CAMARILLO, Calif. — The U.S. average pump price for regular gasoline dropped 1.66 cents per gallon over two weeks. Over one month, it is down 3.34 cents. Retail margin is a hungry 10.93 cents, having lost 10.49 cents since June 26, according to the most recent Lundberg Survey of approximately 2,500 U.S. gas stations.

The downdrift of the U.S. street price would have been steeper if not for California, which is suffering a supply crisis. The average street price in the state rose nine cents over two weeks, and in a special July 11 West Coast survey Lundberg found California retail prices shot up about another 12 cents while Pacific Northwest prices were mostly unchanged.

Many California retail margins and some fed by California supply have been capsized. In San Diego and Los Angeles, the worst hit by the supply crunch, July 10 margins were nearly 18 and 16 cents negative.

But the special July 11 wholesale price survey shows that most of the wholesale price spikes are already spent. Retailers will urgently pass through current wholesale price hikes to the street to save themselves.

But the crisis is destined to end soon as the wholesale price differential between troubled California markets and others, elsewhere in the United States and abroad, spells huge financial incentive for additional gallons to come in. It is a magnet of much more than $1 per gallon that they cannot resist.

California was already tight after refining glitches with one plant still down, experiencing year on year demand growth, then recently lower prices deprived non-California gallons of enough incentive to migrate into the state. California is panting for imports. The recent wholesale price spikes are the upcoming cure for the supply crisis.

Other markets where margins are severely pinched in the July 11 snapshot include Albuquerque, Billings and Charleston, S.C.

While retailers lost half their margin on average nationally in these two weeks, refiners got a gasoline margin bonanza. Lower crude oil prices–gifted to them by an oil market concerned about demand thanks to Greece and China economic troubles and about supply thanks to a still possible agreement with Iran unleashing more oil–spell opportunities for refiners to slash wholesale gasoline prices to chase sales. This is how many retailers now in hot water will be rescued.

Camarillo, Calif.-based Lundberg Survey Inc. is an independent market research company specializing in the U.S. petroleum marketing and related industries.

Click here for previous Lundberg Survey reports in CSP Daily News.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Heineken USA announced the return of its Beers of Mexico variety pack for the fall and holiday entertaining seasons.

Dos Equis Roja—a red lager crafted with Mexican malted barley and hops—joins the mix of perennial favorites like Dos Equis Lager, Tecate and Sol. This latest version of the Beers of Mexico pack will be available in 12- and 24-packs starting August 1.

“Variety packs have experienced incredible growth, contributing an incremental $224 million and more than doubling retailer profits over the last five years,” said Ryan Thompson, brand director for Dos Equis, Heineken USA. “Import variety packs, including the Beers of Mexico pack, are outpacing (+18.5%) the total variety pack segment (+14.0%) [according to Nielsen data] offering retailers the opportunity to further boost sales and profits this fall. Our Beers of Mexico pack with new Roja, leverages the strength and momentum of Dos Equis (+12%) and Tecate (+5.7%), while offering consumers an exciting new taste from a favorite Mexican import brand.”

To build awareness and encourage purchase of the latest Beers of Mexico variety pack, custom designed “Bring Something New to the Party” case stackers and point-of-sale elements will be available to merchandise retail shelves, floors and cold boxes.

The Beers of Mexico program runs August through December 2015.

White Plains, N.Y.-based Heineken USA Inc. is a subsidiary of Heineken International BV. European brands imported into the U.S. include Heineken, Strongbow Hard Apple Ciders, Desperados, Amstel Light and Newcastle Brown Ale. Heineken USA also imports the Dos Equis franchise, Tecate franchise, Sol, Indio, Carta Blanca and Bohemia brands from Mexico.

DULUTH, Ga. —For retailers moving into digital and mobile technologies both within their operations and with their customers, a common problem is having to “bolt together” disparate solutions. Technology provider NCR, Duluth, Ga., is offering Retail One, an omnichannel solution for retailers hoping to keep legacy systems while connecting with best-in-breed digital solutions.

