Fuel station management software is the software that runs a fuel station: the fuel pumps, the till in the station's shop, the fuel prices, the back office and the loyalty scheme. It is sold mainly to chains of fuel stations and convenience stores in the United States and Europe. A convenience store is a small shop that stays open long hours, often at a fuel station.
In those countries, a fuel station earns much of its profit in the shop, from coffee, snacks and drinks, rather than from the fuel. So the software treats the pumps and the shop as one business. A customer can fill up and buy a coffee in one payment.
Take, for example, a chain of 120 fuel stations in Texas, in the United States. A driver fills her car at pump 6. The pump is controlled by a small computer in the station, called the forecourt controller. It reports to the till how many gallons each pump has delivered. She walks into the shop, picks up a $2.50 coffee and pays for both at the till. The fuel is 12 gallons at $3.10, which is $37.20. She scans her loyalty app, which gives her 10 cents off each gallon because she bought a coffee. So the total is $38.50. The loyalty programme software records the reward. She pays by card on the POS terminal.
In the United States, each station sets its own fuel price, and the price can change several times a week. The chain's software watches the prices at rival stations nearby, the cost of the fuel the chain buys, and how fast each station is selling. It then suggests a new price for each station. Changing prices in this way is called dynamic pricing. The same idea for shop goods is price and promotion optimisation.
Trucking companies pay for their drivers' fuel with a fuel card. The station's software must accept these cards, and record which truck bought how much fuel, so that the trucking company can check each driver's spending.
The back office adds up each station's sales and the fuel stock in its underground tanks. A sensor in each tank measures the fuel level. If the level falls faster than the pumps' sales, there may be a leak or a theft.
India works differently. Here, the oil marketing companies, such as IOCL, BPCL and HPCL, set the retail price of petrol and diesel. Most stations are part of their networks, and use automation systems that the oil companies provide. So this kind of software is sold mainly abroad, although much of it is built by engineers in Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru.