Define how you sell with structures

Structures determine how your fuel moves to your customers.

Structures are a critical component of pricing on Gasology because they define the method in which fuel is delivered from your facilities to a customer.

Structures reflect the physical method of how fuel is delivered to your customers, and any additional costs reflecting the method of delivery.

Structures connect your base prices to a delivery method and also define the financial way your fuel will be sold. Fuel delivered by pipeline at wholesale will have a different price than the same type of fuel delivered by truck for retail, and structures let you define those costs. 

This article explores structure details, how to create them, and how to add cost adjustments.

Creating a structure

Navigate to the Structures manager and click on Add Structure. Enter the following details:

  • Code: A unique code for your structure
  • Description: The description of your structure
  • Search Type: The kinds of customer vessels this structure will support (private tank, wholesale, on-road, aviation, contingent, or marine)
  • Sales Type: The sales type defines taxes assessed to products sold under the structure.
    • Wholesale - refinery to terminal, does not include tax
    • Leaving Wholesale - business-to-business, includes tax for the location where the fuel will be used
    • Retail - business-to-consumer
  • Delivery Method: How the fuel is moved from your facility to the customer.
  • FOB Type: Who is responsible for transporting the product from the merchant to the customer.
    • FOB Origin means the buyer will pick up the product.
    • FOB Destination means that you, the merchant, will deliver the product to the customer. 
  • Max Delivery Distance: The maximum distance you will deliver the product, measured from your facility to the customer's vessel location. 
  • Order Size Thresholds: the minimum and maximum order sizes you will accept.

Only customer vessels that fall within the maximum delivery distance from each of your facilities will be able to see prices from that facility. To ensure all of the right customer vessels can see your prices, verify that your delivery distance is correct by viewing the Delivery Locations tab in the Connectivity manager > Customer page.

Price Details

Entries under Price Details help define important characteristics of your product prices offered with this structure.

  • Source: Outright, index, or order-based structures determine which type of price option you will offer under the structure.
    • Outright - outright structures are used for firm and indicative prices and have a valid price design built for a specific period.
    • Index -  use index-based structures to let customers reserve gallons with a price based on an off-platform index from any of your live data feeds, plus an additional merchant-defined offset that is invoiced when merchants pick up fuel for delivery.
    • Order - order structures provide the ability to reserve gallons for a period (spot or days ahead) at a price that will be agreed upon before physical delivery occurs. 
  • Pricing: Firm or Indicative
    • Firm – fuel is immediately available for reservation and purchase.
    • Indicative – use indicative prices if you would like to confirm an offer before your customer is able to reserve fuel with your company. Enter an optional email address that will receive and respond to pricing requests. For more information on how to use indicative pricing, please visit the linked article.

Note:

  • Outright and index based structures can be firm or indicative.
  • Order based structures should always be set to indicative.
  • Active: display or hide your prices from your customers according to a time set by you.
    • Select Specific time range when you would like product prices associated with this program to be in effect. The times you select are local to the facility location and time zone.
    • Remember that whether or not you select an Active or Specific time range, no prices are displayed between 10:00pm – 1:00am local time.

The following image illustrates an example of selling diesel that is leaving wholesale with indicative prices and delivering it to customers with a maximum distance of 100 miles via truck. Outright indicative prices will be offered with this structure, active at all times, and available for all periods as shown in the Price Details section.

248_20210817_Image02d

More on indicative prices

Among the powerful features that Gasology provides is the ability to offer prices that are firm or indicative. Firm prices can be booked by the customer instantly. Indicative prices require confirmation from you before the customer can reserve fuel. They also let you and your customer negotiate on price and delivery details.

Consider using indicative prices in the following scenarios:

  • You want to allow your customer to negotiate your price
  • You aren’t sure if you are able to deliver fuel on the same day and need to confirm with your dispatch or delivery partner
  • You are concerned about not being able to get inventory when your customer makes a reservation

When a customer makes a reservation request on an indicative offer, you will receive an email and an in-platform notification. Indicative requests have an expiration time set by the customer, so it’s important to promptly review and respond to requests. For more information on how to respond to indicative price requests, visit and review this article.

Adding products

Adding products to sell under the newly added structure is simple. In the Products tab, click the green button next to the product under My Facility Products. The product will appear in the My Structure Products table above.

Users can add multiple products to a structure if necessary. Click the red button to remove any product.

248_20210817_Image03b

Price adjustments for your structure

The same kind of fuel purchased under different structures often warrants a different price. Within the Adjustments tab, users can incorporate adjustments to their new structure and create unique price points.

Constant Adjustments let you adjust the price for any fuel purchased under this structure based on the transportation method, additives used, margin requirements, special location price adjustments, product quality, or other reasons. Like adjustments you set when defining the base price, adjustments on a structure are based on indexes you create in the Index/Strategies manager. Select the correct index in the drop-down for the desired adjustment.

Remember, any adjustments you added when setting the base price for the product are still applied. Adding adjustments in the Structure Manager lets you further customize your price based on how it is delivered or how you allow customers to pay for it. 

248_20210817_Image04b

Linking programs

You must link a program to your structure for your customers to see prices from that facility. The Linked Programs tab will show you what programs have been added to the structure and what programs are available to be linked to the structure. 

Note: for a program to be added to a structure, they need to have the same sales type (wholesale, leaving wholesale, or retail).

Payment methods

Payment methods customers can use with a structure are defined in the Payment Terms tab. To select a payment method, click the green + button next to it in the ‘Payment Options Available At This Facility’ table. To remove a payment method, click the red button next to it in the ‘Payment Options Available At This Structure’ table.

Next Steps

Congratulations on completing this important step towards selling your fuel; you're almost there! The next pricing tool we’ll explore is a program. Programs define which customers can buy fuel from a facility, price, period, and structure combination.