KSS Joins PCATS

FLORHAM Park, N.J. -- KSS, a global provider of pricing software, analytics and consulting services to fuel retailers and wholesalers in the convenience and petroleum retailing industry, became a member of the Petroleum Convenience Alliance for Technology Standards (PCATS).

Bob Stein, president and chief executive officer of KSS, said joining PCATS is necessary to ensure a simplified, plug-in-play integration between KSS' pricing systems and most point-of-sale (POS) and back-office platforms.

"There is a lot of industry interest for a shift toward top-to-bottom, fully integrated solutions that allow fuel pricing to be positioned at any level of an organization. The PCATS standards will set the stage for this to become reality," he said. "Collaborating efforts with PCATS members and our retail fuel pricing application, PriceNet, will provide off-the-shelf integration with a variety of retail technology systems."

The PCATS membership will also benefit users of KSS' new KSS Analytics business intelligence (BI) solution by seamlessly integrating the analytics workbench with other store systems to provide real-time fuel operations analysis, according to Stein.

"We're excited to have KSS as a new member," stated Gabriel Olives, PCATS chairman and vice president of IT/Petroleum for Turkey Hill Minit Markets. "Their expertise in fuel pricing technology and analytics will help us further shape the standards we are developing as we continue to pursue technological excellence throughout the industry."

PriceNet is KSS' pricing solution that supports key tasks and stakeholders involved in retail fuels pricing -- from capturing field-based intelligence at the site level, to the generation of price proposals via comprehensive pricing rules or price optimization, to consistent and timely implementation. High levels of automation and an "exception-based" approach ensure a rapid response to competitors and market conditions, thus allowing pricing analysts to leverage the power of pricing analytics, KSS said.

KSS Analytics is an analytics solution that gives fuel retailers and wholesalers a dashboard-style overview of their fuel operations so they can make informed and valuable business decisions in real-time. The system works alongside KSS' PriceNet and RackPrice fuel price management software as well as a standalone business intelligence tool to analyze and interpret valuable data and instantly present it via a user-friendly interface, according to the company.

The Petroleum Convenience Alliance for Technology Standards (PCATS) was founded in September 2003 to continue the development and maintenance of standards work initiated under the NACS Technology Standards Project. PCATS' mission is to develop, maintain and assist members in the implementation of a variety of technology standards. With more than 150 members, the group's membership represents more than 22,000 convenience stores. Membership is open to any petroleum marketer, convenience store owner/operator, other retail channels, or any of their suppliers or vendors.

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