The company unveil its new solution at its recent Synergy conference in Orlando, Fla. Nadine Routhier, vice president of marketing at NCR, told CSP Daily News that consumers today want to shop wherever they are, be it at home on the computer or on the phone while on the go. They may want to order something online and pick it up at a store or get a notice on a hot dog deal on their phone and go into the store to get it.

But for retailers, the problem is developing that all-around solution. “Omnichannel is not just about connectivity, it’s mobility, self-service devices” Routhier said. “It’s about unifying all that into an integrated, frictionless solution, where consumers can shop, anytime any way they want.”

The trouble with existing technology is that retailers need to purchase—and keep purchasing—components from one vendor then another in order to create an end-to-end solution that is truly integrated, she said. Not only does this create vendor lock-in and a closed environment that is stifling innovation, but it simply isn’t feasible for most retailers who work with multiple vendors and are managing separate information technology (IT) systems (point of sale, marketing, loyalty program, inventory management, mobile, e-commerce and others) with limited connectivity between them. To date, providing a truly seamless customer experience across all channels continues to be a pipedream, she said.

NCR’s solution creates an integration layer that ties retailers’ existing and future IT infrastructure and applications together. The platform is built upon open interfaces that act as a connection point between the various software, hardware and payments systems in a retailer’s environment.

The solution includes an app store and marketplace that will feature apps customized for retailers from NCR and major industry partners.

OAKVILLE, Ontario — Fast feeder Burger King, following in the footsteps of convenience-store retailer 7-Eleven Inc., is reportedly testing Doritos Loaded “in a handful of stores,” reported the food website Eater.com. Burger King has not officially announced the test or the item’s launch.

Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. and PepsiCo Inc. announced the then-exclusive national launch of Doritos Loaded on July 2, 2014. The companies developed the new snack, which is triangular in shape, filled with melted cheese and encrusted with Doritos Nacho Cheese flavor. The 7-Eleven version of Doritos Loaded costs $1.99 for a box of four and is served warm.

Burger King’s version also comes in a box of four.

Click here for a taste-test review of Burger King’s version of Doritos Loaded by the Trillist.com.

The product is part of a trend of foodservice and snack-food mashups.

In December 2014, Pizza Hut Australia introduced a Doritos Crunchy Crust Pizza.

In 2012, Taco Bell introduced Doritos Locos Tacos, featuring a shell made out of Nacho Cheese Doritos snack chips. It later added cool ranch and “fiery” flavors. Doritos then came out with a chip that tastes like the taco that tastes like the chip.

Plano, Texas-based Doritos is one of the leading brands of PepsiCo’s global snack portfolio. PepsiCo Inc., Purchase, N.Y., is a global food and beverage leader with net revenues of more than $65 billion and a product portfolio that includes 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in annual retail sales. Its main businesses are Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola.

Founded in 1954, Miami-based Burger King is the second-largest fast-food hamburger chain in the world. It operates more than 14,000 locations in 100 countries and territories worldwide. In late 2014, it acquired Canadian coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons to become Restaurant Brands International Inc., based in Oakville, Ontario.

AUSTIN, Texas — 7‑Eleven now offers on-demand delivery in Austin, Texas, the second market where the company has launched its new service. The first was last week in the San Francisco area. In both markets, on-demand delivery is powered by Postmates.

San Francisco-based Postmates is a technology and logistics company that operates a network of couriers. A user downloads the Postmates app through an iOS, Android or web app operated by Postmates, then scrolls through the list of retailers to select products they want to order. Postmates coordinates the delivery from the most convenient outlet and nearby courier to fulfill the customer’s order within an hour.

In Austin, 36 participating 7-Eleven convenience stores offer an assortment of products from hot foods and snacks to cold beverages and other convenience items.

“7‑Eleven’s founder, Joe C. Thompson Jr., used to say 7‑Eleven’s mission was to ‘give customers what they want, when and where they want it’,” said Raja Doddala, 7‑Eleven’s vice president of innovation and omnichannel strategy. “Through the modern technology that Postmates provides, we can fulfill that promise in a way we haven’t done before.”

