This article is brought to you by Titan Cloud.

With U.S. fuel consumption expected to level off in 2025 before declining in 2026 (EIA), retailers can no longer rely on growing demand to drive profits. Instead, they must optimize costs and streamline operations to remain competitive.

These insights emerge from the Titan Cloud 2025 Downstream Fuel Report, developed in collaboration with NACS Research. The survey captures the perspectives of enterprise and mid-market fuel retailers, identifying the trends and challenges shaping the sector’s future.

Customer Fueling Experience

A seamless customer experience is a competitive advantage, and over half of respondents acknowledged it as a challenge, with 26.9% naming it their top priority. A focus on improved forecourt maintenance and real-time monitoring is emerging as a strategy to prevent equipment failures that frustrate customers.

“Slow flow is a common frustration, and we know flow rate decreases over time without proper filter maintenance,” said Brent Puzak, senior solutions consultant at Titan Cloud. “Real-time monitoring helps operators pinpoint exactly when and where maintenance is needed.”

Profitability and Market Growth

Profitability remains a priority, with 25.8% of respondents citing it as their main focus. While enterprise retailers lean on innovation (63.3%), mid-market operators tend to prioritize cost control and efficiency (58%). Technology plays a significant role in achieving profitability goals, with data-driven decision-making allowing businesses to forecast demand, manage inventory more effectively and identify areas for cost reduction.

Adapting to the Changing Fuel Landscape

With nearly half of respondents ranking agility among their key priorities, enterprise retailers are turning to automation and analytics for real-time decision-making. Mid-market operators are using technology primarily for discrepancy tracking and fuel loss prevention.

Parker’s Kitchen, a Titan Cloud customer with over 90 locations, leverages fuel analytics for long-term success. Parker’s story will be covered in greater detail in part two of this article, coming on Thursday.

Reducing Operational Costs and Improving Efficiency

Among respondents, 28.8% named rising operational costs a top challenge. Fuel inventory optimization was universally the most used strategy for addressing rising costs, including reducing storage costs, improving inventory efficiency and mitigating fuel loss. While 55.3% of enterprise organizations said they rely on such optimization, slightly fewer mid-market organizations agreed (50.6%).

Even with those employing technology, however, the survey found a significant gap remains in technology adoption and access to real-time data, including actionable fuel loss root cause insights.

Fuel Procurement and Logistics

Procurement optimization ranked lower in priority, with about a third of respondents acknowledging it as a major challenge. Cost efficiency and fuel availability remain top concerns, with 53.6% focused on price and with 28.6% prioritizing uninterrupted access.

Additionally, more than 60% of both mid-market and enterprise retailers rely on outsourcing for fuel logistics. However, outsourcing isn’t always the best solution.

"Vendor outsourcing can seem like an easy go-to for midmarket operators, but investment in the right in-house technology, particularly a unified platform, provides a strategic advantage,” said Paul Lauinger, VP sales North America, Titan Cloud.

The Future of Fuel Retail

As the industry continues to evolve, fuel retailers must take decisive action to remain competitive. Get more details on the Downstream Industry Fuel Report for in-depth data and strategies that fuel retailers are using to improve efficiency, profitability and operational resilience in 2025.

This is part one in a two-part series from Titan Cloud. Look for part two on Thursday.