Is the independent pricing of gas stations feasible?

Wen / Bao Shuo Jian Zhang Lei

At present, the pricing method of domestic gas stations is basically a way of promoting and price reduction on the basis of limiting the guidance price to carry out market competition on the basis of limiting the guidance price. Judging from the current price control situation in my country, only 7 categories and 20 categories are priced by the National Development and Reform Commission or the industry authority. Among them, the price of refined oil (including the military and special user oil) is temporarily managed in accordance with the "Notice of the National Development and Reform Commission on Further improving the Formation Mechanism of refined oil prices" (Development and Reform Price [2013] No. 624). open. At the same time, with reference to the experience of various countries, most countries such as the United States, Spain, Japan, and South Korea have undergone changes from government control to marketization.

1

Autonomous pricing premise: price marketization

The supply and demand structure changes, and the maximum price limit is decoupled from the market supply and demand. The maximum limit price limit of gasoline and diesel cannot completely reflect the market supply and demand: first, although the law of international oil prices changes to a certain extent, the price of imported crude oil products is reflected in a certain extent, but it cannot fully reflect the supply and demand of domestic crude oil. The exploration and environmental costs generated in the process ignore the characteristics of my country's own geographical environment and resource endowment. The third is that the actual operating price and price difference of the market gradually expand, and the zero prices are reflected through discounts and promotion. The oil supply and demand changes and the signal function is lacking.

The market competition is intensified, and the possibility of large -scale monopoly disappears. At present, my country's gasoline and diesel competitive market has basically formed. On the one hand, the upstream links are liberalized, the import of crude oil imports is open to private enterprises, and the two markets at home and abroad are connected to infiltrate the industry's international competitive factors into the domestic price formation process. The actual price can reflect the production cost of the entire industry chain. On the other hand, the competitive subject of downstream links has increased, and the market concentration decreases. It is difficult to appear another or two companies' market share of more than 73.9%of the absolute monopoly level, achieving absolute control of the market. Taking the retail market as an example, the proportion of non -PetroChina and Petrochemical gas stations accounted for increased year by year, more than 50%in 2011, and 55%in 2021.

The internal and external environment is suitable and the systemic risk is small. First, policies are conducive to the acceleration of marketization. For example, the cancellation of more than 30 foreign chain gas stations requires the restrictions of China Holdings, and the approval of the qualifications of refined oil retail operations to local and municipal governments, which are conducive to further diversification of market entities. Second, the strengthening of market supervision is conducive to regulating market order, such as deepening the reform of "decentralization of service" and strengthening the "pre -supervision" of refined oil retail, and cracking down on tax evasion, etc. Unde -ified competition will further eliminate. The third is to replace the rapid development of energy, and the ceiling that forms gasoline and diesel prices to a certain extent for natural gas, electricity, and hydrogen energy prices will not occur too much.

2

Autonomous pricing method: active and passive

The development of the refined oil market in developed countries has four stages: resource -oriented, profit -oriented, competitive orientation, and price fluctuation orientation. At present, my country's refined oil market is in the third stage, that is, the competitive orientation phase, which belongs to the transition from the second stage to the fourth stage, and is the stage of dynamic change. The resources at this stage are basically excessive. Due to the high profits of the industry itself in the previous stage, more competitors will enter the industry and achieve market share through price competition when the resources are easier. At present, due to the increase in the number of competitors, the market concentration has declined, and the overall profit of the industry has declined.

Due to fierce competition and large price fluctuations, the fourth stage is the price fluctuation -oriented stage. At this time, the market is basically stable and a large number of competitive subjects. The sales of refined oil products are micro -profit, the price fluctuates frequently, and even the price of the gas station will change several times a day, but the overall remains at the level close to the cost.

In this case, the independent pricing of the gas station includes two ways: active pricing and follow -up pricing.

Active pricing is to actively change prices and promote promotions in the business district where the gas station is located or in the oil station group where the gas station is located or there is a competitive relationship.

From the perspective of experience methods, the gas station that actively pricing is generally a new site that enters the market or a site with certain advantages in terms of cost. It will attract customers to the station to consume through active price reductions (below guidance prices), diverse promotions and other methods. Here Based on a unique customer structure.

From the perspective of quantitative methods, after a period of low -cost operation, the active pricing gas station can record and analyze the consumption characteristics of customers, competitors' promotional preferences, etc., and find its own reasonable pricing range from the perspective of the game.

For example, the new private oil station that enters the market has always maintained a price difference of 0.5 yuan/liter from the surrounding sites, and launched value -added services such as free car washing, free laundry, and refueling gifts to continue to operate price -sensitive customers; there are also new private stations focusing on high -end high -end high -end Models, maintain a higher retail price for customer groups with high consumption levels.

Following the pricing refers to the price level of the price of the gas station based on the price of the competitors, researching and applying the price level of key competitors. The advantages of this pricing: no need to calculate a lot, just track and observe the price of competitors in time to get fair prices for customers and enterprises; Industry development is good.

From the perspective of experience methods, the operation method of following the pricing is relatively simple. Generally, according to the price reduction or promotional range of the main competitors, the price is determined after maintaining a reasonable difference, and the gap between the site can be adjusted according to the environmental and business goals. However, the problem brought by the experience operation is that the general sales or benefits change in the short term, and long -term tracking and precise price cannot be formed. From the perspective of quantitative methods, by observing the changes in the price of competitors and their measurement changes, the impact method and extent of the customer and the environmental change on the volume price of the gas stations are determined, and the corresponding parameters are given reasonable pricing suggestions. For example, some foreign fuel stations in China use the price calculation of commonly used oil stations such as Europe and the United States to estimate the reasonable prices in the competition.

3

Autonomous pricing development: intelligence and automation

At present, the development of developed countries in Europe and the United States has reached the fourth stage. The characteristics of this stage are that the overall industry has a very low profit, there are many competitions, and the overall price level is low, but it is relatively stable and fluctuated frequently. For example, it fluctuates many times a day, but it is "divided".

With the further deepening of the marketization of my country's refined oil, the independent pricing of gas stations will face the same situation. In this case, the independent pricing of the gas station requires strong tool support. First, we must identify active pricing and follow the pricing mode; second, we must judge the goals to be achieved by the site, such as sales, benefits, share and multi -site collaboration; third, we must collect competitors prices and promotion activities through real -time data collection; Price and marketing solutions under target.

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