The partnership with Postmates is 7‑Eleven’s first official venture into the on-demand economy and plays a role in the company’s omnichannel strategy to provide time-pressed customers solutions to their everyday needs.

“Through our partnership with Postmates, 7‑Eleven’s reach extends beyond our physical stores,” Doddala said. “The program should work well for us because it appeals to our customers who are more on-the-go, connected 24/7 and prefer fast-paced, urban living.

“Plus, we have market concentration in these geographic areas, which makes shopping with us through Postmates even more convenient for customers,” said Doddala, adding that “Postmates has figured out how to keep the Slurpee drinks cold and the Big Bites hot.”

Holger Luedorf, Postmates senior vice president, said, “By partnering with 7‑Eleven, we are able to offer both 7‑Eleven and Postmates customers access to groceries, fresh food and other goods across all markets that our companies are both operating in. In providing 7‑Eleven with a digital storefront and giving its team access to our fleet of more than 12,000 Postmates couriers, we are making the experience even more convenient for our joint customers.”

Doddala expects to expand delivery later this year to other areas with a high density of 7‑Eleven stores, such as New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.

Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. operates, franchises or licenses nearly 10,500 7-Eleven convenience stores in North America. Globally, there are more than 56,200 7-Eleven c-stores in 16 countries. During 2013, 7-Eleven c-stores generated total worldwide sales close to $84.5 billion.

BECKLEY, W.Va. — Convenience-store retailer and Dunkin’ Donuts franchise group Little General Stores, led by Greg Darby, plans to develop five new Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants in Charleston and Beckley, W.Va.

Its next Dunkin’ Donuts restaurant is planned to open in 2016.

This team currently operates more than 60 quick-service restaurant (QSR) concepts throughout West Virginia and owns more than 80 gas-station and convenience-store operations.

Dunkin’ Donuts announced the Little General multi-unit store development agreement with six other franchise groups developing a total of 51 new QSRs in Virginia and West Virginia over the next several years.

Dunkin’ Donuts offerings include hot and iced coffee, flavored coffees, lattes, hot and iced tea, Dunkin’ Donuts K-Cup Packs, Coolatta frozen drinks, donuts, muffins, bagels, breakfast and bakery sandwiches and a DDSMART menu featuring better-for-you items.

Based in Canton, Mass., Dunkin’ Donuts–part of the Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc.–has more than 11,300 restaurants in 37 countries worldwide.

Beckley, W.Va.-based Little General Store operates in West Virginia, Virginia and Ohio. Little General Stores offer the Exxon, BP, Sunoco, Marathon and Shell fuel brands. The company is also a franchisee for Subway, Godfather’s Pizza, Sam’s Hot Dogs, Burger King, Arby’s, Taco Bell, Chester’s Chicken, Steak Escape, Custard Stand Hot Dog and the 79er Restaurant.

KINGWOOD, Texas — Ascentium Capital recently announced its support of Wayne Fueling Systems through its customized finance program. Wayne, a global provider of fuel dispensing, payment, automation and control technologies for retail and commercial fuel stations, is leveraging equipment financing provider Ascentium’s specialized finance program to help ensure convenience-store and fuel retailers have a convenient way to acquire Wayne Ovation2 fuel dispensers.

When fuel retailers finance these dispensers through Ascentium Capital’s finance program, Wayne is offering a special promotion on its EMV hybrid chip card readers. EMV is the global standard created by Europay, MasterCard and Visa to securely authenticate credit- and debit-card transactions. To be compliant with payment network EMV requirements, fuel retailers are encouraged to upgrade indoor POS software and hardware by October 2015, and outdoor pay-at-the-pump equipment by October 2017.

This offer is available through Sept. 30, 2015.

“We are pleased to team up with Ascentium Capital to ensure our distributor network has a financing solution to extend to their clients when they are purchasing Wayne equipment and solutions. Our goal is to enhance the point-of-sale solution by offering a secure, state-of-the art EMV payment platform, helping drive the success of c-stores and fuel retailers,” said Dave LaCaille, Austin, Texas-based Wayne’s director of U.S. distribution and national accounts.

