prices accordingly, 41% of mid-market organizations reported the same strategy. This likely reflects enterprises’ ability to leverage advanced tools and technology to remain competitive while maximizing profit margins at scale, whereas mid-market companies may show slightly less tech adoption.
With limited resources to absorb market volatility, smaller retailers may instead rely on manual adjustments to pricing in order to tightly control profit margins. Put simply, in today’s ever-changing landscape, an efficient, organized, agile business is one primed for growth. Innovation designed to streamline and optimize operations supports forward-thinking operators from an operational and strategic perspective, preparing them to move quickly when opportunity arrives.
4. Reducing Operational Costs and Improving Efficiency
Among respondents, 28.8% named rising operational costs a top challenge. The survey data, however, revealed priorities and interesting distinctions between mid-market and enterprise respondents. For example, fuel inventory optimization was universally the most used strategy for addressing rising costs, including reducing storage costs, improving inventory efficiency and mitigating fuel loss.
While 55.3% of enterprise organizations said they rely on such optimization, slightly fewer mid-market organizations agreed (50.6%).
Methodology for achieving streamlined inventory, however, differed with regard to technology. Automated solutions were slightly more favored by mid-market retailers, with 47% naming technology adoption as key to automating fuel deliveries and inventory management. Enterprise organizations were slightly less automation focused at 44.7%.
Even with those employing technology, however, a significant gap remains in tech adoption and access to real-time data, including actionable fuel loss root cause insights. These key fuel analytics enable targeted investigations, minimizing manual follow-up and reducing operational delays. In the bigger picture, automating fuel inventory management is the cornerstone of cost control, enabling strategic opportunities that may otherwise be missed.
5. Optimizing Fuel Procurement and Logistics
Although only 15.5% of those surveyed ranked procurement and logistics optimization as their top priority overall, the need was widely distributed, with about a third of responses indicating that it remains an important issue. With fuel operators focused on increasing profitability, it stands to reason that efficiently managing fuel contracts, securing reliable sources and streamlining transportation is a critical goal for maintaining effective supply chain logistics.
In terms of fuel procurement, more than half of survey respondents (53.6%) said they consider the lowest fuel price as their top concern, with 28.6% naming uninterrupted access to fuel as a top priority. These numbers demonstrate the intricate balance fuel retailers aim to achieve between stability and navigating an unpredictable market.
Organizations surveyed reported using a variety of strategies to manage fuel assets and mitigate risks tied to supply chain disruptions, with outsourcing emerging as the most widely adopted approach. In all, 62.2% of mid-market organizations and 61.7% of enterprise organizations said they rely on external providers to handle some or all aspects of fuel assets and logistics.
Comparatively, 59.8% of mid-market organizations and 46.8% of enterprise organizations operate fuel assets and logistics systems with in-house personnel and fleets.
“Vendor outsourcing can seem like an easy go-to for mid-market operators, but investment in the right in-house technology, particularly a unified platform, provides a strategic advantage,” said Paul Lauinger, VP Sales North America, Titan Cloud. “One of our customers, a 50-store convenience chain, implemented technology automation as part of an aggressive, acquisition-based growth strategy across three states. They now have the centralized hub, end-to-end visibility, and data insights needed to grow effectively.”
Regardless of internal or outsourced management strategies, a surprising 39% of mid-market organizations and 36.2% of enterprise organizations reported using technology solutions like fuel management software and route optimization tools to enhance efficiency and reduce costs. This reflects an underutilization of technology to optimize the two main pillars of fuel procurement strategies: Cost control and consistent supply.
Enterprise and mid-market operators who increasingly adopt fuel analytics technology are better poised to drive growth.
Fuel procurement strategies are dominated by two pillars: cost control and consistent supply. While technology adoption is growing to optimize both, it remains underutilized, representing an opportunity area for enterprise and mid-market operators to drive growth.
