Is manual fuel pricing being replaced by AI?

For large, national fuel retailers, advanced fuel pricing tools like AI are essential in responding swiftly to market shifts and driving profitability. These tools analyze vast datasets — market conditions, competitor pricing, environmental changes — and help optimize fuel pricing at scale.  

But what about smaller retailers? Are they adopting these advanced technologies too? 

The answer is: it depends. 

While AI can be a powerful tool for fuel pricing, many smaller fuel retailers are still pricing manually. In fact, many are still relying on spreadsheets to set prices across their sites. And that’s completely okay. 

The use of AI is not dependent on the size of your network – but the strength of your processes. It’s all about the quantity, and quality of the data you provide it. Like with all AI tools, fuel pricing AI needs data to work effectively. You need to have accurate, clean, and complete data for AI to give you the right output, and to get to this stage you need to have built the processes within your pricing team to a mature level. 

At Kalibrate we look at fuel pricing as a journey, and fuel retailers can map their position on the fuel pricing maturity curve. It’s not about the size of your business — it’s about the efficiency of your fuel pricing operations. 

The key takeaway here is that pricing maturity is a journey, not a race. In the early stages, manual pricing can still yield great results, and as you grow and implement small improvements, you can see gains in both your fuel volume and margin.  

Ultimately, you don’t need to use AI across your full network to see success. 

Manual pricing doesn’t mean you’re behind 

Now, here’s the good news: even if you’re still pricing your sites manually, you’re not “behind” or missing out on opportunities. In fact, AI-driven pricing isn’t the right choice for every business — especially if your processes aren’t ready for it.  

Moving towards automation or AI too soon can be overwhelming and costly. Rather than racing to implement AI, focus on making incremental improvements to your pricing processes. Start by tracking competitor prices more efficiently, analyzing your site performance regularly, and creating a structured system to help you adjust prices in response to external factors. Small, incremental changes like these can have a substantial impact on both your bottom line and your ability to compete in a crowded market. 

So, is manual fuel pricing a dying process? 

Absolutely not.  

While many fuel retailers are considering AI, it’s crucial to understand that AI is a tool, not a magic bullet. It has proven to be invaluable for some fuel retailers, but its full potential is often realized only when there’s a data environment that warrants its capabilities. 

For many fuel retailers, AI may not be necessary right now. Instead, you can achieve great results by focusing on the basics and taking small steps to improve your pricing practices over time. This gradual process will lead to incremental increases in your fuel sales and margins. 

Kalibrate has over 40 years of experience working with fuel retailers at every stage of maturity to improve their pricing outcomes.  

Whether you’re looking to take the first step to consolidate and centralize your pricing processes, or want to test out AI price optimization, speak to Kalibrate today.  

Further reading: 

Download Kalibrate’s Fuel Price Maturity Curve eBook to work out your starting position and how you can implement small changes to improve your processes and boost your success. 

Learn more about Kalibrate’s approach to AI and why it should always be centered on human expertise.