“Combining Wayne’s dispenser and POS solutions with Ascentium’s financing is a way for fuel retailers to conveniently upgrade or add new equipment. Taking advantage of a finance structure that helps manage cash flow as the new dispensers and point-of-sale solution, will help drive client satisfaction and increase revenue,” said Len Baccaro, senior vice president of sales at Ascentium Capital.

As a direct lender, Kingwood, Texas-based Ascentium Capital specializes in providing business financing, leasing and loans for equipment manufacturers and distributors, as well as direct to businesses nationwide. The company is backed by the strength of leading private investment firms Vulcan Capital and LKCM Capital Group LLC.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — How close are energy drinks to toppling carbonated soft drinks as the top dog of packaged-beverage dollar sales in convenience stores? About $1.8 billion, according to Nielsen scan data provided by Red Bull North America.

The data (see below) shows CSD sales rose 2.5%–the least of any major subcategory in the data—to $8.44 billion in sales in c-stores during the 52-week period ending June 13, while energy-drink sales increased 8.6% to $6.62 billion in sales. Compare that to the 52-week period ending Aug. 10, 2013, during which energy-drink sales in convenience stores hit $5.70 billion; that’s nearly a $1-billion increase over two years.

“Energy is the second-largest category in convenience (and) No. 1 out West,” John Showalter, director of business insights for Red Bull North America, told CSP Daily News. “For a number of years [energy drinks have] been providing the most growth contribution to package beverage.”

While bottled water, tea and coffee sales all grew at faster paces than energy drinks, energy’s total dollar sales–double that of No. 3 bottled water—make it the fastest-growing category overall.

The data shows beverage dollar sales in c-stores overall during the 52 weeks increased a healthy 6.0% to reach $25.71 billion.

WASHINGTON —U.S. drivers are not only filling up more but driving more as well thanks to 2015’s relatively low gasoline prices, according to the latest government figures.

Surging demand pushed retail gasoline prices to a 2015 year-to-date high of $2.84 per gallon on June 15, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported this week. While this is 43 cents per gallon (CPG) higher than in early second-quarter 2015, it is still 85 CPG lower than this same time last year.

Meanwhile, data from the U.S. Federal Highway Administration show that drivers logged 988 billion miles for the first four months of 2015, breaking a previous record set in the first four months of 2007 of 966 billion miles.

EIA revised its Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO) for July upward to reflect stronger demand. Total liquid-fuels consumption for 2015 is now projected to increase 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), or 2.1%, and 120,000 bpd or 0.6% in 2016. These consumption figures for 2015 and 2016 are 20,000 bpd and 70,000 bpd higher, respectively, than in the previous STEO. For some perspective, in 2014, total liquid-fuels consumption grew only 0.4%, or 70,000 bpd.

The agency expects gasoline consumption in 2015 to jump 1.9%, or a projected 170,000 bpd, compared to an 80,000-bpd increase in 2014. It then projects consumption to fall 0.2%, or 20,000 bpd, in 2016 on expected higher gasoline prices and the growing fuel efficiency of vehicles.

Even the fleet’s fuel efficiency is feeling the drag from low gas prices, however, as consumers gravitate toward less fuel-efficient vehicles. The latest figures from the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) show that the average fuel economy of new vehicles sold in June slipped 0.1 miles per gallon (mpg) from May’s average to 25.4 mpg. “This decline likely reflects the increased sales of light trucks and SUVs in June,” said UMTRI director Michael Sivak.

Fuel economy has fallen 0.4 mpg from its August 2014 peak. But when examined from a longer-term perspective, vehicle fuel economy is still 5.3 mpg higher than when UMTRI first started tracking the measure in October 2007.
John Kemp, a market analyst for Reuters, cited a couple key factors feeding the strongest growth in gasoline demand in a decade.

“Demand only began growing again in 2013 and 2014 when prices stabilized and the economy started to recover,” he said in an analysis. “In 2015, demand appears to be accelerating as the expansion matures and fuel prices remain 25% lower than a year ago.”

He cited an at least 3% higher jump in traffic volumes on U.S. highways vs. year ago as one indicator of revived demand. Another factor: The share of trucks among light-duty vehicles rose from 50.6% to 54% between June 2014 and June 2015, according to figures from Autodata.

The EIA expects monthly average gasoline prices to slide from their year-to-date high to $2.49 per gallon during second-half 2015.

NEW YORK — Frustrated by what they see as the slow pace of federal action, state attorneys general are waging their own campaigns against the sale and advertising of electronic cigarettes to minors, reported Reuters.

More than a dozen AGs, including those in New York, California, Indiana and Ohio, are using new state and local laws, some of which they helped craft, to put pressure on the industry at all levels, from neighborhood vape shops to big tobacco companies like Altria and Reynolds American.

Nearly a year ago, a group of AGs asked the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to take a tougher line on e-cigarettes, the risks and benefits of which are still being studied.

In April 2014, the agency proposed banning the sale of e-cigarettes to people under the age of 18, but did not recommend prohibiting advertising, flavored products or online sales, all of which help make the devices attractive to youngsters, according to public health advocates.

The FDA proposal has been under review ever since, which has meant that vaping remains legal for youths in states that have not passed laws banning it. The agency is likely to finalize its new e-cigarette regulations later this summer, though it could be several years before the federal rules go into effect, Reuters said.

Federal regulations and the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) prohibit makers of conventional cigarettes from targeting youth and from advertising on television, billboards and mass transit, but the rules do not apply to e-cigarettes.

So far, however, 46 states have passed laws banning their sale to minors; 12 of those states have also passed laws requiring child-proof packaging for e-liquids and e-cigarettes, according to the news agency, citing Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

AGs are using these laws, as well as others not directly tied to e-cigarettes, to force companies to drop ads which they say appeal to teens, switch to child-proof packaging and spend thousands of dollars on more vigilant age verification systems for their websites and online deliveries.

In June, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced settlements with four companies that were not complying with the state’s rule about child-resistant packaging for nicotine liquids.

Reuters spoke with more than 10 e-cigarette and vaping companies–including Reynolds American, which sells Vuse, and Altria Group, which sells MarkTen and Green Smoke–that acknowledged they have been contacted by state law enforcers or by the National Associations of Attorneys General. Reynolds and Altria say their brands were not in violation of local laws.

Some of the AGs have coordinated their efforts. One group is pressuring certain e-cigarette manufacturers and vendors to limit ads that they say appeal to teens, especially on company websites and places like YouTube.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, along with colleagues from several other states, sent a letter in April to privately held manufacturer NJOY, asking it to “immediately instruct YouTube to restrict” access to its advertisements to adults.

NJOY said in an April letter to DeWine obtained by Reuters that more than 90% of the U.S. viewers who have watched its hosted YouTube videos are at least 18, and the company said it would suspend videos if that figure fell to 85% or less.

NJOY would not comment further.

California has sent letters to more than 150 e-cigarette and vaping companies in recent years “to encourage voluntary compliance with applicable state and federal laws,” including a ban on sales to youth, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.

The state is also pursuing companies that sell fruit-flavored vaping liquids that appeal to teens and those that make false or misleading statements in their advertisements. One letter sent by the state asked a manufacturer to quit claiming that “electronic cigarettes are one of the safest forms of nicotine available” and that “when you exhale, you are exhaling harmless water vapor.”

“Many companies have taken some or all of our recommended steps,” Kristin Ford, a spokesperson for Attorney General Kamala Harris, told the news agency.

AGs are paying particular attention to sales on websites, a popular source of vaping materials for teens, who trade information about which ones require little proof of age.

Jan Verleur, CEO and co-founder of e-cigarette company VMR Products, told Reuters that his company changed its age verification system in some states after being contacted by a state AG. He estimated the cost per order would increase by about 50 cents, but would not say if VMR would absorb any of that. The company makes about half its sales online.